Superstitions in college basketball: Why the wife of UConn’s Dan Hurley travels with a portable washing machine

The superstitions present in the college basketball world were thrust back into the spotlight over the weekend when UConn men’s basketball coach Dan Hurley revealed that his wife travels with a portable washing machine.

For this year’s NCAA Tournament games, Hurley has been wearing the exact same outfit he wore during UConn’s title run last season. That includes the same shirt, pants, jacket, socks, shoes and red dragon underwear, Tracy Wolfson reported during UConn’s win over Northwestern.

Hurley uses the portable washing machine to wash his game-day outfit between games.

Since UConn won the NCAA Tournament last year, it makes sense that Hurley would want to replicate every detail of that season’s success. But the coach also has other superstitions.

For example, he eats eight M&M’s before every game and has to have a cup of Bulletproof coffee on the sideline, Wolfson reported.

Hurley is not the only member of the basketball community with superstitions. Here are five other strange superstition stories from college basketball coaches and players:

Michael Jordan

Not even basketball’s greatest players are immune to superstitions.

Michael Jordan famously wore his UNC shorts under his Chicago Bulls shorts for every game of his NBA career. He started wearing longer shorts to help conceal them, according to 247Sports.

This superstition was featured in the 1991 film “Space Jam.” After a retired Jordan agrees to help the Looney Tunes beat the Monstars, he tasks Daffy Duck with packing his UNC shorts for the game.

“Whatever you do, don’t forget my North Carolina shorts,” Jordan said in the film.

Pat Summitt

While leading the University of Tennessee to eight NCAA titles and a record 1,098 wins, Pat Summitt collected heads-up pennies and wore them in her shoes during games, according to Sporting News Today.

“I pick up heads-up pennies, and I wear those in my shoes during the postseason. And four-leaf clovers. The last two championships, I’ve worn them in my shoes,” she said.

Summitt’s superstitions didn’t stop there.

Prior to the 1989 Final Four, Summitt and two of her assistants — Holly Warlick and Mickie DeMoss — realized they hadn’t shaved their legs since their last loss. Warlick and DeMoss wanted to shave their legs before the big game, but Summitt urged them not to in order to preserve their 15-game win streak, according to the Tampa Bay Times.

“Pat was like, ‘No, you can’t. Got to take a hit for the team, doesn’t matter. Put some leg makeup on or whatever you’ve got to do,’” DeMoss told the Times.

Summitt ended up secretly shaving her legs and the Vols still won the title.

John Calipari

For good luck, most people look for four-leaf clovers, but not Kentucky’s John Calipari.

Calipari instead looks for bobby pins, and his unique good luck charm is no secret to other coaches.

“If I go for a walk and find a bobby pin, we’re winning,” he told NCAA.com. “Most coaches before they shake my hand will say, ‘Did you find a bobby pin today?’”

The day of the 2022 NBA draft, Calipari sent TyTy Washington, a former player of Calipari’s, a picture of a bobby pin he found that day as a sign of good luck while Washington was waiting to be drafted, according to Tyler Thompson, the editor-in-chief of Kentucky Sports Radio.

Calipari is so superstitious that he won’t let his in-laws attend games anymore because they attended a game and Kentucky lost.

“I don’t want to leave them tickets or we’re losing the game,” he told Sporting News.

He has also revealed that if he is served raisins in his oatmeal as part of his pre-game breakfast, Kentucky will lose. A 27-game win streak and 50-win streak at home were snapped after Calipari was served oatmeal with raisins.

Kermit Davis

While coaching at Middle Tennessee State University, Kermit Davis ate the same meal before each game: fried chicken and a romaine salad with balsamic dressing, according to the Daily News Journal.

Prior to that meal, an MTSU player would bless the food. The player who said the prayer would change every time MTSU lost. In 2018, freshman Davion Thomas said the prayer for at least nine straight games to preserve the win streak.

Baylor’s neon uniforms

In 2012, the NCAA denied the Baylor Bears’ petition to wear their neon green uniforms for their Elite Eight matchup against Kentucky, according to Yahoo Sports.

The Bears had gone 4-0 while wearing the jerseys, and head coach Scott Drew claimed the uniforms had more benefits than providing extra luck.

“We’ve had some turnover issues earlier in the year, and I think this has helped with it,” he said, according to Yahoo. “We pass to the right guys because we stand out, so I’m good with that.”

Say what you want about superstitions, but without their lucky jerseys, the Bears fell to Kentucky 82-70.