Stephen A. Smith Broke Down Why He Thinks UConn is the ‘Michael Jordan’ of College Basketball

Patrick Andres | Apr 9, 2024

The Connecticut Huskies celebrate winning the men's NCAA national championship game against the Purdue Boilermakers. / Joe Rondone/The Republic / USA TODAY

In men's college basketball, the last quarter-century has belonged to Connecticut.

The Huskies, who as recently as 50 years ago were members of the Yankee Conference alongside Maine and New Hampshire, won their sixth national championship since 1999 Monday night with a dominant 75-60 victory over Purdue.

Milestones were everywhere: Connecticut tied North Carolina for the third most titles all time, became the first team since Florida from 2006-07 to win back-to-back championships, and set a record for highest point differential in one NCAA men's tournament.

That led ESPN's Stephen A. Smith to bestow a lofty title on the Huskies Tuesday: that of "the Michael Jordan of college basketball."

"They're the Michael Jordan of college basketball," Smith said. "In their six national titles—1999, 2004, 2011, 2014 and obviously back-to-back this year—they're 6-0 in national championship games."

"They're the Michael Jordan of college basketball... In their 6 national titles... they're 6-0 in national championship games."

Stephen A. Smith on the UConn Huskies going back-to-back 🗣️pic.twitter.com/aqBHUkW5St

— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) April 9, 2024

Jordan—who also has a claim to the title of Michael Jordan of college basketball, given that he is Michael Jordan—went 6-0 in NBA Finals series as a guard for the Chicago Bulls, and also won an NCAA crown with North Carolina in 1982.

"I'm looking at the coaching, I'm looking at the balanced scoring attack, I'm looking at the perimeter shooting... UConn (was) not a one-dimensional monster. They can beat you (in myriad) ways, and they certainly did it in one game last night," Smith said.