Dan Hurley Holds Nothing Back About UConn's Mentality Entering Final Four

Dan Hurley knows what it takes to win the National Championship, but he’s never been in a position like this before.

His two previous victories in the Elite 8 have been overwhelmingly convincing and when his team returned to Storrs for practice, it was back to work like normal.

But Sunday’s win over Duke was anything but normal. It was an iconic March Madness moment delivered by a freshman who sent the Huskies to his home state for the Final Four.

Even Hurley knew he had to take it easy on the first day back at practice – but for only one day.

“I had to let everyone enjoy it,” he said at the Final Four on Thursday. “I couldn't come in on Monday like a cold damp blanket and just start destroying people on Monday. That just would have been a cruel thing to do to people's spirit after such an incredible victory.”

Yet on Tuesday he was back to his passionate and demanding self.

“Tuesday you've just got to bring everybody back to reality,” he added. “The reality is that moment is over. It's an incredible moment. You'll have that moment the rest of your life.”

The goal for the Huskies is simple – hang another banner and continue a modern age dynasty in college basketball in which player retention, the transfer portal, and NIL make it nearly impossible.

“We came here for rings, not watches,” Hurley stated. “Everyone that comes to the Final Four gets a beautiful watch, but only one group is going to get a ring.”

It’s the strange dynamic in UConn’s season that is lacking a title. Sure, the East Regional championship is something to boast and be proud about but in the history of Husky basketball those are footnotes.

This team didn’t win a championship in the Big East. The regular season and conference titles both went to St. John’s after UConn lost its finale against Marquette which would have earned them a tie of the title and were blown out by the Red Storm in the conference championship.

“Get off social media, stop injecting the dopamine into your arm and get serious about the preparation and the practice because we don't hang banners for Final Fours at UConn. We hang National Championship banners,” Hurley explained.

“If you want to hang a banner, you've got to get your eyes off social media, get your face out of the phone and get locked in on Illinois because Illinois is one of the best teams in the country and they're as big a threat to winning this tournament as any of the four teams.”

Dan Hurley knows what it takes to cut down the nets on Monday night and he’s hoping his team can find the right focus to earn two more victories and complete this storybook NCAA Tournament on the right note.