UConn Revives 'Bulletproof Basketball': 'The Uniform's Not Gonna Win It For Us'

Dan Hurley's Huskies suddenly look whole again
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Complacency is a human inevitability, even for a superhuman program like the UConn Huskies.

That’s why Huskies players couldn’t avoid feeling comfortable in their gorgeous, national championship-signifying UConn uniforms as they took the floor in beautiful Hawaii at the end of November for the Maui Invitational.

It turns out Dan Hurley’s players were more than a little too comfortable.

Now that UConn has conquered three elite programs as part of an epic, four-game winning streak since leaving Maui, it’s a lighter exercise to analyze what went wrong on the island.

For Hurley, it came down to a lack of supreme effort on defense and on the glass, two factors that have defined UConn’s excellence over the past two seasons, a point Hurley made to FOX Sports’ John Fanta on Saturday after UConn’s humongous win over Gonzaga at Madison Square Garden.

“The success we’ve had (in the past), the level that we’ve won at, it’s been because of the bulletproof basketball,” Hurley said.

“We’ve been an elite offensive team, an elite rebounding team, an elite defensive team, and on our trip to the island, we didn’t pack our defense and our rebounding.”

“And I think (we’re) coming to grips with the fact that the uniform’s not gonna win it for us. Human beings are gonna win it for us that defend, and rebound, and play their hearts out.”

Hurley’s boys certainly did all three of those things versus Gonzaga. UConn delivered maximum effort and passion on the grandest stage, prompting Gonzaga’s future Hall of Fame head coach Mark Few to describe Hurley and the Huskies as having the “heart of a champion” after the game.

This UConn team entered the season weighed down by a gnarly psychological dilemma — you’re reigning champions, but you’re also not, because most of the guys that won those titles are gone.

This Huskies group was therefore in desperate need of some sort of cultural and basketball ‘reset’ to make them understand that they were indeed starting from ground zero — that this group hasn’t won anything.

Maui may have been a blessing in disguise in that it provided UConn with that reset. Suddenly, the Huskies look like a bunch of immensely talented — though unproven and hungry — basketball players with a collective chip on their shoulders.

It’s not at all what your average back-to-back defending champ looks like, but it’s precisely the attitude this group needs to win its first national title (which would just so happen to be the program’s third in a row).

More NCAA: Dan Hurley's Character Emerges When UConn Players Are At Their Lowest


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Colin Keane
COLIN KEANE

Colin Keane is a contributing journalist for "UConn Huskies On SI." Born in Illinois, Colin grew up in Massachusetts as the third of four brothers. For his high school education, Colin attended St. Mark's School (Southborough, MA), where he played basketball and soccer and served as student body president. He went on to receive a Bachelor of Arts in English Literature from Villanova University. Colin currently resides in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. For all business/marketing inquiries regarding "UConn Huskies On SI," please reach out to Scott Neville: scott@wtfsports.org