Men's Final Four takeaways: UConn cements 'Blue Blood' status with fifth title

The 'One Shining Moment' montage has played, and it is now time to say goodbye to another season of NCAA men's college basketball.

This year's tournament had a little bit of everything for basketball fans. We had a Final Four buzzer-beater, a No. 1 seed being upset by a No. 16 seed for just the second time in tournament history, shirtless coaches celebrating and plenty of other must-see moments.

But if we remember the 2023 tournament for one thing, it will be that the team playing the best basketball on the biggest stage rightfully finished the season on top.

The Connecticut Huskies won their fifth national championship in program history on Monday after one of the most dominant NCAA tournaments in history. With a 76-59 win over the San Diego St. Aztecs in the title game, the Huskies became the first team since Indiana in 1981 to win all of its tournament games by at least 13 points.

Dan Hurley's squad looked a notch above every single one of their six opponents, and trailed for just 31 out of 240 minutes of gameplay throughout the tournament.

Here are some takeaways from UConn's dominant national championship victory:

Blue Blood status complete

One of the big storylines heading into this year's Final Four was the absence of the traditional "Blue Bloods" in college basketball.

But hold on just a second.

When we discuss the Blue Bloods in men's college basketball, the Huskies are never mentioned. Sure, they don't have the overall history of the Kentucky's and UCLA's of the world, but over the past 25 years, you would be hard-pressed to find a better resume than UConn's.

The Huskies' five championships put them in a tie for fourth on the all-time list with Duke and Indiana, with all five coming in the past 24 seasons. In that same time frame, no other team has more than three.

"We have the four national championships coming in, right?'' coach Dan Hurley said after the game. "We were striving for No. 5. Now we've got our own.''

They also don't know how to lose in championships. With the win, they improve to 5-0 when they advance to the final game.

Of all the traditional powerhouse programs, UConn is the only one that can say they don't know what it feels like to watch another team handed the trophy. North Carolina and Duke have each lost six national championships, Kentucky four, UCLA two and Indiana one.

Former star guard Kemba Walker, who secured one of UConn's five titles back in 2011, made sure to let the cameras know where his alma mater now ranks:

And I'm sure Walker would agree, it's time to give the Huskies the credit they deserve.

Teamwork makes the dream work

The Huskies have a few players that have become household names throughout this tournament.

Their big man Adama Sanogo, who was named tournament MVP, was dominant on both ends in all six games. He picked up his fourth double-double in six tourney games against the Aztecs when he scored 17 points and grabbed 10 rebounds to help bring home the championship.

Jordan Hawkins is the best NBA prospect on the Huskies' roster and made a number of big shots in a lot of big spots, including the biggest shot of the title game when he drained a massive three with just five minutes remaining that pushed UConn's lead back to eight.

But the true strength of this Huskies team was their ability to gain contributions from up and down their roster. Every single player that played more than one minute Monday scored at least four points.

Tristen Newton was instrumental all tournament running UConn's offence. He also was the team's leading scorer on Monday, putting up 19 points while also snatching 10 boards to lead his squad over the Aztecs.

Junior guard Andre Jackson Jr. was a veteran leader all season and helped steady his team throughout any times of uncertainty.

Alex Karaban and Joey Calcaterra both always seemed to make a big three when the Huskies needed it, including three of the team's six in the national championship.

And seven-foot-two big Donovan Clingan always made a positive impact when he was asked to give Sanogo a breather on the inside.

It was a total team effort throughout the tournament and the Huskies were just too deep and too strong for all their opponents.

Sibling bragging rights

All of a sudden family dinners at the Hurley house just got a little more interesting.

Nearly 31 years after Dan's brother Bobby Hurley won his second national championship as a player with the Duke Blue Devils, Dan wins his first as a coach.

Dan is no longer completely in the shadow of his brother and now has a claim as the better college basketball coach as Bobby is currently the head coach of the Arizona State Sun Devils.

UConn also has a solid recruiting class coming in next year, so this very well could be the first of a long successful run for Dan and the Huskies.

They both may have some work to do before they catch up to their father Bob Hurley, however, as Bob is widely regarded as one of the greatest high school basketball coaches in history and has been inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.

The good, the bad and the ugly of college basketball

No one who watched the national championship between the Huskies and Aztecs would tell you it was the best basketball they have ever watched.

In fact, most would tell you it was quite ugly.

San Diego State shot just 32 per cent for the game, including a putrid 28.6 per cent in the first half that ultimately sealed their fate.

However, as ugly as the game was, that is the beauty of this tournament and college basketball in general. The unpredictability of amateur sports gives us the jaw-dropping moments that we all associate with March Madness.

Plus, if you were looking for a highly skilled national championship, thankfully the women's final on Sunday provided all that and more.

No, the college game is not always pretty, and we aren't going to get a classic every year or see the pure basketball skill of the NBA. But it's beautiful in its own way, and we already can't wait to see the bracket next year.