Dan Hurley's UConn Huskies unfazed with pressure that comes with being defending champion

Winning a championship is not easy. But defending it once you have won it, most agree, is more difficult.

So when it came time to navigate the potential pitfalls, Connecticut coach Dan Hurley had some people to lean on, people that have successfully done it. That group would include Chicago Bulls coach Billy Donovan, who directed the last team to repeat in the Florida Gators (2006, 2007). Then there is retired Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski, whose team did so in 1991 and 1992.

Of course Dan's older brother, Bobby, now the head coach at Arizona State, was on those Duke teams, so that is a resource even closer to home.

Dan Hurley's Huskies will be the star attraction of the NCAA semifinals on Saturday at State Farm Stadium. UConn (35-3) is the overall No. 1 seed and is preparing for a Final Four matchup against first-time semifinalist Alabama (25-11) at 5:49 p.m. The earlier semifinal will pit Purdue (33-4) against suddenly surging Cinderella North Carolina State (26-14).

"I tell you what, we did talk about, like, reigning and defending more than I was told to" Hurley said. "Actually, we talked a lot about with Tristen (Newton), Donovan (Clingan) and A.K. (Alex Karaban). Karaban was like, you have a chance to make history at a place that's impossible to make history. That was probably what we leaned into a lot with that returning core that could have been complacent because been there, done that. Final Four, national championships, I did it already, why do I got to push so hard? You got a chance to make history at a place that's impossible to make history."

UCLA had its dynasty run when it won 10 between 1964 and 1975. Besides those Bruins teams, only six schools have repeated in an event that dates back to 1939.

What Bobby Hurley thinks about a repeat

"You're a target first of all, but it can be a draining season as every game you're going to play as a repeating champ, you're going to get targeted. It's going to be every team's Super Bowl when they play you. That can weigh on you," Bobby Hurley said.

"And for Dan to have the success he had in the regular season, once this postseason tournament hits, you can kind of take it to a different level. That's where we were able to do in my back-to-back year. We knew what was right in front of us. It was our goal when we started the season and there were a lot of months for us to get to March where the Final Four is in front of you, the NCAA Tournament, so when you can taste how close it is you step it up and take it to a different level and that's what I've seen in a majority of games with UConn."

What has been impressive is the manner in which UConn has run roughshod over its opponents. That is one thing Hurley's current version of the Huskies had with last year's team. In the 2023 run, UConn's average margin of victory was 22.7 points, topped off with a 76-59 title tilt win over San Diego State.

This season the Huskies are winning by an average of 27.8 points and it hasn't mattered how deep into the tournament they've been. UConn's 77-52 win over Illinois in the Elite Eight round featured a 30-0 run which started the last couple minutes of the first half and extended into the second.

Alabama coach Nate Oats, a longtime friend of both Hurley brothers, knows his team has its work cut out for it. The Crimson Tide won't be a pushover, as Oats' team comes in with the highest-scoring offense in the country at 90.6 points per game, led by senior guard Mark Sears (21.5 ppg).

Nate Oats' mindset as he takes on UConn

"We had to sell our guys that we can make the run before the tournament. Now that we made the run, get to the Final Four, I want our guys playing loose and free, but I want them thinking they got a chance to win," Oats said. "I'm not going into this game just happy to be here. UConn is great. Danny has done a great job. As Danny said, they're bulletproof. Other teams have been up on them, going on runs. The problem is, they go on a huge run as evidenced by the last game, 30-0. We just can't give them these big runs that everybody gives up."

One thing that makes UConn's potential repeat a bit different than the last two teams who did so is that Hurley has done it with almost an entirely new cast, whereas the previous two returned a solid core. UConn lost five of its top eight players including Adama Sanogo and Jordan Hawkins, who averaged a combined 56 points.

Bobby Hurley says he has been impressed with how his brother has indentified just the right players to plug into his system.

Danny said as much when asked about that in his interview session with the media earlier this week.

"Just to have a special group of players that have that combination of talent and humility, a willingness to not make it about themselves, a commitment to both ends of the court, doing what's in the best interest of the team, making the hustle and effort plays on the backboard, preparing the right way," he said.

"From a coaching staff standpoint, a player standpoint, getting the absolute perfect group of people around you. This tournament is the hardest thing to do. I mean, you could see it. The programs, the best resources, biggest brands, have a hard time getting here because of the changes in the game recently. We've made an incredibly hard tournament to advance in look easy. Probably a lot easier than it really is."

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Dan Hurley's UConn Huskies unfazed by defending champion pressure