March Madness has arrived, and the UConn basketball program seemingly has the best chance to repeat as national champions since Florida did in 2006 and 2007, and there are a lot of reasons to believe that Dan Hurley's team can pull it off.
After winning the Big East tournament and finishing with a 31-3 record, the UConn basketball team earned the No. 1 overall seed in the tournament. However, there are tough matchups in the East region, with Iowa State, Illinois and Auburn in the region. All three of those teams are in the top 10 in Kenpom.
Dan Hurley and the UConn basketball staff have worked tirelessly to put his players in a position to succeed, and they have so far this season. Two of UConn's three losses came when injuries played a part. The Huskies lost on the road to Kansas without Stephon Castle, and lost on the road against Seton Hall when Donovan Clingan got injured in the second half. UConn is the No. 1 team on Kenpom, and has brought in some newcomers to augment the holdovers from last year's championship team.
It helps that to get to the Final Four, Dan Hurley's squad will have four games in places that the UConn fanbase should show up and represent well. The first two rounds will be in Barclays Center in Brooklyn. The Huskies' fans are known to show up in New York (or Storrs South, as the fanbase likes to call it), and they did for the Big East Tournament at Madison Square Garden. Barclays Center should not be a tall task. As for the Sweet 16 and Elite 8, those games would be at TD Garden in Boston. There is good UConn representation there as well, and it is not a far trip from fans in Connecticut either.
However, there is one main reason that the Huskies will repeat and win the 2024 national championship.
Why UConn will win the 2024 NCAA Tournament: Depth
When it comes to UConn, the main thing that sticks out is the amount of players who are capable of putting up 20 points on offense, as evidenced by the team's offense being No. 1 in adjusted efficiency, according to Kenpom. Every game it is always someone else getting it done. It is a true pick your poison type of dilemma for opposing teams. Dan Hurley has NBA-level talent playing remarkably unselfish basketball, and the sets the Huskies run form arguably the most intricate offense in the country.
UConn's starting lineup features Tristen Newton, Stephon Castle, Cam Spencer, Alex Karaban and Donovan Clingan. As mentioned before, al five of those players are capable of having monster offensive nights. Newton runs the show at the point while Spencer and Karaban are lethal from beyond the arc, and Castle and Clingan can make impacts on both ends of the floor, but both are great defensive players.
Off the bench, the Huskies can turn to Hassan Diarra, a hound on defense who has improved a great amount on the offensive end this season. As far as other bench pieces go, Jaylin Stewart has earned playing time in spurts recently, and he had few minute stretch against Marquette that sealed the Big East Championship game. At times, Karaban can struggle on the defensive end. That is where Stewart could be inserted in a pinch. He also has had a knack for snatching rebounds as well.
One of the concerns with the Huskies is Clingan getting into foul trouble. While UConn does not have a center duo like they did last year with Adama Sanogo and Clingan off the bench. However, you could do a lot worse than Samson Johnson off of the bench.
Johnson has shown he is capable of keeping the Huskies afloat during the minutes he plays. It is not ideal if Clingan gets into foul trouble against a team with another elite big, like Purdue, but the Huskies' depth has them in a great position to repeat.
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