UConn is familiar with having its men’s and women’s basketball teams reaching college basketball’s biggest stages in the same season, but they again have a chance to do something historic.
The Huskies will take on USC on Monday night in the Portland 3 regional final, and if UConn can win the game, they would make basketball history in the process.
Since 1983, schools have had their men’s and women’s teams both reach the Final Four in the same season on 14 occasions, including North Carolina State in this year’s edition of the tournaments.
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If UConn can win Monday, they would ensure that two schools would achieve that feat in the same season, which would be the first time that has ever occurred.
In fact, UConn is still the only team to ever win titles in both men’s and women’s basketball in the same season, achieving the feat in both 2004 and 2014.
Most recently, the South Carolina Gamecocks achieved the Final Four double-berth in 2017, with their women’s team capturing the national title.
Syracuse (2016), Louisville (2013), LSU (2006) and Michigan State (2005) are the other non-UConn schools to achieve the remarkable feat in the last 20 years.
NCAA
If UConn wins, they would face the winner of Monday’s game between LSU and Iowa in the national semifinals on Friday. That means that NC State and UConn could end up meeting for the title if the Wolfpack can upset heavily-favored South Carolina.
The same matchup is possible on the men’s side as well, with UConn taking on Alabama in one semifinal and Purdue battling NC State in the other.