The reality is I'm a much larger NCAA basketball fan than NBA fan. Growing up in CT in the 1980s-1990s was the perfect time to get attached to what's become a "blue blood" and the winningest program in Mens and Womens basketball in the past 20 years.
Coach Calhoun and Coach Auriemma built the programs. Players like Donyell Marshall and Rebecca Lobo put UCONN on the map as a destination for tier 1 recruits. The players that followed represent some of the best college basketball players of the past 30 years.
On top of that stack for me is Kemba Walker. What more needs to be said about his career? His 2010-2011 run through the Big East Championship to a national title was one of the best college performances in history!
For the men, in addition to Kemba: Ray Allen, Richard Hamilton, Caron Butler, Stephon Castle, Rudy Gay, Andre Drummond, Emeka Okafor, Ben Gordon ... they've delivered 6 national championships in the last ~25 years.
For the women: the list is endless, they're the best franchise in the history of the sport. Players like Taurasi and Bueckers changed the entire sport. It's likely true that 6 or 7 of the best women to ever play the game came through UCONN, and they've delivered 12 championships in the past 30 years and an absolutely insane winning percentage of 89%.
For +15 years my father and I spoke on the phone at halftime of every single UCONN game. It was one of the most predictable conversations - I always knew in advance what his frustrations would be, and who he'd highlight as being key to the particular game.
If there's a UCONN special serial moment out there, I'll pursuse it, there's x49 in the collection as I write this, there's a pretty clear path to 60!
The 2026 UCONN women are likely to win the national championship again, the men - it's probably not their year much past the elite 8, so I'll bide my time until Fudd, Strong, Mullins and Karaban hit TopShot next year!
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