GLENDALE, Ariz. – If the 30-0 Elite Eight surge against Illinois did not convince you there is something different about Connecticut’s run through the 2024 edition of March Madness, then maybe you’ll be convinced by the numbers that prove it conclusively.
If UConn wins by a margin of just three points in the NCAA Championship game against Purdue, it will have constructed the most dominant run in the NCAA Tournament’s expanded bracket era.
Since 1985, when the NCAA first began including 64 teams in the field, no one has won the six games necessary to secure the title by more than the 21.5 points per game established by 1996 Kentucky. That’s a total of 129 points separating those Wildcats from their six opponents: San Jose State, Virginia Tech, Utah, Wake Forest, Massachusetts and Syracuse.
SN's MARCH MADNESS HQ
Live NCAA bracket news | TV schedule | Printable PDF
The only other team to achieve an average 20-point margin was 2009 North Carolina, featuring Tyler Hansbrough and Ty Lawson, which won by 20.2 points over its six games. Villanova has two of the next three spots: 2016 (19) and 2018 (17.7) with 1990 UNLV (18.7) in between.
UConn already has won its five games by a total of 127 points: by 39 over Stetson, by 17 over Northwestern, by 30 over San Diego State, by 25 over Illinois and, on Saturday night, by 14 over Alabama at the Final Four.
“They're good,” Crimson Tide coach Nate Oats said afterward. “They're close to being bulletproof. When you're that great on both sides of the ball, you out-rebound teams … the official box score had us down for zero fast break points. The first time all year that that's happened to us.
“UConn is great. It's going to be a great matchup Monday night. Our guys were really good from this stretch in the NCAA tournament. We just came up a little short tonight, but we came up short against a great team.”
MORE: The Monday night matchup we've all been waiting for
UConn already is the first program to win 11 consecutive NCAA Tournament games by double-digit margins. Even that amazing Kentucky team, considered by many to be the best of this era, won its two Final Four games by single-digit margins: by seven over Marcus Camby and UMass in the semis, by nine over John Wallace and Syracuse in the final.
Alabama was competitive in the semis against UConn – until it was not. It was a tie game with 12:41 left. UConn scored the next eight points and only briefly thereafter allowed the lead to decrease to two possessions. The Huskies closed the game on a 10-4 mini-run over the final 3 minutes to push the margin beyond what had been established as the pregame betting line.
“I think the feeling just with the group is it's body blows, it's body blows, it's continue to guard, continue to rebound, execute our offense,” UConn coach Dan Hurley said. “Eventually there will be a breaking point opportunity that will present itself, especially in this tournament.”
