HURLEY IS THE FACE OF COLLEGE BASKETBALL — AND HE SHOULD STAY AT UCONN

He’ll be offered positions at Kentucky and in the NBA, but even if he can’t explain how he has overtaken the sport, Hurley must recognize his triumphant Storrs journey won’t be repeated elsewhere

     The famed shooters of Indiana hoopology include Rick Mount, Steve Alford and Jimmy Chitwood in “Hoosiers.” The coach at Connecticut, locked thoroughly into the 21st century, didn’t see any of them Monday night. He allowed Zach Edey to power his way to 37 points, early and throughout, yet continued to bull his way to the greatest two-season domination in college basketball history.

     Dan Hurley can name his next job. Megamillions at Kentucky? An NBA gig where he wants? He spent the season bragging profusely about his players, who were good but not stupendous, and watched them extend a winning streak to 12 straight in the NCAA tournament. The final blow was against Purdue, which offered a 7-foot-4 center who managed what he wanted and received little help from perimeter shooters. Consider it another clue from Hurley, who knew what he had and what the opponent did not.

     The result was another double-digit win, by a 75-60 count, which officially turned Hurley into the face of a men’s sport that needs help after a Caitlin Clark and Dawn Staley rampage. Some wouldn’t blame him for remaining in Storrs, where he won the program’s sixth title in 25 years, which is bigger than Duke or Indiana or anyone but UCLA and Kentucky. Others know his verve and sense he can tackle the game on any level, with forceful prose that makes the most of what he’s accomplished. Upon first notice, we think he’s a little nutty. Then we hear about his peaceful introspection during a delayed trip to Phoenix.

     “I ruminated a lot. I spiraled. I had my head in my hands a lot," Hurley said. "It was a real mindful exercise. It was therapeutic to watch the de-icing on the window.”

     The man who overcame alcoholism and depression has conquered his world. It’s a wonderful story, how he let Bill Murray’s son superpower his offense, but there isn’t a sitcom or movie that can mirror his life. He must decide whether he’ll try elsewhere or continue a run that surpasses Mike Krzyzewski and Billy Donovan, the last coach to win back-to-back championships. He beat six tournament foes last year by 20 points per game. This year, he beat six by 23.3 points. What’s next?

     "It means a lot, because I'm a student of the game,” Hurley said. “Basketball's been my life. I’ve got so much respect for the history of this game. I just think it’s the best two-year run in a very, very long time. Obviously, what can you say? We won — by a lot — again.”

     All because he told his players to shut down Braden Smith and the Purdue shooters by hoarding the three-point line. Let Edey burn them? So what? “They made a decision — we can defend the perimeter, and we can take this away from you, you’re going to get the ball to your best player, he’ll be one-on-one, and that’s that,” Purdue coach Matt Painter said.

     “The whole game plan was no Smith, no Loyer, no Jones, no Gillis,’’ said Hurley, not naming Mount or Alford or Chitwood. “We knew if we keep them below 18, 20 points as a group, they had no chance to win, no matter how well Zach played.”

     At least Edey made an ample impression on NBA executives, though he showed unusual emotion as he walked away. Was he about to cry? “Obviously, everyone shows grief in a different way,” he said, leaving behind a memorable performance.

     No one cares anymore when Hurley shoots expletives at officials or downplays his competition. We’ll only ask where he might be headed. He’s aware of John Calipari’s departure from Kentucky for a donor-funded position at Arkansas. “Yeah, yeah, yeah. I don’t think that’s a concern,” Hurley said of any excursion to Lexington. “My wife, you should have her answer that.” Later, he said there’s “no way” he would consider the job, while UConn athletic director David Benedict told the Athletic, “The market is the market and Kentucky is obviously Kentucky, but last time I checked, we won the last two national championships and we’ve got six of them. So I think UConn is a pretty good job and Dan’s doing an unbelievable job. We obviously hope that he’s with us for a long time.”

     There’s nothing wrong with staying at UConn, where he already has been named the favorite to win again next season. Don’t worry about the transfer portal or the NIL brigade. Hurley already has proved he can land who he wants and develop them. From this point on, as he seeks his third championship, he might listen to Donovan. He won two straight at Florida and has stumbled in the NBA since then.

     “When you win and you’re part of that, there’s a period of time where there’s like this melancholy feeling,” Donovan said. “I don’t want to say it’s a depression because that’s too strong of a word. But there’s this reflection point, ‘What is all this about? And where do you find meaning?’ In a society where everything is about the stature of winning a championship, you realize that doesn’t complete you and make you whole. As coaches, as players, you’re always chasing something and it’s really about — what is the chase turning you into? Is it turning you into something that you admire and respect? Or is it turning you into somebody who’s bitter and angry and upset and stepping over people and doing things losing your way and your character? There’s a lot of ways that you can be shaped.”

     One way to be shaped, as Hurley said, is to honor where you’ve been toasted. “For the last 25 and 30 years, UConn has been running college basketball,” he said. “We’re going to dive in and put together a roster that can play a comparable level of basketball to the one that you guys have witnessed the last two years. That’s, I know, what our mindset will be. We’re gonna be focusing on trying to put together a three-year run. Not just a two-year run.”

     Believe him? I do. It can’t be better than this elsewhere.

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     Jay Mariotti, called “without question the most impacting Chicago sportswriter of the past quarter-century,’’ writes general sports columns for Substack while appearing on some of the 1,678,498 podcasts and shows in production today. He is an accomplished columnist, TV panelist and talk/podcast host. Living in Los Angeles, he gravitated by osmosis to film projects.