Lightning Strikes Twice: UConn’s Back-to-Back Triumphs Raise Hopes for Other Teams to Follow Suit
The men’s basketball team of UConn accomplished a feat that had not been accomplished in 17 years, just 58 days after the Kansas City Chiefs accomplished something that had not been done in 20 years.
Is 2024 going to be the year of the rematch? If so, why at this particular moment?
In sports, back-to-back victories are a well-known and cherished tradition. They also serve as the foundation for many artistic endeavors that have the potential to be considered dynasties.
The Chiefs were on their way to another Super Bowl ring in mid-February, and Patrick Mahomes was the reason behind it. His team’s performance was the real reason for winning, even with the much-hyped and, for the most part, entertaining romance between a certain tight end and pop icon.
In recent weeks, Dan Hurley’s unbreakable basketball strategy has also shown to be a riddle without answers as they have amassed six straight jaw-dropping victories and ridiculed the very idea of implied unpredictability in college basketball.
However, they are no longer the norm, and data indicates that the challenge of winning a title and then repeating it increases with time.
Many teams, including the Denver Nuggets as the NBA postseason approaches, the Texas Rangers as the MLB season begins, the Vegas Golden Knights, Ryan Blaney in NASCAR’s exhausting race, and many more, are hoping that 2024 will continue to defy the trend. This group is not limited to Italy at soccer’s European Championships.
“It is so, so hard to do it for the first time, but in a lot of ways it is even more difficult now for teams to do it again,” FOX Sports football analyst and former NFL head coach Eric Mangini told me recently. “On the one hand, you have a group that knows it is capable of winning when everything is on the line. But then there is all the other stuff; you have a target on your back, other teams are building themselves specifically to beat you, guys want more money — it is a lot.”
Re-signing Chris Jones was essential to continuing the Chiefs dynasty
The constant duct taping of salary caps and contract restructures in the NFL is a hindrance to sustained success, but it is more than made up for by the brilliance of Mahomes and his supporting cast, the tact and intellect of Andy Reid, and the forward-thinking ingenuity of the Kansas City front office.
Hurley’s main problem was churn, which is a perennial problem in college athletics. Three players left for the NBA, and five of his top eight scorers were former net-cutters.
“In the current day and age of the transfer portal, the idea of roster continuity and building with three- or four-year players is becoming a lost art,” FOX college basketball analyst John Fanta told me on Tuesday. “Look at UConn’s main returning players this year, with sophomores Donovan Clingan and Alex Karaban along with a (second-year) transfer in Tristen Newton.
It is extraordinary for a team that won six games in the NCAA Tournament last year by a total of 120 points to come back and somehow not just repeat but also pick up speed. A college athlete’s task of winning a title again has never been more difficult.
“We just witnessed one of the greatest two-year runs by any program ever, and by doing this, the Huskies cement themselves as no worse than a top-four men’s program in the sport’s history.”
How did UConn win back-to-back championships?
Since Jimmie Johnson won five consecutive victories from 2006 to 2010, NASCAR has crowned 13 non-repeat champions. The Chiefs’ two victories mimicked the New England Patriots and a young, impressionable Tom Brady in 2003–04, when everyone was talking about how young Brady was. During his most recent title runs, that script turned.
Under Billy Donovan and with Joakim Noah guarding the paint, UConn matched Florida’s double act in 2006 and 2007, before the iPhone even existed and before anyone had heard of Twitter, much less X.
Since the Warriors era, when Golden State faced LeBron James’ Cleveland Cavaliers in four consecutive Finals, the NBA has been a free-for-all. Before before, the Miami Heat had won back-to-back titles, and the Chicago Bulls had a field day in the 1990s, only to be broken up by the Houston Rockets under Hakeem Olajuwon winning back-to-back titles.
Since the New York Yankees relied on Derek Jeter, Bernie Williams, Mariano Rivera, and other talents to win three straight up to 2000, baseball has not had a returning champion.
Italy emerged as the unexpected champion in soccer, surpassing even the runners-up from the World Cup—France, led by the formidable Kylian Mbappe—when the 2020 Euros were postponed a year due to COVID-19. Encouraged by Jude Bellingham, who is perhaps the top player in the world right now, England is also seen as a formidable team.
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Going into the NBA playoffs, the Nuggets appear as good as any team in the West, but they will have fierce competition, particularly from the Boston Celtics, who have 62 wins (and counting) across the nation.
Even though the Chiefs and Huskies’ trophies might be the beginning of something new, the likelihood is higher that they are not accurate markers.
A variety of puzzles are presented by glory, some of which Mangini mentioned. The idea of what it takes to be better than everyone else in a particular window of time is magnified by the intense competition in modern sports and the benefits that accompany success.
Particularly in the NFL, a lot of teams—the 2021 Rams being one such example—risk everything on a one- or two-season window, and the bill quickly becomes due. Deal reworking does not result in an eternal deferment of payment. Draft selections sent away in return for unsigned free agents do not just come back.
It is difficult to determine if consistent greatness or frequent change is better for sports as a spectacle. As they say, variety is the flavor of life. Dominance makes for infinite conversation starters for sports fans, especially when contrasted to historical brilliance.
In the end, though, it all comes down to this: Without the one that came before it, it is impossible to even attempt to win a second title.
“It’s hard,” Chiefs coach Reid said before the start of last season, “To even get one.”
Columnist Martin Rogers writes for FOX Sports. Join the daily newsletter subscription service and follow him on Twitter at @MRogersFOX.