When did you know?

[Tenspro2002]

Alabama and Houston losing, with Kansas and Purdue having gone down already, made me think "holy s___, this is wide open and we have a legitimate shot." I think at that point we had already beaten Arkansas.

 

[REB1094]

I started really thinking this team could do something after the Florida game. We had just ran five P5 teams off the court in a row. When's the last time UConn did that? Has UConn EVER done that? It feels like the last few years we had 1 great OOC win but then lost immediately after. Beat Auburn/lose to MSU and WVU. Beat USC but then a bunch of cancelled games and I think we came back to lose against Creighton in Bouknight's 40pt game. Beat Florida/lose to Xavier.

But after the issues we had in the BE, I didn't want to ruin the mojo. I didn't know that we were going to win it all until like 1 minute left to go against SDSU. Even when we were up double digits with a few minutes left I was holding my breath. When Hurley started going crazy on the bench is when my eyes got wide and I actually said out loud "is this about to happen??"

 

[Doctor Hoop]

For me it was the second Marquette game. That was the kind of offensive and defensive performance that translates. If they could do that in the tournament …

 

[Doctor Hoop]

For me it was the second Marquette game. That was the kind of offensive and defensive performance that translates. If they could do that in the tournament …

To clarify, that’s when I saw the possibility after the mid-season swoon. But I knew it was ours barring an earthshaking development vs. Arkansas.

 

[boog204]

Arkansas game. The scariest game in the tourney, for me, was Iona and to a lesser extent Miami. I thought Iona would really give us a run (and they did for 20 minutes).

 

[jake14mw]

November 28, 2022, the day I joined this forum! I was watching this team and thinking... "Are other people thinking what I'm thinking?" I knew of this forum before then, but I had to come here to see what other people were thinking about this team. I couldn't believe that we had much depth and all of the pieces needed to be so dominant.

I know I'm not answering the real question asked here. I didn't KNOW in November that we would win the NC, but I started thinking it was a possibility then, and I was amazed.

 

[REB1094]

Arkansas game. The scariest game in the tourney, for me, was Iona and to a lesser extent Miami. I thought Iona would really give us a run (and they did for 20 minutes).

Iona was playing out of their minds and were bound to come down to Earth, but still at halftime I was getting flashbacks of New Mexico State

It was so refreshing to see Hurley remain calm and poised. His first call in the second half was a play for Hawkins who I'm pretty sure had missed every single shot in the first half. 4 point play right out of the gate. He had so much trust in his guys to fight through and win the game, that I don't think he had in previous years. Everyone was loose and just playing ball

Oh and of course Adama Sanogo refused to lose. Ate Iona alive in the second half. Crazy to think that Iona was our most competitive game in the tournament lol

 

[HuskyHawk]

For me it was the second Marquette game. That was the kind of offensive and defensive performance that translates. If they could do that in the tournament …

That was huge. I believed we could compete for it at the start of the season. The Swoon caused doubt. This game erased those doubts. Hurley made some really important adjustments coming out of the rough stretch, and those ended up being critical to the championship. Getting Sanogo the ball facing the hoop, running AJax on baseline cuts, fixing the ball screen and P&R defense, there were many changes.

Once in the tournament, when Arkansas beat Kansas and SDSU beat Bama, I believed we were clearly the best team still playing.

 

[Sick Puppy]

Crazy to think that Iona was our most competitive game in the tournament lol

Maybe best coach we faced.

 

[Colin G]

When Miami beat Texas, was worried about playing UT in Houston.

 

[mauconnfan]

I knew it once they went 2-6 I had no doubt at that point!

 

[XLCenterFan]

2nd half vs xavier at gampel