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Congrats UConn. You’re now the team everyone loves to hate | Opinion

SDF StaffBy

INDIANAPOLIS – Shove over, Duke. There’s a new team in men’s college basketball that everyone loves to hate.

If there was any debate UConn is the game’s new villain, that chorus of boos raining down on Dan Hurley after his team reached its third NCAA title game in four years erased all doubt. UConn has become a team only UConn fans can love.

And, depending on the outcome of the game, maybe not even them!

“When we lose a game, our fans are so brutal on social that — and obviously I’m disliked by a number of different programs. When we lose, the celebration that goes on and the mocking, that’s kind of like a loud external,” Hurley said Sunday, April 5.

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Don’t sell Hurley and the Huskies short. They’ve earned their position atop the hate-meter.

Hurley off the court is nothing like the maniac he is on the court. He’s not condescending like Jim Boeheim was and he doesn’t have the arrogance of Mike Krzyzewski.

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Andrej Stojakovic #2 of the Illinois Fighting Illini drives to the basket against Solo Ball #1 of the UConn Huskies in the first half of the Final Four of the 2026 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament at Lucas Oil Stadium on April 04, 2026 in Indianapolis, Indiana.

But if he’s not coaching your team, Hurley is going to rub you like sandpaper with his yelling at the refs, snarking about officiating and ignoring the boundaries of the coach’s box.

Thus, those boos after UConn beat Illinois in the Final Four.

“I don’t know why they’re booing,” Hurley said, tongue in cheek.

Of course he does.

If Hurley was just some obnoxious coach, it would generate yawns or “this guy again” eye rolls. But Hurley and his team are really, really good. Like historically good. Especially at this time of year.

And that’s what really sets people off.

College basketball has undergone so many seismic changes in the past decade that anyone watching has at least a mild case of whiplash. There are no constants, no continuity. Even Duke doesn’t seem quite so smarmy these days, going more than a decade without a title and losing to UConn in the Elite Eight in such shocking fashion that you almost felt sorry for the Dukies.

I said almost. Let’s not get carried away.

Yet UConn has been impervious to the turmoil. By winning their second consecutive title in 2024, the Huskies joined Duke (1991 and 1992) and Florida (2006 and 2007) as the only repeat champions since 1973.

Now UConn and those early-90s Dukies are the only teams to get three cracks at the title in four years since John Wooden’s heyday.

UConn is 18-3 in the NCAA tournament since 2021, and its 13-1 overall record in the Final Four is the best in tournament history. At 20-5, Hurley’s record in the tournament is third behind only Phil Woolpert and that Wooden guy.

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Dan Hurley: College basketball’s most animated head coach

UConn Huskies head coach Dan Hurley reacts during the first half in the second round of the 2026 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament at Xfinity Mobile Arena on March 22, 2026 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Should UConn beat Michigan, Karaban will be the only non-UCLA player to win three NCAA titles.

“They have championship DNA,” Michigan coach Dusty May said. “This run they’re on is one of the best — probably the best since John Wooden.”

But success has a very short shelf life in American sports. The only thing fans root for more than the dominance of a dynasty is seeing that dynasty get its comeuppance.

The New England Patriots. The New York Yankees. The Kansas City Chiefs. UConn’s women. We love to see them win and we root for them to lose.

And now Hurley and his UConn program have joined the ranks of the reviled.

“People don’t necessarily want to see the same team win over and over again. And what coach Hurley’s been able to do these last four years has been incredible and it’s just adding to the history of college basketball,” senior forward Alex Karaban said.

“A lot of people don’t want to see the Chiefs playing in the Super Bowl again. That’s kind of like the example that coach used for us, too,” he added. “People don’t want to keep seeing the same team win, but why does that matter with us? We want to keep winning.”

That’s the thing with villains or bullies. The only way to stop them is to shut them down.

Until then, you can boo Hurley and UConn all you want. They’ll be too busy winning to care.

Follow USA TODAY Sports columnist Nancy Armour on social media @nrarmour.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: UConn basketball’s success makes Huskies latest team you love to hate

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