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UConn coach Dan Hurley has made a bold claim before his Connecticut Huskies (36-3) take on fellow top-seed Purdue Boilermakers (34-4) in the 2024 national championship game Monday.
In an interview with CBS ahead of the postseason finale, Hurley spoke about how he doesn't allow his family legacy and pressure to get in the way of his targets:
"I'm not afraid to lose anymore. I always carried this fear of losing because it opened me up to that, not measuring up, you know, to the family legacy. That narrative, you know, that external noise that had always been so persistent." Hurley said. (starting at 19:24)
"And I just think now, you know, internally, I'm so proud of how long I've stayed in this game and fought to have that breakthrough moment that there's not anything that somebody could write or say, or some idiot fan could chant, or put on social that will ever put that weight back on me."
Dan Hurley's father Bob won 26 state championships during his 39 years as a coach. Meanwhile, his brother Bobby Hurley has been serving as the coach for Arizona State since 2015. Bobby also coached the Buffalo Bulls for two seasons, leading them to two MAC East Division titles and the MAC Tournament championship.
Dan also spoke about last season's championship success and how it could have a knock-on effect and inspire UConn to achieve something special in this year's title game.
"No team is trying to accomplish what we've done, which I think is dangerous for the people that we play, because we're not playing like a group that feels a lot of pressure. We take the court with a lot of swagger," Dan said.
"And then we also take the court like a group of people that have never won anything. So we've got a chance to make history. I think getting a championship last year has taken a lot of pressure off of this team and off of me as a coach. Well, we could just kind of get out there and just kind of let it rip and go for us."
Since the NCAA Tournament, only seven programs have won consecutive national championships:
- Oklahoma State: 1945-46
- Kentucky: 1948-49
- San Francisco: 1955-56
- Cincinnati: 1961-62
- UCLA: 1964-65, 1967-73
- Duke: 1991-92
- Florida: 2006-07
UCLA's title run is the longest and most iconic in NCAA history. The Bruins won seven consecutive national championships from 1967 to 1973.
It's been 17 years since the last team (Florida) clinched back-to-back national championships, but Dan Hurley and Co. have the opportunity to write their names into college basketball lore on Monday.
A look at how Dan Hurley's UConn reached the 2024 national championship
Dan Hurley's UConn has been steamrolling teams since winning the Big East Tournament this year.
The Huskies beat Stetson and Northwestern in the opening two rounds of the NCAA Tournament. They trounced San Diego State 82-52 in the Sweet 16 and took down Illinois 77-52 in the Elite Eight. UConn got the better of Nate Oats' Alabama 86-72 in the Final Four to set up a national championship showdown against Purdue.
The championship game between UConn and Purdue will tip off at 9:20 p.m. ET from State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona.
