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In her remarks at Big East media day, conference commissioner Val Ackerman advocated the idea of playing the men’s and women’s Final Fours in the same location. This would make it easy for people to get to both, and the women’s game could profit from it, Ackerman reasoned. But if this ever comes to pass, they might just as well call it “The UConn Rule.” Until then, maybe you can charter a plane? Here at the old BCW (Basketball Capital of the World), the new season brings renewed expectations that both Dan Hurley’s and Geno Auriemma’s Huskies will be playing in their respective Final Fours. The only school to have won both championships in the same year, as they did in 2004 and 2014, UConn will once again field teams that could three-peat that rarest of feats. Dom Amore: Azzi Fudd ‘owning her space’ to begin her last dance with UConn women “I love the team,” Hurley said, after UConn’s victory over Michigan State in the last preseason tuneup. “I think this team’s got a chance to be a contending team this year, in the Big East and (beyond). We’ve got a lot of answers.” If you’re pricing things out, the men’s Final Four is April 4-6 at Indianapolis, the women are in Phoenix April 3-5. The men are ranked fourth in the preseason AP Poll. After winning back-to-back championships in 2023 and 2024, the program’s fifth and sixth, Hurley’s Huskies were eliminated by eventual champion Florida in a tight second-round tournament game last March. The program spent the offseason regenerating itself, stocking the roster, under new rules, to a total of 15 scholarship players. More importantly, they kept the players around which they hope to build out of the transfer portal and in the fold. What has emerged in preseason wins over Boston College and Michigan State is a group that appears ready to play the dogged, disruptive defense Hurley likes, and run the complicated offensive movements he and his staff have developed over the years. That combination was particularly lethal in the last championship season, when UConn was rarely challenged, and anything close to that will make for another run deep into March Madness. After the men were eliminated last March, the women’s team picked up the cudgel and routed opponents along the way to the program’s 12th championship, the first since 2016, giving Hartford its third parade in as many Aprils. They will have to replace Paige Bueckers, who went on to be chosen first in the WNBA Draft and win the league’s rookie of the year award, but Auriemma’s Huskies are ranked No.1 in the preseason poll, and have the deepest roster UConn has had in years. “Each one of our repeat champions, returners were able to almost carry it on their own,” Auriemma said. “The (Diana Taurasi) repeats were ‘D’ and her ability to lift the tide. This particular year, based on what I’ve seen so far, trying to incorporate five new players is a lot. It’s a lot. And we don’t have a ‘D’ personality on our team, so that’s going to have to evolve.” For the women, it starts with Azzi Fudd, the most outstanding player at the Final Four, where the Huskies routed UCLA and South Carolina. Back for a fifth season, she appears comfortable in the “Face of the Program” role. Sarah Strong, the standout freshman last season, is back and more assertive as a sophomore, poised to be the next great UConn player. So a few years after many were ready to declare UConn women’s basketball a done dynasty, the end of the reign no longer appears on the horizon. “The danger is, everybody who has a vision of what we looked like last April are going to watch the game against Louisville and think’s going to look just like that,” Auriemma said. “It’s not.” The Huskies begin their season against Louisville at Annapolis, Md., on Tuesday, and play Florida State, Ohio State, Michigan, Utah, South Florida, Southern Cal, Iowa and Notre Dame in high-profile nonconference games that will define the regular season. UConn will be playing 20 Big East games, and the conference has not provided much competition in recent years. “I have found over the years that the hardest thing for a team post-championship is having a balance between two things,” Auriemma said. “One, because we’ve done it already, let’s be bored during the season and wait for the NCAA Tournament because that’s the most fun. And they forget what a road it was to get to that point, and what a struggle it is to get to that point, so you’ve got to remind them of that and not to be too cocky, or confident going into the season. “The other thing that happens, they look around and a couple of the people who got them over the hump are not there and they look at themselves, ‘Do I have it, can I replicate what some of the players who left were doing?’ As time goes on, those things balance out.” With Auriemma turning 72 before the end of the season, it’s best to for Connecticut to savor what he’s doing while he’s still coaching the program in search of No. 13. The men start their season on Monday at Gampel Pavilion against the University of New Haven, playing its first Division I game after moving up from D-II. With an eye on gaining a better NCAA seeding than last year, and moving away from long travel to multiteam events like Hawaii or The Bahamas, Hurley has loaded his nonconference schedule with the likes of BYU, Illinois, Arizona, Florida, Kansas and Texas. The 20-game Big East schedule will feature two games against St. John’s, also a top-10 team, but the conference is not considered as strong top-to-bottom as it usually is, based on preseason rankings. Dom Amore: Dan Hurley, Rick Pitino bring old-school fire to a new era of the Big East The ultra-intense Hurley, 52, who has published a memoir, “Never Stop,” had an introspective offseason, and promises to coach differently, with less “ego” in 2025-26. His methods, however he may adjust them year to year, have been proven to work. His core includes Alex Karaban, holdover from the two championships, a group of veteran Huskies and transfers. Presumptive freshman sensation Braylon Mullins is out the first few weeks with an ankle injury, but the way the Huskies looked in the preseason games with point guard Silas Demary Jr. missing one game, Mullins missing one, and starting center Tarris Reed Jr. missing both, there is reason to believe another run to the Final Four, once all the players are healthy, is in the offing. If the Huskies do not win it again, the road to Indy will likely lead through them.
