The UConn Huskies just won their sixth national championship in 25 years and yet most casual sports fans would be hard pressed to have any strong feelings about the program one way or another.
Connecticut isn’t a blue blood like Duke, Kentucky, or Kansas. They aren’t a factory of NBA talent. While Jim Calhoun is indeed a legend and Dan Hurley could be on his way there, they don’t have a singular force that has defined a program like Bobby Knight or Coach K. They’ve had stars like Khalid El-Amin, Emeka Okafor, and Kemba Walker come through Storrs, but only accounted for seven consensus All-Americans in their history including Tristen Newton this year.
Ask anyone besides Jay Bilas how this program above all others have gone on a two-year stretch where they’ve won every NCAA Tournament game by double digits and they would probably have a hard time giving you a direct answer. Before March, if you asked anyone to name three of Connecticut’s starting five, you would probably have to be a fairly serious Huskies fan or John Fanta.
So how could a program who just won its sixth title in 25 years feel so… anonymous? It could be that the program has yo-yoed between NCAA title runs and NIT appearances. Before these last two titles, UConn hadn’t made a Sweet 16 since… the last time they won the national championship in 2014. That’s in stark contrast to the UConn women’s program who have been perennial contenders year after year at the top of the sport.
Well, if you have that feeling in the pit of your stomach it’s probably because the UConn dynasty is eerily reminiscent of the San Antonio Spurs.
The comparison is impossible to ignore. Both teams play in small markets largely outside the spotlight. Both teams have been accused of being a bit boring from time to time. Both teams never had huge stars that had crossover appeal. Both teams won championships over a long period of time without any one team ever feeling transcendent, and yet were incredibly successful.
And much like the Spurs produced the low-point for NBA Finals ratings, UConn’s last two championship victories are the least watched in NCAA Tournament history.
The 2007 NBA Finals between the Spurs and Cavs is the lowest non-pandemic Finals series at an average of 9.29 million viewers in a four game sweep. It’s followed by the 2003 Spurs-Nets Finals at 9.86 million.
Similarly, this year’s UConn-Purdue final drew 14.8 million viewers, just a tick higher than last year’s record low 14.6 million that watched the Huskies beat San Diego State.
A look at the evidence and data would say that right now, a slowly evolving UConn dynasty isn’t setting the world on fire. At least it hasn’t yet over the past 25 years. That shouldn’t short-changed the incredible things they’ve accomplished, but not all dynasties are equal when it comes to being box office smash hits. Just ask NASCAR and how ratings were during the Jimmie Johnson era. If only Dan Hurley would embrace the mega-heel inside of him, maybe that will change.
With the continued turnover in college basketball, players leaving early, and lack of starpower it’s hard to imagine any program outside of a select few truly moving the needle. In other words, a Caitlin Clark isn’t walking through that door. And that’s a bigger challenge facing men’s college basketball than what team may be a dynasty and what team may not.
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