The 2026 UConn programs have already achieved rarefied air on the hardwood, but with regional final wins on Sunday, they can expand UConn’s exclusive piece of real estate in basketball history.
UConn can send its men’s and women’s basketball programs to the Final Four in the same season for the sixth time.
No other school has done it more than once.
It started in 2004, when both teams won national championships. They both returned to their respective Final Fours in 2009, 2011, 2014 and 2024.
The women won the title in 2009, as the men lost in the national semifinals.
They reversed roles in 2011, when the men won the championship and the women lost to today’s opponent, Notre Dame, in the Final Four.
Both teams won titles in 2014, with the women rebounding to beat Notre Dame in the championship game.
The men won the trophy in 2024, while the women lost to Caitlin Clark and Iowa in the national semis, 71-69.
Of course, it’s not supposed to be easy to get to the Final Four, and that will remain true on Sunday.
The Notre Dame women have been a UConn nemesis, winning 5 of the last 9 meetings. But the Huskies won the last meeting, in January, 85-47. UConn was able to hold Notre Dame’s Hannah Hidalgo to 16 points.
UConn coach Geno Auriemma has high praise for Hidalgo, who had a 31-point triple double in the regional semifinals on Friday: he calls her the Lawrence Taylor of basketball.
“She’s just a unique player that comes along once in a lifetime,” says Auriemma, “and she has the ability to disrupt and cause chaos like nobody I’ve ever seen.”
The UConn women have won 53 straight games, and they can reach their 25th Final Four.
On the men’s side, Sunday’s opponent, Duke, has won 3 of 5 meetings with UConn in the NCAA Tournament.
Huskies coach Dan Hurley is counting on freshman Braylon Mullins on both ends of the court:
“You don’t get far in this tournament unless your freshmen can (perform in your system). The guy is a three-way player: he’s on the glass, he’s a critical threat on offense, but he’s also like an underrated defensive player with a maturity about him where if he goes through stretches of the game where he’s not getting shots, not making shots, he keeps playing winning basketball.”
Duke has an even more prominent freshman, Cam Boozer, averaging more than 22 points per game. Boozer could be the first pick in this year’s NBA Draft, in which Mullins could also be selected in the first round.
