An upset-filled NCAA Tournament ended with a familiar national champion.
No. 4 UConn beat No. 5 San Diego State 76-59 in the men's basketball national championship at NRG Stadium in Houston on Monday. The Huskies won their fifth national championship since 1999 under coach Dan Hurley. UConn (31-8) beat opponents by an average of 20 points per game in an impressive tournament run.
The Aztecs' impressive tournament run ended thanks in large part to a brutal first half. San Diego State (32-7) could not close the gap in the second half, which ended a Cinderella run for the Mountain West Conference champions.
Final Four Winners and Losers
Winners
Adama Sanogo
Who says a dominant post player can't be the best player in the tournament? Sanogo – a 6-foot-9, 245-pound forward from Barmako, Mali – earned Most Outstanding Player honors after a 17-point, 10-rebound performance. Sanogo and 7-foot-2 center Donovan Clingan were part of a dominant front line that made offense difficult for San Diego State.
Sanogo had 21 points and 10 rebounds in the 72-59 victory against No. 5 Miami in the semifinals on Saturday. He averaged 19.7 points and 9.8 rebounds in the tournament, and he hit 7 of 8 from the line. Tristen Newton and Jordan Hawkins had 19 and 16 points, respectively, and UConn hit 24 of 27 from the free-throw line. It was an old-fashioned formula that still works in the Final Four.
Danny Hurley
There is no other way to put it: Hurley led the Huskies to their fifth national championship in dominant fashion. UConn won six games by an average of 20 points per game. The only teams that have greater margins in the expanded bracket era are Kentucky in 1996 at 21.5 points per game and North Carolina in 2009 at 20.2 points per game.
Hurley, the son of legendary high school coach Bob Hurley Sr. and brother of Duke legend and Arizona State coach Bobby Hurley, now has a national championship of his own. The 50-year-old coach took advantage of the spotlight and should be in position for more runs with the Huskies.
The Big East
The Big East was reshuffled in 2013, and UConn rejoined the conference in basketball in 2020 after a stint in the American Athletic Conference. This was a strong tournament for the conference. No. 3 Xavier made the Sweet 16, and No. 6 Creighton advanced to the Elite Eight. The Huskies topped that off with another national championship for the conference. No. 2 Marquette was knocked out in the second round.
Villanova won national championships in 2016 and 2018, and UConn added the conference's third since the massive realignment. The conference also added Rick Pitino at St. John's and Kim English at Providence after Ed Cooley left there to take the Georgetown job. It's an impressive year for the classic basketball-first conference.
DECOURCY: Grading the coaching hires, from Pitino to Beard
Jim Nantz
Nantz, who has called the Men's Final Four since 1991, did a masterful job of making his last championship game about the teams. Nantz's career is full of amazing calls – which included Lamont Butler's buzzer beater in the 72-71 victory against No. 9 FAU in the semifinals. Nantz – a familiar face whose endearing call "Hello, friends" will be missed – set a high standard for his predecessors to follow and signed off by saying, "thank you for being my friend."
MORE: Jim Nantz's greatest March Madness calls, including 2023 Final Four
Losers
San Diego State's first half
The Aztecs hit 4 of their first five shots from the field, and a jumper by Matt Bradley gave San Diego State a 10-6 lead with 16:34 left in the first half. It was brutal from there.
The Aztecs missed 14 consecutive shots from the field and went 11 minutes and four seconds without a field goal. That allowed UConn to take command. The defensive length of the Huskies was a problem well into the second half.
It was an ugly first-half offensive performance that rekindled memories of UConn's 53-41 victory against Butler in the NCAA championship game in 2011.
San Diego State coach Brian Dutcher deserves credit for the run, and the Aztecs did trim the lead to five in the second half. That first-half hole, however, was simply too much to overcome.
MORE: UConn-San Diego State by the numbers
Fouls
This NCAA Tournament game tied an obscure record that highlighted a visible trend from the men's and women's national championship game. The teams combined for 35 fouls, which tied a championship-game record.
It's the first time there were 35 fouls in a championship game since Kansas beat St. John's 80-63 on March 26, 1952.
That made for a stop-and-start second half where the teams committed 24 of those fouls and shot 36 free throws. That came one day after there were 37 fouls called in LSU's 102-85 victory against Iowa in the women's national championship game.
There are a lot of questions about officiating heading into the offseason. SN's Mike DeCourcy offered some potential fixes.
Preseason polls
How could one possibly make a preseason poll for 2023-24 after watching this tournament? The Aztecs were the only Final Four team in that poll at No. 19 this season. North Carolina – which was the preseason No. 1 – did not make the tournament. Creighton – which was ranked No. 9 – was the only team in the top 10 that made the Elite Eight.
Was the upset-filled NCAA Tournament a product of NIL and the transfer portal? That will continue to be a talking point heading into next season. For what it's worth, SN has the Huskies are No. 1 in our Way Too Early Top 25 for next season.