UConn basketball has experienced a renaissance under head coach Dan Hurley, with last year's national title capping off a magical 31-8 season.

This year, the Huskies have been even better; UConn is 28-3, the Big East regular-season champions, and the favorite to repeat as national champions. So it probably shouldn't come as too much of a surprise that the country's best team scooped up several Big East awards.

UConn swept the Associated Press (AP) Big East awards, with Hurley winning Coach of the Year, Tristen Newton named Player of the Year, and fifth-year senior transfer Cam Spencer awarded Newcomer of the Year. The Big East's own award winners will be announced today, but it wouldn't be shocking to see UConn have similar success.

The Huskies won 18 of their 20 Big East games in the regular season, four games better than second-place Creighton and Marquette. Newton and Spencer have been the team's best scorers; Newton leads the team with 15.0 points per game, while Spencer is averaging 14.7 points while shooting 45.1% from three-point range.

UConn will have its work cut out for it to win its second consecutive national title. No team in the last 15 years has done so and only two teams in the last 50 years have won back-to-back national championships (Duke and Florida).

UConn is the most likely team to cut down the nets next month, though. The Huskies have +500 odds to win the title, the best in the country, and are followed by Houston (+600), Purdue (+700), Arizona (+1000), and Tennessee (+1100).

As the No. 1 seed, UConn has a first-round bye in the Big East tournament, which begins today. The Huskies will play the winner of Butler vs. Xavier in the second round tomorrow.