Dan Hurley Named Naismith College Coach of the Year

PHOENIX – UConn males’s basketball coach Dan Hurley has been named the Werner Ladder Naismith Faculty Coach of the Yr, the Atlanta Tipoff Membership introduced on Sunday (April 7). Hurley turns into the primary head coach on the lads’s facet in UConn historical past to earn Naismith Coach of the Yr honors.

The distinction for Hurley comes amidst a dream season for the Huskies, one nonetheless persevering with with the Nationwide Championship recreation on deck tomorrow evening. UConn has gained a program-record 36 video games this season, at the moment sitting at 36-3 on the marketing campaign. The Huskies are taking part in because the primary total seed within the 2024 NCAA Match, additionally a primary within the historical past of this system.

Hurley’s expenses set the UConn common season win report this 12 months with 28 wins and went 18-2 in BIG EAST play. That set the league report for wins in a single convention season, and the Huskies additionally tied the league report with a +13.9 scoring margin in BIG EAST video games. Connecticut gained the BIG EAST common season by 4 video games and cruised to a BIG EAST Match title. These championships had been the 11^th and eighth in UConn historical past, respectively.

The Huskies have marched their manner again to the NCAA Title recreation with a commanding run by means of March Insanity, profitable their 5 video games within the Huge Dance by a median of 25.0 factors per recreation. UConn has gained 11-straight NCAA Match video games by double-figures, an all-time report.  

Underneath Hurley’s tutelage Tristen Newton turned the seventh consensus First Group All-American in program historical past and the third Husky to win the Bob Cousy Award, honoring the nation’s greatest level guard. All 5 of UConn’s starters common double-figures, a part of an offense honed by the Husky gaffer that ranks No. 1 in Kenpom offensive effectivity. UConn additionally ranks fourth in Kenpom’s defensive effectivity metric, giving the Huskies a devastating two-way punch.

The Huskies are in search of to develop into the primary crew since Florida in 2006-07 to win back-to-back titles, however what has been significantly spectacular in UConn’s case is the truth that the Huskies misplaced 5 of the highest eight of their rotation from final 12 months’s title-winning squad. Conencticut misplaced over 60 % of its scoring and greater than 70 % of its rebounding from the 2022-23 crew, retooling to presumably develop into even higher than that championship outfit which began 14-0 and completed with 31 wins.

Hurley and the Huskies look to place a capper on their historic marketing campaign on Monday evening, taking over fellow 1-seed Purdue at State Farm Stadium.