Brett Wilhelm/NCAA Photos via Getty ImagesThe NCAA tournament is sometimes about who gets hot at the right time, and there is an argument to be made some years that the best team in the country was not the one left standing on the court as the confetti rained down.
This was not one of those years.
The 2023-24 UConn Huskies became the first team since the 2006-07 Florida Gators to repeat as national champions, but they did it in a very different way.
The Gators returned their entire starting lineup and top player off the bench to go back-to-back, but this Huskies team lost leading scorers Adama Sanogo and Jordan Hawkins along with dynamic guard Andre Jackson to the NBA and didn't miss a beat.
Donovan Clingan and Tristen Newton both stepped into large roles, freshman Stephon Castle made an instant impact and Cam Spencer was the perfect transfer portal pickup to round out the roster.
The end result was a team that entered the NCAA tournament seemingly in a tier of its own and backed it up by once again steamrolling the field, finishing with a plus-140 point differential in their six wins to set a tournament record.
Tip of the cap to head coach Dan Hurley for pulling all the right strings from the start of the offseason last year through the national championship game on Monday night.
With Clingan, Newton, Castle, Spencer and Alex Karaban all potentially moving on to the NBA this offseason, it's going to be a busy offseason of roster turnover, but it would be unwise to count them out for another title run in 2025.
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