Process over perfection: How UConn prepared to chase its third title in four years

HARTFORD, Conn. -- "Dynasty" occupied Dan Hurley's mind for eight straight months.

Fresh off UConn's 2023 and 2024 national championships, the Huskies coach ordered bracelets inscribed with the word for the team. He opened their first offseason practice with highlights of the Chicago Bulls' three-peat from the 1990s. He saved a book about legendary UCLA coach John Wooden to read just before the 2024-25 season.

The focus was singular: do what hasn't been done in men's college basketball since Wooden and those Bruins did it more than 50 years ago -- win a third straight title.

Hurley set the bar so high that when his team matched the total number of their nonconference losses from the previous season before November of 2024 was even over, it felt as if they had crashed down to earth.

"Last year's experience was grueling and miserable for the most part," Hurley told ESPN in early February. "When you're used to dominant national championship runs and that [becomes] more of a survival fest, the ego explodes and the frustration builds and the disappointment, the resentment and you're tough to be around and you're tough for yourself to be around."

The Huskies went on to finish third in the Big East Conference and entered the 2025 NCAA tournament as an 8-seed before eventual champion Florida sent them packing in the second round. The pressure proved insurmountable for a roster that featured only three players from those title-winning teams. Hurley knew he had put the burden of championship expectations on a group that hadn't earned them. He knew he had to adjust for 2025-26.

With a new philosophy to balance his trademark intensity, Hurley has adjusted -- his approach to roster construction and, perhaps more importantly, his expectations. Now with the focus on process over perfection, the Huskies are the No. 4 team in the country and are tracking for a 1-seed in the NCAA tournament. They have a realistic shot at their third national title in four years -- a dynasty still in reach.

"Just be about how we pursue things," Hurley told ESPN about the shift. "If we pursue things honorably, preparation, how hard we play, putting everything in pursuit of championship glory, then we'll give ourselves a real shot."

Hurley didn't have to go far for a wake-up call. A conversation with the Hall of Fame coach on the other side of UConn's basketball facility set him straight.

"Where's the joy in the things that you've always been about as a coach before you went on the championship run?" Geno Auriemma pressed, according to Hurley's book.

"It's like getting enjoyment out of coaching [Alex] Karaban for his last year," Hurley told ESPN of the lessons he immediately applied. "I want to enjoy that experience. I want to enjoy the experience of going into big games or Big East games, the experience of trying to win the Big East or striving for a 1-seed or all the things. It's not just the end result."

Hurley fully leaned into the process, starting with the recruitment of the most important position on the court.

After nailing the signing of East Carolina transfer Tristen Newton in 2022 -- a key player in their first title win who then earned All-America honors and was the Most Outstanding Player at the 2024 Final Four -- the Huskies rushed to find his replacement. The Aidan Mahaney experiment didn't work, with Hurley acknowledging he didn't put the Saint Mary's transfer in the best position to succeed. So to get the most out of Karaban's final season, the Huskies didn't take another chance. They sifted through and vetted options until they found a point guard in Newton's mold, someone with size who could control the pace and make an impact at both ends of the court: Georgia transfer Silas Demary Jr.

"He's changed everything for us and we play off his energy on the defensive end," Karaban said of Demary. "He came in, he bought into everyone, he bought into the coaching staff and now he just changed us. He made us a national championship contender again, which is really a credit to him, a credit to the coaches. It's crazy how one position could really change everything and he did that."

Karaban also has a claim to the year-over-year improvements. The redshirt senior forward became the face of the program a year ago, when expectations were at their highest. Now with intense pressure behind him, he is much more comfortable in his role.

"I really let games affect how I was as a leader," Karaban said. "So really just learning and growing from my personal experiences last year while having the success of the first two years, I think I've seen everything. I've been through everything to where I can help the team out with my voice."

Karaban carries himself differently now, with more gravitas in his role as the Huskies' pacesetter. Teammates look his way for direction during practice and games. He's the one they lean on during times of adversity. And it's not only players.

At a practice the day before a game in early February against Xavier, Hurley and assistant coach Luke Murray were going through the scout and game plan for the Musketeers. Toward the end, Hurley walked over to Karaban and asked if there was anything else they hadn't seen in prep that they should run through. Naturally, the program's all-time winningest men's basketball player had some suggestions.

"A guy like that really is the culture for UConn," Tarris Reed Jr. told ESPN of Karaban. "He really sets the tone, sets the standard for what UConn is and he won two national championships. I haven't been there. He's been to the mountaintop twice. I'm trying to get there. Having a leader like that to really roll behind and knowing that whatever he does, you do."

Better on-court leadership and a renewed focus on process has lent itself to improved chemistry. When asked to pinpoint the biggest difference between last season and this season, Reed and Solo Ball both said the same thing: camaraderie.

It started in the summer -- with enthusiasm in workouts and a roster committed to competing, top to bottom.

"We had a different energy every single practice we went into and it's everyone uplifting each other," Ball said. "Being loud throughout the whole practice and in the squad scrimmages. That's really when I knew how competitive [we] were. I just knew. I was like, 'Yeah, no, we're going to be special.'"

