The UConn men's basketball program is preparing to try to complete back-to-back championship seasons with the national championship against Purdue approaching on Monday, and in his media appearance on Sunday, head coach Dan Hurley spoke about how he has adapted his roster building in the NIL and transfer portal era of college sports.

“I think all of us should shut up and not try to help people who don't know what they're doing,” Dan Hurley said, via Dan Wolken of USA Today Sports.

Hurley and his staff have been arguably the best example of how to build a roster and what kind of culture teams should try to build in college basketball over the last two seasons. There are a ton of reasons that the UConn men's basketball team has been arguably the model program over the last two seasons.

If UConn can come away with a win on Monday, Hurley would join an exclusive club by winning two national championships in a row. Purdue is a tougher test than any of the teams the Huskies have faced this season, but that is the case for the Boilermakers as well. This could go down as a classic championship game between two heavyweights.

Regardless of the outcome, Hurley has mastered what it takes to build a contending roster in this era, so let's take a look into why that has taken place.

Dan Hurley's recipe for success with UConn

Dan Hurley has mastered roster building

Over the last two years when looking at the rosters for the UConn men's basketball program, it is clear that the foundation has been build with the freshman classes that they have been brought in by Hurley and his staff. Developing that talent is key for building the roster into a national title contender.

For last year's championship team, the three best players were Adama Sanogo, Jordan Hawkins and Andre Jackson Jr. Sanogo and Jackson were juniors, while Hawkins was a sophomore. Donovan Clingan was a key player off the bench as well when Sanogo went to the bench, and Alex Karaban was a key freshman as well, as he started at the four. The key was that Hurley used the transfer portal to augment that roster in specific areas.

Tristen Newton was brought in for the 2022-2023 season, and he filled the point guard role tremendously. Hassan Diarra, Joey Calcaterra and Nahiem Alleyne were key pieces to make UConn lethal with its bench unit as well.

For this year's team, the foundation was built on holdovers like Newton, Karaban and Clingan. Stephon Castle is a likely one-and-done freshman who is unselfish, and the last spot in the starting five is taken up by Rutgers transfer Cam Spencer, who was a perfect fit for this roster. UConn's bench features Diarra once again, who has improved tremendously this season, as well as Samson Johnson, a center who could have transferred, but Hurley was able to convince to stay. Jaylin Stewart also plays some minutes as well in spurts.

All in all, Hurley manages his roster about as well as anyone. The foundation is built through recruiting freshmen and developing their talents, as well as targeting specific transfers to fill specific roles.