By Ross Vocataro ’25
RAMSEY, NJ – The University of Connecticut Huskies made history on Monday, April 8, becoming just the eighth program in men’s D1-college basketball history to win back-to-back National Championships with their 75-60 win against the Purdue Boilermakers in the National Championship. Dan Hurley’s #1 overall ranked Huskies utterly dominated their road to the Final Four in Phoenix, with their closest margin of victory being 14 to the Alabama Crimson Tide this past Saturday; in fact, their collective +140 point differential across all six of their games is the largest point differential in the tournament’s history. Joining the 2006-07 Florida Gators as the only other program to repeat titles in the 21st century, it’s no question that UConn has now established itself as a “blue blood,” or one of the premiere programs in collegiate basketball. As the March classic signed off to the tune of David Barrett’s “One Shining Moment” (the unofficial theme song of March Madness), let’s take a look back at some of the highlights of the tournament.
Round of 64 – 3/21-3/22
The Round of 64 went mostly “chalk” (favored teams winning the majority of games). The only upsets of the first round were: (11) Oregon defeating South Carolina (6), 87-73; (14) Oakland defeating (3) Kentucky, 80-76; (11) NC State defeating (6) Texas Tech, 80-67; (13) Yale defeating (4) Auburn, 78-76; (12) JMU defeating (5) Wisconsin, 72-61; (12) GCU defeating (5) Saint Mary’s, 77-66. And while an “upset” is considered a higher seed winning a matchup separated by at least five seed lines, only eleven of the thirty-two matchups saw the higher seed come out victorious. Notable results of the Round of 64 were: Jack Gohlke’s 32-point night (all shot attempts from behind the arc) lead Oakland past Kentucky in a first-round stunner; 11-seed Duquesne upset BYU in their first tournament appearance since 1977; Oregon’s Jermaine Cousinard dropped 40 in the Ducks’ win over South Carolina; Marquette went on a 51-26 second-half run to cruise past Western Kentucky; Ivy League champs went back-to-back in first round with Yale’s win over Auburn; FAU eliminated in first round in first tournament game since Final Four appearance; Colorado won at the buzzer in a 102-100 shootout vs Florida.
Round of 32 – 3/23-3/24
With seven double-digit seeded teams advancing past the first slate of games, it would be only 11-seeded NC State that advanced to the Sweet 16 with their OT victory over Oakland. Two other games on the weekend also needed extra time: Texas A&M took 1-seed Houston to OT after coming back from down 11 with a minute and change left in the 2nd half, but the Cougars took care of business in overtime; also, Oregon and Creighton needed double overtime to settle their matchup, with Creigthon eventually pulling out with the 86-73 victory (Oregon didn’t have a single field goal in 2OT). This was also the first Round of 32 since 2019 that saw all four 1-seeds (UNC, Purdue, Houston, and UConn) and all four 2-seeds (Iowa State, Marquette, Arizona, Tennessee) advance to the next weekend.
Sweet 16 – 3/28-3/29
2-seed Arizona and 6-seed Clemson kicked the Sweet 16 slate off in a back-and-forth race. It was the Tigers who would eventually pull out with the win, largely in part to Arizona’s putrid shooting from the field. Next, we had a rematch of the previous tournament’s National Championship: 1-seed UConn against 5-seed San Diego State. Much like the title game, it was all UConn in a 82-52 blowout. The first 1-seed met its demise with UNC losing to 4-seed Alabama 89-87; Grant Nelson’s double-double help put a bow on the iconic collegiate careers of UNC’s C Armando Bacot and PG RJ Davis. Illinois would cap off the night by defeating Iowa State, 72-69. NC State would continue their Cinderella run, knocking off Marquette; Mohamed Diarra had 15 rebounds for the Wolfpack. Purdue knocked off Gonzaga, Duke took down the Jamal Shead-less Houston Cougars, and Tennessee advanced past Creighton to cap off the round.
Elite 8 – 3/30-3/31
The regional championships had arrived, with 5 out of the remaining 8 teams on the slate looking to reach their first Final Four in the 21st century (NC State, Purdue, Clemson, Alabama, Tennessee – the latter three have never made a Final Four in their program’s histories). Certain Elite 8 droughts had also been snapped; Clemson reached their first since 1980, NC State since 1986, Alabama since 2004, and Purdue since 2005. On the other hand, blue bloods such as Duke and UConn added to their long list of Elite 8 appearances, tallying numbers 24 and 13 respectively. The only returning program from last year’s Elite 8 was the aforementioned Huskies, this being their 4th appearance to the round since 2010 (2011, 2014, 2023; won national title each year).
