Over 50 Years after John Wooden's UCLA reign, can Dan Hurley capture UConn's own 3-peat glory?

In college basketball, the UConn Huskies and head coach Dan Hurley have done something amazing. Last season, they won the national championship to secure back-to-back titles — a feat not accomplished since Florida's 2006 and 2007 teams. And that bunch of Gators were, well, basically the same team. All seven UF players who topped 11.2 minutes per game returned to win the second title, and UConn didn't have that luxury.

Three titles in a row? To find the last team to do that, you'd have to go back to before the shot clock and the 3-point shot. Not only before NIL, but before early entry to the NBA Draft. You're going back to the days of Richard Nixon. It was the days of a dynasty in Westwood, California. Can Dan Hurley and UConn follow the glory of John Wooden's UCLA dynasty?

Over a half-century later, can Hurley and UConn match UCLA's 3-peat?

In the 1960s and 1970s, John Wooden rewrote the college basketball record book. Now, his excellence remains a mark for Dan Hurley and UConn to chase in 2024-25.

First things first: The last three-peat in college basketball wasn't just a three-peat, it was a seven-peat. The UCLA Bruins won the NCAA championship from 1967 up to and including 1973. That's a record so lofty that it might as well be 700 championships in a row to modern teams.

Even for UCLA and Wooden, it was a run without any real precedent. UCLA had won two titles before 1967. Those were back-to-back titles in 1964 and 1965. But after an 18-8 season in 1966, UCLA could have faded back to being a normal program. Instead, they exploded. How?

What UCLA did right

First, UCLA exploited its era. There was no transfer portal. Indeed, any player who transferred had to sit out a season. For many conferences, transferring within the conference could lead to sitting out two seasons.

There also was no freshman eligibility in basketball for almost the entire run. In 1972, the NCAA finally approved freshman eligibility for basketball and football. Before that, freshmen sat, learned and played on a freshman or junior varsity team. As sophomores, they were developed and mature players.

Additionally, the game of basketball was different. Without 3-point shooting and shot-clock issues, teams were rewarded for maintaining strength near the basket. Guards who were savvy enough to seek quality shots instead of just hoisting long jumpers thrived. This was key to UCLA's run.

The UCLA run was led by perhaps the two greatest players in college basketball history. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, then known as Lew Alcindor, was key in title runs in his sophomore, junior and senior seasons — that was 1967, 1968 and 1969. Bill Walton led title runs in his sophomore and junior years — 1972 and 1973. Suddenly, five-sevenths of this crazy run is explained.

In this era, both Abdul-Jabbar and Walton would likely have gone to the NBA after their freshman seasons. That's if they waited that long instead of playing overseas or exploring other options. Instead, Wooden got eight years of development and six years of stardom from the two — with five NCAA titles.

Where UConn has to be creative

Now, it's the era of the transfer portal and the NBA Draft. Where John Wooden would have returned Stephon Castle for three more years, Dan Hurley has had to cheerfully wave him on to the NBA. The same goes for center Donovan Clingan. There will be no Walton and Abdul-Jabbar-esque runs for titles as a junior or senior for him.

Where players don't go pro, they sometimes transfer. UConn hasn't been crushed, but the bottom line is this: UConn returns one player for their shot at a three-peat who played a meaningful role on the two title-winning teams. That player is forward Alex Karaban.

Karaban scored 9.3 points per game as a freshman on the 2022 title team and added 13.3 points per game and 5.1 rebounds per game as a sophomore on the 2023 title team. He explored his NBA possibilities but elected to return for another run, no doubt to Hurley's relief. For comparison's sake, UCLA and Wooden returned all top 10 players from their 1967 team in 1968.

But UConn has been here before. The turnover between the 2023 and 2024 teams was impressive. Dan Hurley replaced three starters and five of its top 10 players from the 2023 team in 2024, and that worked out fine.

UConn could get some help from bench depth. When UCLA was returning all of its stars, it was sometimes hard for Wooden to develop from within. But guys like Samson Johnson (5.4 ppg on the 2024 team) and Hassan Diarra (6.1 ppg in 2024) are old-school-type college players. They've stuck around, learned the game from bench roles, and now they could shine.

And UConn can hit the transfer portal. The Huskies have added St. Mary's transfer Aidan Mahaney, who will help address the loss of Tristen Newton and Stephon Castle in the backcourt. Beefy Michigan transfer Tarris Reed Jr. will help offset the loss of Clingan to the NBA.

UConn didn't steal Wooden's playbook in nabbing all the top recruits in the nation. But the late signing of five-star frosh forward Liam McNeeley will add some punch for the Huskies. If UConn's combination of returnees and portal additions was a little thin, McNeeley will help out there.

Three-peat possibility

All in all, the deck is stacked against Dan Hurley and UConn pulling off a three-peat. College basketball has changed massively in half a century. Without generational stars who are stuck in school for four years, multiple titles will probably always be unusual if not impossible.

But Hurley revamped a good-but-not-great team into a 2024 monster, and he could do it again in 2025. It's a long shot, but it's a shot Hurley and UConn will take when it comes to making college basketball history.

Can UConn and Dan Hurley make college basketball history with the first three-peat since 1973? Weigh in with your thoughts in our comments section!