Recapping everything Dan Hurley said before Big East awards ceremony

The UConn Huskies, coached by Dan Hurley, is gunning for a repeat of the success they have enjoyed the past two years. Currently, his back-to-back defending national champion squad finished the regular campaign with a Big East conference record of 14-6, 22-9.

During his most recent media availability before the Big East conference Awards on Wednesday, March 12, Hurley discussed his thoughts on having a freshman sensation in Liam McNeeley on his team. Hurley even compared him to former UConn standout products, with the swingman being integral to the program's pursuit of mainting its top standing in college basketball in just his first stint.

"It had to be a high impact player, and there's very few freshman in the country that could have carried the weight that he's carried with this team this year. He hasn't had quite the strength that maybe Steph(on) had last year, the depth, the smooth-sailing season, you know what I mean? He's played under more pressure than we've probably had," Hurley said. (1:45)

"Than when Alex (Karaban) had to play under as a freshman, than Donovan had to play under as a freshman, and obviously, than Steph had to play under as a freshman," he then concluded.

Hurley was also asked about his thoughts on the victors for the Coach of the Year Award and Player of the Year Award, who turned out to be St. John's Red Storm's Rick Pitino and RJ Luis Jr., while shouting out Creighton Bluejays center Ryan Kalkbrenner.

"Rick, he deserved Coach of the Year. Luis (Jr.) desereved Player of the Year. I thought last year, when a team dominates the regular season the way they did, the coach should get it, the best player should get it...We voted four Luis. It was tough because Kalkbrenner was such an awesome player, and he got some votes," Hurley explained. (4:10)

"But, it was pretty clear, Coach of the Year, Player of the Year, (for) this year," he asserted.

This year's postseason begins for Hurley and the rest of the Huskies on Thursday, March 13, wherein their opponent is still to be determined with them as the third seed.

Dan Hurley shares what his team needs to take note off to prepare for in the 2025 postseason

Later on in the media scrum, Dan Hurley was asked about his thoughts on where his back-to-back reigning national champions team is at as they head into postseason play. He said they have been hitting their stride as of late, but still has many factors to take note of to stay afloat for success, with key cogs like Liam McNeeley at full strength.

"We've won four in a row, and it's probably the best we've felt since Liam got hurt when we were streaking there in terms of wins and losses. We're optimistic. Our rebounding has taken a turn, we're offensive rebounding, the rebounding margins look great. We got to take better care of the ball, and obviously the defense has been a problem the whole year," Hurley shared. (7:03)

"For us, can we do a better job of taking care of the ball? Can we keep the rebounding going? Can we improve the defense a little bit here?," he added.

Should the UConn Huskies earn themselves another national tournament appearance from their performance in the conference tournament, they will then have the opportunity to go for an illustrious national title three-peat later this month.