As the great Michael Scott once said, “I’m not superstitious, but I am a little stitious.”
It could be a case of “whatever works” for UConn Head Coach Dan Hurley, who has his Huskies poised for another run at the NCAA Championship. The University of Connecticut basketball team cut down the nets last year, and now back in the tournament with the number one overall seed, they are looking to go back-to-back… which is easier said than done.
But the Huskies are viewed as one of the most potent teams on both sides of the ball, so a repeat could be within reach. You might be asking yourself, “I wonder what some of their keys to the game are? Crashing the boards? Limiting turnovers?”
Those are good questions, and those probably are in their game plans, but those aren’t the keys to being victorious for UConn. At least not if you ask Dan Hurley. He would let you know that the way the Huskies win is through a vigorous, repeated pre-game routine of… eating M&M’s.
According to CTInsider, a very specific amount of candied chocolates to be exact, as Hurley described:
“Eight. Right before the game. Just before the game. A half-hour before the game. Seven if I drop one on the floor.”
Okay… nothing weird about that.
But at least its just a numbers thing right? It would be really weird if the UConn head coach was obsessive about the colors of the M&M’s too. Oh wait, that’s right, he is. As his son Andrew Hurley explained:
“He takes the other team’s color out of the pack. He’s got so many superstitions. I’m surprised that hasn’t gotten out. That’s a big one.”
I would go off on Hurley for his strange, superstitious habit if it didn’t seem to working wonders for him. He and the 1-seed Huskies coasted through the first round game against the 16-seed Stetson Hatters (yes, that’s an actual team name) and are set to continue their run for a back-to-back title.
And guess what? Dan Hurley is going to keep doing his thing, and by that I mean coaching the hell out of UConn while only consuming specific amounts and colors of chocolate candies. Hurley will tell you himself that he’s unapologetic about his pre-game tendencies:
“I’m the king of superstitions. There are a lot of things the group is going to have to prepare for that way, all my idiosyncrasies.
People like me that are very intense, some of those routines just make you feel comfortable and relaxed and in the best state of mind.”
To each their own. Especially if it results in championship level basketball…
