The top-seeded UConn Huskies are on the brink of college basketball history. They’ll aim to become the first team to win back-to-back national championships on Monday night. They’ve looked like one of the most dominant teams in college basketball history, but they were pushed to the wire on Saturday night against Alabama in the Final Four. The Huskies pulled away in the final minutes, prevailing by double digits. And their head coach, Dan Hurley, continues to rake in the bonus money.
According to Steve Berkowitz, Hurley landed a $200,000 bonus after guiding the Huskies to their second national championship game berth in two years. That gives him $1.2 million in bonuses this year to go on top of his $5 million in basic annual salary for the 2023-2024 campaign.
UConn won on Saturday night, 86-72, but it was the most difficult test they’ve faced all tournament long. Plenty of credit goes to the Alabama Crimson Tide, who played a very high-level basketball game. They managed to hit 11 of 23 three-pointers (47.8%), quite the display of torching the nets. And they still lost by 14, which is hard to believe. The Tide went cold from three in the second half, which definitely hurt them down the stretch. They still had the game tied at 56-56 with 12:44 remaining, giving the Huskies all they could handle on Saturday night.
Next up, on Monday night, the nation will get to watch the two best teams in the tournament square off: No. 1 seed UConn and another No. 1 seed, the Purdue Boilermakers. We’ll get a chance to see two of the nation’s top centers go at it again: Donovan Clingan vs. Zach Edey. It’ll be one of the more anticipated big men showdowns in NCAA Tournament history. It’s been an excellent 2024 NCAA Tournament and it’s only fitting that we finish it off with two No. 1 seeds battling for the national championship.
Purdue is trying to become just the second team in college basketball history to lose to a No. 16 seed in the NCAA Tournament, then win the national championship the next tournament (the other was Virginia in 2018 and 2019). And UConn is trying to cement their place as one of the greatest college basketball teams of all-time. The Huskies are aiming to become the first repeat national champions since Florida did it in 2006 and 2007. UConn is currently favored by 5.5 points, according to DraftKings. For a breakdown of the matchup, you can find that here.
The post Dan Hurley lands $200,000 bonus after UConn advances to National Championship appeared first on On3.