Put the wolves in the hamper. Dan Hurley is bringing back the dragons.
UConn’s head coach, in his words, is the “king of superstitions.” His lucky pair of boxers, red with cartoon dragons on them, washed by hand between games, brought the Huskies good juju – and a $50,000 donation to the Husky Ticket Project – throughout last year’s NCAA Tournament run. They’ve earned another opportunity in the big dance.
The wolf boxers helped UConn through the Big East, when it won a record 18 conference games, and the conference tournament, where it tied the record for most all-time championships by a single program. They won’t be back until next Big East season.
We are learning more and more about Dan Hurley and his lucky underwear thanks to the @nypost. Article has a photo of the lucky pair and said that his son bought him a portable washing machine and Andrea dries them with a hair dryer. https://t.co/fjaut6z1xE pic.twitter.com/NOtuCHH7X2
— Jared Kotler (@JaredKotler) March 30, 2023
“There’s a lot of things that the group’s gonna have to prepare for, all of my idiosyncrasies that way,” Hurley said, after the bracket revealed the reigning champs as the No. 1 overall seed.
As far as the idiosyncrasies go, adult underoos are just the start.
Hurley drinks mushroom blend coffee two hours before every game and his bulletproof coffee with coconut oil once he gets to the sidelines. He doesn’t come out of the locker room until a minute before tip-off, just in time for the national anthem, where he stands in the middle of the team with arms interlocked.
“It’s grown and it’s gotten overwhelming, the amount of things I’ve got going,” Hurley said. “It’s like watching Rafa Nadal, it can be maddening to watch him before he would serve, all of the different things he does with the wristband, the towel and everything. People like me that are very intense, some of those routines kind of just make you feel comfortable and relaxed and in the best state of mind.”
At the start of UConn’s final regular season game at Providence on Mar. 9, Cam Spencer challenged the juju.
The fifth-year guard who, ironically, mirrors much of his coach’s personality on the court, went running over to the sideline to save the opening tip from going out of bounds. Spencer tipped the ball back in play but his momentum carried him right into the scorer’s table and knocked over the coffee.
“That threw me, that’s why we started so bad,” Hurley…
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