Back to back! UConn fans gather to celebrate another basketball championship

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — Thousands of fans lined the streets of downtown Hartford on Saturday to fete the UConn men’s basketball team following its second straight NCAA championship, its sixth in the past 25 years.

The players and coaches paraded on a double-decker bus with an open-air top and lifted the national title trophy from the state Capitol to the XL Center, the arena in which the team plays about half its home games. The procession included marching bands, cheerleaders, first responders, top state politicians and other groups as fans shouted and waved UConn signs.

The celebration followed Monday’s 75-60 win over Purdue, which capped one of the most dominant two-year runs in NCAA Tournament history, one in which the Huskies won all 12 games they played by double digits.

Coach Dan Hurley, who has spent the week denying that he was considering leaving the program for another school, told the crowd his focus is on a third consecutive championship, as he and the players gave short speeches outside the arena.