How UConn can add to NCAA history with men’s, women’s basketball championships in same year originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
The UConn women’s basketball team has long been considered the best in the sport and has been on a generational run over the last 25 years. While the women’s team has been secured in the spotlight, the men’s team is on a little dynasty run of its own.
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Heading into the 2026 Final Four, there is a lot of history that Connecticut’s basketball teams can add. The men’s team won the national championship in both 2023 and 2024 and is looking to become the first men’s team in 50 years to win three national championships in a four-year span. The UConn women’s team dominated the regular season and the women’s NCAA Tournament so far. With a national championship win, they would cap off an undefeated season and cut down the nets for the 12th time in their program history.
If that isn’t enough, there is even more history that the women’s and men’s Huskies teams can add to. UConn remains the only team in history to ever win a men’s and women’s national championship in the same year, and they have done it twice. 2026 would mark the third time they have done it, extending their record if both teams can pull off the feat.
Here is more on how UConn can make NCAA history with men’s and women’s basketball championships in 2026.
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Men’s and women’s basketball championships in same year
Here is the full list of teams that have won a men’s and women’s national championship in the same year.
UConn.
End of list.
The craziest part about it is not only that the Huskies are the only team that has ever won men’s and women’s basketball national championships in the same year, but they have done it twice.
The first time UConn’s teams won national championships in the same year was in 2004. They repeated their feat in 2014. They fell short of keeping it at a decade pace in 2024, but have the chance to pull it off in 2026.
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In 2004, the women’s team overcame Tennessee 70-61 and finished the season undefeated at 40-0. At the time, it was their third consecutive national championship. The men’s team beat Georgia Tech 82-73 to win its second national championship in program history.
To make the feat even more impressive, only five schools have men’s and women’s teams that have ever won a national championship, regardless of year.
UConn
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Men: 1999, 2004, 2011, 2014, 2023, 2024
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Women: 1995, 2000, 2002–04, 2009–10, 2013–16, 2025
North Carolina
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Men: 1957, 1982, 1993, 2005, 2009, 2017
Stanford
Baylor
Maryland
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How UConn women’s team can add to history
The UConn women’s basketball team has been a powerhouse for more than two decades. The Huskies have won 12 national championships so far, all since 1995. UConn’s women’s basketball team has had six undefeated seasons, and all of them have come under head coach Geno Auriemma.
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If the Huskies win the women’s national championship in 2026, it would be their 13th title – extending their own record – and it would be the seventh undefeated season in program history – also extending their own record.
There have been 10 total undefeated seasons in women’s basketball history. UConn has six of them, while Baylor, Tennessee, South Carolina and Texas all have one.
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How UConn men’s team can add to history
The Huskies’ men’s team will have a chance to add to the school’s shared history, but there is also some history that the program itself can become part of. Head coach Dan Hurley led UConn to national championships in 2023 and 2024.
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He has a chance to lead the Huskies to a third national championship in four years, colloquially called “The Three-Peat-Plus.” If UConn’s men’s team pulls it off, they will be the first to win three national championships in four years since UCLA won seven national championships in a row from 1967 to 1973.
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