Jay Williams’s Mount Rushmore of CBB Blue Bloods Includes UConn, Not Kentucky

After dominating the 20th century, the Wildcats have just one title in the 21st.

Most men's college basketball observers, asked to compile a list of the sport's blue bloods, would include Kentucky. They might even start the list with the eight-time national champion Wildcats.

Most. But not all.

Count ESPN analyst and former Duke guard Jay Williams, the 2002 Wooden Award winner, among those low on Kentucky as Connecticut's national championship has sparked a discussion of which programs qualify for the most exclusive club in college hoops.

Appearing on his show with fellow ESPN analyst Max Kellerman and guest host Chris Canty, Williams declared the Huskies part of a Mount Rushmore of the sport with Kansas, North Carolina and the Blue Devils. Kentucky, which has just one national championship—2012—since 1998 did not make the list.

“They’ve won five chips since the year 1999,” Williams says. “Blue bloods, to me, means there’s a sustainability of success. There’s a relevancy factor. And I think UConn for the last couple of years has been relevant since Dan Hurley has rejuvenated this team.”

Hurley, hired away from Rhode Island after the 2018 season, has raised the Huskies' winning percentage in each of his five years in Storrs. He's written a new chapter in the history of a program that has excelled since the turn of the century, before which it tended to underachieve.

“I look at the success they’ve had over the years and there’s no question they’re one of the blue bloods," Williams said.