For the second straight night, a UConn basketball team has cut down the nets as an NCAA National Champion and the celebration in Storrs continues.
According to the Associated Press, a large crowd of Huskies fans was split on the University of Connecticut's (UConn) Storrs campus. Some fans welcomed the men's team bus upon their return from Arlington while others gathered to watch the women play Notre Dame.
The Lady Huskies' win was their ninth title, all with Geno Auriemma at the helm and was also the coach's fifth undefeated team while at UConn.
"We beat a great, great team," Auriemma said after the game, according to a UConn news release. "Notre Dame is a great team. For them to have the season they had and lose their starting center and to do what they did, I can't say enough about their players, coaching staff, and it took everything we have. I knew if we played great, we'd have a chance to win."
The party started in Storrs Monday night when the men's team defeated Kentucky for their fourth national title and first without all-time great coach Jim Calhoun. DeAndre Daniels and Ryan Boatright, teammates on the men's team, were in Nashville to watch the women play for their title.
"It's history being made," Boatright told the AP. "It's only happened one other time and that was in '04, and I'm just glad to be a part of this."
The junior guard could not join Daniels in storming the court because he hurt his ankle in Monday night's win and had to wear a walking boot. The UConn men and women have combined for 13 NCAA basketball titles and have never lost when reaching the final game.
"It's just such a big deal," Alexander Potts, a UConn sophomore, told the AP. "We love basketball here, it's our No. 1 sport, and nobody is better at it."
UConn men's coach Kevin Ollie was Calhoun's handpicked successor and he won the title on his first year playing in the tournament. Though he knew it would happen because he made a promise.
"On senior night I told you all to save this date, didn't I?" Ollie told the crowd Tuesday night. "The only reason I said that is because I knew what kind of team I had, what kind of coaching staff I had and I knew I had the greatest fans in America behind us."
