Big East Basketball: Will UConn three-peat?

The UConn Huskies have gone on a run and could continue the run that hasn’t been seen since John Wooden and his UCLA Bruins.

UConn has repeated as national champions and is now looking for the coveted three-peat. However, there are some major obstacles that the team will have to overcome.

Before I bring up any of the obstacles, I just want to say that you should never doubt Dan Hurley. The Hurley family are known for winning and his psycho coaching has turned UConn into a national powerhouse.

The first obstacle is the amount of talent the Huskies have lost after last season. It initially seemed as if the talent lost after the first championship was going to be too much, but after the second championship, they lost significantly more.

After the first championship, the Huskies lost Andre Jackson Jr. and Jordan Hawkins to the NBA Draft. Jackson Jr. was the team’s lockdown defender and was a powerful presence on the offensive end.

Hawkins was the team’s sharpshooter and he often took over games with his incredibly fast shot. Also, UConn lost its dominant big man Adama Sanogo who won the Most Outstanding Player of the 2023 National Championship run.

After the championship run, there were notable replacements for each of those three players that were expected to fill in nicely. They may have done that more as the 2024 National Championship team was even better.

Donovan Clingan became even more of a force down low than Sanogo. Cam Spencer was the sharpshooter the Huskies needed to replace Hawkins and Stephon Castle was the lockdown defender and was a bonified superstar on the team to replace Jackson Jr.’s presence.

Those three helped the Huskies dominate college basketball and reach the national championship once again where they once again commandingly took the title.

However, similarly to the big three that helped win the first championship, the big three that were mentioned all left for the NBA Draft. Additionally, Tristen Newton also left for the draft and was the key piece to both squads as the main ball-handler.

There are no immediate known replacements for those players and they lose significant size inside.

UConn does get five-star recruit Liam McNeeley and he could be one of the main scorers but there is a lot of unknown with this team. The team lost so much talent from both of the championship teams that it may be impossible for them to repeat as champions.

The losses that they have had from their roster combined with some other blue bloods reloading and becoming deeper can cause a different champion than we’ve seen the last two seasons.

If UConn were to get it done, it’s going to look a whole lot different. They will still attack you defensively like any Hurley-led team has but there’s not as much offensive firepower, at least that is known right now.

After back-to-back championships, you would think the Huskies would be ranked No. 1 in the country leading into the new season. However, they aren’t and it’s for a reason. On paper, there are some clear better teams in the country and teams that will be able to get past the very disciplined UConn team.

It doesn’t seem like UConn will three-peat as national champions but it also would not surprise a lot of people if they were to because when in doubt, rely on Dan Hurley to lead the team to victory.

Andrew Deal is a second-year majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, please email asd5765@psu.edu.