UConn’s Big East Dominance Is Real - But Can It Be Historic?
Let’s start with the facts: UConn’s 2023-24 men’s basketball team was a juggernaut. An 18-2 Big East record.
A 37-3 overall finish. Two NBA lottery picks in Steph Castle and Donovan Clingan.
A couple more second-rounders, including Cam Spencer, who’s now thriving at the next level. That kind of dominance doesn’t just happen - it’s built, brick by brick, by a team firing on all cylinders.
Fast forward to this season, and suddenly, St. John’s is sitting next to UConn in the Big East record books.
The Johnnies matched that 18-win mark in conference play. Sure, their 31-5 season ended early in the NCAA Tournament, and no one’s confusing them with last year’s Huskies.
But 18 league wins is still 18 league wins. A record’s a record - and now, UConn shares it.
You can bet that doesn’t sit quietly with Dan Hurley.
Hurley and Rick Pitino haven’t exactly been exchanging holiday cards since Pitino returned to the Big East three seasons ago. Their back-and-forths - some subtle, some not - have added a layer of tension to an already competitive league.
Pitino’s not a fan of Hurley’s sideline energy. Hurley, in his own way, has fired back: “You, of all people, criticizing theatrics?”
It’s spicy. It’s personal.
It’s Big East basketball.
So while Hurley might not admit it out loud, you know he’d love nothing more than to reclaim the Big East regular-season wins record outright. And what better way to do it than with a 19-1 - or even 20-0 - run?
Now, let’s not get ahead of ourselves. The Big East might be down this year, but it’s still no walk in the park.
UConn’s already taken a loss - and at home, no less. But that loss came against the No. 1 team in the country, Arizona, and the Huskies were missing some serious firepower.
Tarris Reed Jr., their top rebounder and second-leading scorer, was out. So was five-star freshman Braylon Mullins.
Both are back now. Reed dropped 16 points and swatted three shots in Tuesday’s 19-point win over Butler to open conference play.
Mullins added 12 of his own.
Even Butler’s head coach Thad Matta couldn’t help but marvel after the game: “I know they’ve lost a game, but damn, they’re good.”
Sean Miller - now at Texas, but no stranger to UConn from his Xavier days - has seen the Huskies up close more than most. He’s faced them seven times over the past three seasons and actually beat them three times, including a 2-0 sweep in UConn’s first of back-to-back national championship seasons in 2022-23.
That’s not a small feat. In fact, he was the only coach that season to face UConn and not lose.
Here’s how Miller sized up this year’s squad after a recent 71-63 loss in Hartford:
“That first year (’22-23), they were good, they got great at the end. Year Two, that’s the best college team I’ve ever seen.
I’d put them up there with Coach K’s teams. They were just incredible.
Last year, maybe not as good as the first two. I would say this year, maybe more on par with that first team I coached against.
I don’t know if you can build that second team again. That one was amazing.”
So what does that mean for this year’s group?
Well, Hurley’s not talking about 19-1 or 20-0. At least not publicly.
He told reporters before Tuesday’s game that he’s only focused on the next opponent. That’s the coach-speak you expect - but let’s be real.
Few coaches are more locked in to the pulse of college basketball than Hurley. He knows what’s happening.
He knows what’s at stake. And he knows history.
Last season, Hurley had a shot at becoming just the second coach ever to win three straight national titles. He came up short.
But owning the Big East regular-season wins record outright? That’d be a pretty nice consolation prize.
Just think about the progress. In 2022-23, UConn went 13-7 in the Big East.
That’s a far cry from 18-2 - let alone 19-1 or 20-0. But the league was stronger then, with five NCAA Tournament teams, including regular-season champ Marquette and Creighton.
Last year, only Marquette and Creighton joined UConn in the Big Dance.
This year? Neither Marquette nor Creighton looks like a sure thing.
Right now, the Big East has five potential tournament teams. UConn and St.
John’s are locks. Villanova, Seton Hall and Butler are hanging around the bubble.
But don’t mistake a “down” year for an easy one. There are no gimmies in Big East play - especially on the road.
Just ask UConn, which has had to grind out wins in places like Hinkle Fieldhouse, where they’ve escaped with narrow victories the past two seasons. Tuesday’s 19-point blowout of Butler was the outlier, not the norm.
And then there’s St. John’s, led by Pitino.
The Johnnies will be a handful at Madison Square Garden and in Hartford. Villanova, Creighton and Marquette are always tough outs at home, even in a down year.
Providence? They’re UConn’s border rival, and they’re better than their 7-5 record suggests.
Butler is now 0-12 all-time against UConn, 0-11 in Big East play. That streak has to end eventually, right?
Especially with how close the games have been at Hinkle. And don’t forget Seton Hall - Hurley’s alma mater.
UConn has lost four straight to the Pirates in Newark, including last season when the Hall only beat two Big East teams all year. One of them?
UConn.
And let’s not pretend a midseason slump is impossible. In 2022-23, UConn lost five of its eight games in January. Could another cold stretch be coming?
Maybe. But right now, that doesn’t seem likely.
As Matta said after Tuesday’s game: “Damn, they’re good.”
Up next, UConn hits the road for back-to-back games against DePaul and Xavier. DePaul was picked eighth in the Big East preseason poll.
Xavier? Ninth.
But preseason polls don’t always tell the story - just ask 10-1 Seton Hall, who was projected to finish dead last. And Xavier is coached by Richard Pitino, Rick’s son.
That storyline writes itself.
So, 19-1? 20-0? Still feels like a stretch.
But then again…
Maybe not.