UConn's Alex Karaban On Brink Of NCAA Tournament History: 'It Would Be So Special For Him'

Alex Karaban certainly didn't play one of his best games in the Final Four against Illinois, but his UConn teammates picked up the slack enough to help Karaban move to the brink of history. Karaban, the only senior in the Final Four, is now one win from capturing his third NCAA championship in four years. He would be the only player in college basketball history not from UCLA to accomplish that feat. Against Illinois, Karban shot just 1-of-8 for 9 points while going a perfect 6-of-6 from the line. He chipped in 4 rebounds and 4 assists. He and the Huskies will take on the Michigan-Arizona winner in Monday's championship game at Lucas Oil Stadium. "I think AK just holds the standard with this program," freshman guard Braylon Mullins said after scoring 15 points in UConn's 71-62 win over the Illini. "That's the guy you look up to on the court. He's been through it twice and just knowing that he has been through it twice, you can use him as an outlet. "I mean, to make history with Monday for him, I think that's what we're all trying to accomplish, and it would be so special for him." The 6-foot-8 Karaban, a Southborough, Mass. native, has now played in 19 NCAA Tournament games, going 18-1 overall, with back-to-back championships in 2023 and '24. As NCAA.com pointed out, Karaban has "more March wins in his career than schools such as Clemson, Seton Hall, Minnesota, TCU, Georgia and Mississippi State own in their entire history. He has as many as Southern California." "I'm extremely comfortable in this environment so nothing should really faze me," Karaban said. "I'm not really distracted by the outside noises and more focused on the main purpose." When Karaban joined the Huskies as a redshirt for the 2021-22 season, he looked up to older players who took him under their wing. "Now I have guys leaning on me," he said. "I've been through every type of win, every type of loss and seen it all. "It's like hiring a babysitter for your team," coach Dan Hurley said. "He just babysits your team for 4.5 years. "He's the greatest problem solver you'll ever have in practice, in games, and then the tone he sets for your culture with his work habits, the peer pressure that that puts on everyone in the organization when your best player works as hard as he does, it just puts enormous pressure on everyone to stay out of Ted's at night, which is a bar on campus, and to be in the gym shooting." In this day and age of Name, Image and Likeness and the transfer portal, it's extremely rare to see a player spend four seasons at one school. For that player to win two championships and be on the bring of a third is something unique. "That would make him the only non-UCLA player in history to have three titles," ESPN's Jay Bilas said on air. Added ESPN's Seth Greenberg. "Who's going to be the next person that can come and say that they've had this type of career? We're not doing to see it again." "We'll see it again," Bilas added, "but it's rare."