Hurley's year-over-year adjustments have made the Huskies legitimate title contenders, but they haven't led to outright domination.

First came the injuries. Five-star freshman Braylon Mullins sat out the first six games of the season because of an ankle injury, then sat out another in January while in concussion protocol. Reed's availability was inconsistent throughout the first month of the season, first because of a hamstring issue and then an ankle injury. Ball has dealt with a wrist injury. Karaban has been banged up. Jaylin Stewart sat out a win over St. John's because of knee inflammation.

What those injuries did -- especially Mullins' and Reed's -- was force Hurley to lean on his bench more than expected, developing some of the best depth in college basketball.

"It forced us to develop a will to win," Hurley said. "It created situational basketball where we're comfortable and at the end of close games executing and having a belief that we're going to find a way to win. And I think just giving the team a lot of confidence, like knowing that you beat some really top-flight teams without two starters or with one starter in, one out, guys coming back from injuries. I think it gave the group a lot of confidence."

Injuries haven't been the only challenge to UConn's title credentials. Uneven performances in Big East play have also opened the door to questions.

UConn's 2023-24 team was a juggernaut, setting a record for consecutive nonconference victories by double digits and leading the nation in scoring margin by more than two points per game. This season's team hasn't quite had the same ability to bury opponents. In the 17 Big East wins, two came in overtime and another five came by two or fewer possessions.

The Huskies' offense and defense also haven't always clicked at the same time.

During the first 2½ months of the season, they had one of the nation's elite defenses but an offense that could get itself into trouble with turnovers or a lack of 3-point volume. Through Jan. 30, UConn was No. 39 in adjusted offensive efficiency and No. 2 in adjusted defensive efficiency. Then once they started hitting shots consistently in late January, their defense fell off a cliff, giving up at least 1.15 points per possession in four straight games -- something they had done only once in the first 23 games. Between Feb. 1 and 18, the Huskies were No. 14 in adjusted offensive efficiency and No. 99 in adjusted defensive efficiency.

Both units looked to be at their best in recent crucial wins over Villanova and St. John's, though, with UConn ranking third nationally in adjusted efficiency margin at Bart Torvik over the past three games.

Mullins has established himself as a consistent perimeter threat, scoring in double figures in seven straight games before to the win over St. John's, including a career-high 25 points against Creighton. Karaban is a constant, while Ball has rediscovered his shooting stroke and has improved on defense. Demary is a top-five transfer. And Reed has looked like one of the elite big men in the country lately, with his 20-point, 11-rebound, 6-block performance against St. John's "as good as a center has played for us in a game," according to Hurley.

"There's not a whole lot for me to complain about," Hurley told reporters after the St. John's blowout. "Just a lot of soul-searching by the group during that stretch that started at MSG, where our defense kind of tanked. And then you saw today, its capabilities when we're dialed in."

Don't mistake Hurley's regrets about his approach to last season as a sign that his -- and the program's -- relentless pursuit of success has waned.

With 11:48 left in last month's win over St. John's, NBC showed a snippet of UConn's huddle during a media timeout.

"So after how hard we fought, right now we're gonna give in on the glass?" Hurley yelled to his players after the Red Storm grabbed three offensive rebounds in the previous minute of play. "That's what we're gonna do? We talk of not letting each other down. Don't let each other down. Don't regret something we watch on film where you could've dug a ball out. Don't give them life right now. Beat their ass!"

UConn was up by 23 at the time.

The Huskies immediately scored the next seven points to push the lead to 30, St. John's never made another field goal and UConn's status as a national title contender was solidified.

"It was just our night," Hurley told reporters afterward.

Even with the close wins, the disappointing performance in the first meeting at St. John's and the stunning home defeat to Creighton on Feb. 18, UConn is actually on a similar trajectory to the 2023-24 title team and comfortably ahead of the 2022-23 version.

In 2022-23, the Huskies lost six of eight games in the middle of the season and were 5-6 in Big East play at one point. In 2023-24, they lost by 15 at Seton Hall just before Christmas, and by 19 at Creighton on Feb. 20 for their third loss.

"Those first two years ... we didn't peak," Karaban said. "We didn't peak at a certain moment. We continued to get better and better. And that's something I want this group to know, too. The point is you want to play your best basketball in March and April."

Bouncing back from those losses and then going on to win national championships has helped inform the Huskies' approach this time of year. It didn't matter if UConn was the best team in January and February, it just needs to be the best team when the stakes are highest. And they're about to rise.

UConn has a head coach with a staff that has won two national championships. It has a four-year starter with two titles under his belt. It has another three players with one championship ring. There's only one other team in the country -- Florida -- with that sort of championship pedigree on its current roster.

Ball called it "UConn swagger." Reed said "Sweet 16s and Elite Eights aren't good enough here."

Will that make a difference when the NCAA tournament starts? Hurley thinks so.

"I think it gives us an edge come March because we know we could do it," he told ESPN. "If you've never done it and you've never won it, you've never gotten to a Final Four, there's going to be doubt. ... I've been there. I've had that doubt before. And the thing about UConn is, once we get out of that first round, we think we're supposed to win it."