As far the results went, it was UConn and Illinois who kickstarted the week. Despite a 5-point difference at half, somewhat of a close game for the Huskies’ standards, UConn annihilated the Illini in the second half, including a 30-0 Huskies run at one point en route to a 77-52 final. Later on Saturday, 6-seed Clemson matched up with 4-seed Alabama in a battle of two schools more known for their football programs. Despite Dabo Swinney and Nick Saban not being involved on the hardwood, the two schools made for a shootout in the final minutes. It was Alabama who came out victorious, 89-82, allowing coach Nate Oats to cut down the nets for the first time in his 5-year tenure with the Crimson Tide. On Saturday, 2-seed Tennessee and 1-seed Purdue would battle it out for the Midwest. The matchup hosted Tennessee’s Dalton Knecht and Purdue’s Zach Edey, two of the more household names in the entire tournament. Knecht and Edey would go on to combine for 77 points (Edey 40, Knecht 37), but it was Purdue who took the contest, 72-66. A Boilermaker program which one year prior had become just the second 1-seed ever to get ousted by a 16-seed (which happened to be nearby FDU) was now just two wins away from re-creating said dubious history (the first 1-seed to lose to a 16 was Virginia in 2018; they would go on to win the entire tournament in 2019). As for Edey, the 7’4” Canadian, who only a couple years prior began his collegiate career as a benchwarmer, was now the poster boy of a Boilermaker team that snapped a 44-year drought without a Final Four appearance in program history. Lastly, NC State looked to continue their Cinderella run vs the Jared McCain-led Blue Devils of Duke. And despite Duke being up 6 at half, the Wolfpack exploded for 55 points in the second half en route to a 76-64 win over the blue-blooded Duke. Fan favorite DJ Burns, weighing in at around 275 lbs, led the way for Kevin Keatts’ squad with 29 points, making NC State the first double digit seed since UCLA in 2021 to cut down the nets.
Final Four & National Championship – 4/6-4/8
Phoenix, Arizona would serve as the center of the collegiate men’s basketball world as State Farm Stadium would host its first Final Four since 2017. 1-seed Purdue and 11-seed NC State would start off the night in a “battle of the bigs” (Edey vs Burns as advertised by some online). NC State was shaky from the field for the majority of the night; meanwhile, Purdue continued their winning formula of including Edey in almost every offensive possession from tip off to the final whistle. A resilient, underdog NC State team with nothing to lose, highlighted by key players such as DJ Burns, DJ Horne, and Mohamed Diarra, saw their run come to an end against the consensus second best team in the country, the final score being 63-50 in favor of Purdue.
Dan Hurley’s Huskies took the court, one win away from a chance to defend their title in the same National Championship game the previous tournament. As for Nate Oats’ Alabama team, the explosive offense that had brought them to this point could be seen as the asset that could prevent UConn from winning their 11th-straight tournament contest. And while Alabama’s offense put up a respectable 72 (40 in the first half which brought a 4-point differential to half, the closest score margin for UConn at halftime all tournament) it still wasn’t good enough to knock off Connecticut, as the entirety of UConn’s starting five put up double digits in the points column (Stephon Castle – 21, Donovan Clingan – 18, Alex Karaban – 14, Cam Spencer – 14, Tristen Newton – 12). UConn would win the game 86-72.
Monday, April 8th brought the grand finale; the National Championship game that saw two 1-seeds for the first time since the aforementioned 2017 tournament in the same building. A Purdue team, with as big of a metaphorical chip on their shoulders imaginable following last year’s embarrassing upset. Meanwhile, a chance for UConn to do something that hadn’t been done since 2007 – repeat as National Champions. The game remained tight for almost the majority of the first half; UConn’s 36-30 lead at half would be the largest lead so far in the game. The Huskies maintained their rhythm for the final 20, and would eventually pull through by a final score of 75-60. At the end of the day, UConn’s upper hand seemed to be the abundance of talent from top to bottom compared to the “one-man show” in Purdue, so much so that Edey accounted for 47% of the Boilermakers shots from the field.
Following one last net cut down by Dan Hurley (his fourth in two years) and the title presentation featuring TNT’s Ernie Johnson, UConn G Tristen Newton would later be announced as the 2024 March Madness Final Four Most Outstanding Player. Despite a tournament that may have lacked that “one shining moment,” mostly due to the majority of the bracket going chalk, it still showcased some classics down the road. And with the 2025 Final Four already confirmed to be taking place at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas next year, now begins the 11-month cycle of awaiting Ian Eagle’s monologue before the madness gets underway once again.
