Jim Calhoun and the UConn Huskies Are Now a College Basketball Blue Blood

It was far from the most entertaining championship game in tournament history.

UConn had the lowest shooting percentage ever for a winning team, and likewise, Butler had the lowest shooting percentage ever for a losing team in the championship game. They scored only two points in the paint and missed 24 three-pointers.

UConn wasn't that much more impressive with 34.5 percent field-goal shooting. Had they improved that figure just a bit, it's not out of the question to say the Huskies could have won by more than 20 points.

Although, one can complain all they want about the lackluster performance of the title game, the same criticism can't be said about UConn's place in the history of the NCAA tournament and college basketball.

Jim Calhoun's team may never surpass or equal the success that Geno Auriemma's team has had on the women's game, but the men's program in Storrs has been one of the nation's best programs over the last 20 years.

When he arrived in 1986, the Huskies hadn't made the tournament in seven years. It would take Calhoun until his fourth season to lead UConn to tournament. They came on to the national radar with an Elite Eight appearance in 1989. They have only missed the tournament five times since that year.

Before the Jim Calhoun era, the Huskies were a Yankee Conference powerhouse. They won 18 conference championships and made three appearances in the Sweet 16. This would be a proud resume for a lot schools, but this was moderate in comparison to the powerhouses of college basketball.

The argument that many will make against UConn for not being one of college basketball's blue bloods, is that the program had very little national success before Jim Calhoun came to Storrs. Programs such as Indiana and Kentucky were long considered national powerhouses, long before Calhoun became the Huskies coach.

This same argument has been used by some to argue against Duke as a college basketball blue blood. The majority of their success has come during the Mike Krzyzewski era. Calhoun has led the Huskies to the Final Four four times, and has won it three times. This pales in comparison to the resume of Krzyzewski with his four national championships, eight national championship game appearances and 11 Final Four trips.

UConn can't retroactively make up for their lack of national success during their days in the Yankee Conference, but they have proven their status as a national powerhouse. No team has won more national titles since 1999 and only one other school (Duke) has made as many Final Four appearances.

The UConn Huskies are now only the seventh school to have won at least three Final Fours. That selective list also includes Kentucky, Indiana, UCLA, Kansas, North Carolina and Duke.

Few would argue against these six schools as the elite programs in college basketball's history. These programs are also seen as destination jobs that any head coach would gladly accept a job offer with.

UConn has yet to reach that level of success, but they have achieved the label of blue blood. They are far and away the best program historically, in the next level down. A group that includes the likes of Arizona, Ohio State, Michigan State, Syracuse and Louisville. 

A few more decades of success could help them achieve that elite status. Then the argument may be whether or not the UConn Huskies belong on the Mount Rushmore of men's college basketball teams.

That's a far cry from their days in the Yankee Conference.