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UConn Huskies forward Alex Karaban celebrates after defeating the UCLA Bruins 73-57 in the second round of the 2026 NCAA Tournament on March 22. – Emilee Chinn\/Getty Images<\/p>\n
Asked if he recalled that he once suggested a young Alex Karaban might \u201cturn his socks yellow\u201d upon entering his first college basketball<\/a> game, Dan Hurley did not pause.<\/p>\n \u201cDid I say he\u2019d poop his pants, too?\u201d Hurley said.<\/p>\n This as he zipped through the hallways of Capital One Arena in Washington DC, not two minutes removed from sitting on a dais for a press conference where he proclaimed of Karaban that his was \u201ca responsibility of greatness.\u201d<\/p>\n Back when players traditionally stayed at the same school for four years, Karaban\u2019s evolution would have been ordinary, just another player who had matured as a person and grown as an athlete over the course of his time at UConn<\/a>.<\/p>\n Now, he is an anomaly. Aside from former walk-on AJ Redd at Illinois, Karaban is the only senior at the Final Four who has spent every single game in the same uniform. Karaban\u2019s sticking power is a fascinating dynamic when juxtaposed with the changing climate in college basketball.<\/p>\n Somewhere over the course of time and the quest to make the NBA<\/a>, staying in college too long has become a sign of failure, as if either being a great college player or not being NBA-ready soon enough is a sign of a deficiency. NIL is helping a little bit, the money enticing some players to not hightail it to the pros too quickly. But the general idea is to treat college as a stop-over and move along as fast as possible, ready or not.<\/p>\n Karaban, one NBA scout says, is a likely second-rounder who, maybe if he had left after the Huskies\u2019 first title, might have played his way into the first round.<\/p>\n \u201cBut the more we see of you, the more warts we find,\u201d the scout told CNN Sports<\/a>. \u201cBut he\u2019s going to be a first-to-practice, last-to-leave guy, great in the locker room and he\u2019ll know all of your plays. He\u2019s got a funky shot, but it goes in. He\u2019s 6\u20198\u201d. He\u2019s strong, so you ask, \u2018Can he be a Kyle Korver?\u2019 I don\u2019t know, but I do know he\u2019s a great college player and what\u2019s wrong with that? How many people get to say that about themselves?\u201d<\/p>\n Indeed. To consider Karaban as anything but an abject success story is absurd. Should the Huskies secure another national title, he will be the first player since those who suited up for John Wooden in the 1970s to win three national titles. Since the NCAA Tournament began in 1939, only two players \u2013 Duke\u2019s Christian Laettner and Bobby Hurley (Karaban\u2019s coach\u2019s brother) \u2013 have won more NCAA Tournament games than the Huskies forward\u2019s 17.<\/p>\n At UConn, he is already the first active player to enter the school\u2019s Huskies of Honor, a ring that already includes Kemba Walker, Rip Hamilton and Emeka Okafor. In the course of his career, Karaban has won 125 games, lost 27 and started 148. When he graduates, he will be the winningest player in UConn history, a ridiculous statement for a school that has won six national titles.<\/p>\n And he has done it the hardest way of all: neither as an overnight sensation nor a phenom, but as a player who has mastered the fine and lost art of consistency.<\/p>\n A nerd becomes a UConn legend Arkansas Razorbacks forward Kamani Johnson battles Karaban for a rebound during the second half in the 2023 Sweet 16. – Sean M. Haffey\/Getty Images<\/p>\n To be clear, Karaban\u2019s socks did not, in fact, turn yellow. He dropped 13 points in his UConn debut, and there was never any real reason to believe they would. Karaban was no rube; he was a consensus top-50 recruit and, alongside Donovan Clingan and Corey Floyd Jr., part of a top-10 class for Hurley in 2021.<\/p>\n But he isn\u2019t now nor was he ever the kind of player who would turn your head upon entering a building.<\/p>\n \u201cYou look at the first media pictures,\u201d Hurley said. \u201cHe looks like Ichabod Crane (of) the Headless Horseman (fame).\u201d<\/p>\n Kinda mean? Yes. Inaccurate? Check out the Adam\u2019s apple and decide.<\/p>\n A self-admitted nerd, Karaban frankly came by his love for math more naturally than his devotion to hoops. His mother, Olga, is a Ukrainian immigrant who has a doctorate from Northeastern and his father, Alexi, who is from Belarus, works as a software engineer.<\/p>\n Upon finishing their official visit to UConn, Olga made her son return for a second, worried that the family hadn\u2019t received enough information about the school\u2019s economics.<\/p>\n Karaban initially pursued a combo platter of three majors \u2013 computer science, sports management and statistics \u2013 before boiling it down to an economics degree. He graduated in May with a 3.39 and is now pursuing a certificate in non-profit management.<\/p>\n On the surface, at least, all of that would seem to make Karaban entirely ill-suited for Hurley \u2013 the orderly, math nerd introvert versus the whirling dervish extrovert. Except Karaban also was the kid who went outside during the cold Massachusetts winters to practice his shot. He\u2019s also the quiet-fire-in-the-belly burner who once trashed not one, not two, but three TVs after some bad gaming led to a fateful intersection of remote and screen.<\/p>\n He burns, just a little more quietly.<\/p>\n \u201cYeah, I think I\u2019m secretly more like coach than people realize,\u201d Karaban admits. \u201cI\u2019m not as fiery as him, but the way we both take a loss, for example. We both make it seem like the world is ending. And it\u2019s just the priorities in life. We both try to keep the main thing the main thing.\u201d<\/p>\n What helped in both the player-coach relationship and Karaban\u2019s comfort in finding his voice is that he didn\u2019t have to take center stage upon arrival in Storrs.<\/p>\n Though a starter from the jump, Karaban was neither the primary offensive focus nor the man in charge for two seasons. As a freshman, as the Huskies roared to their first title under Hurley, Adama Sanogo and Tristan Newton carried the load. When they ran it back to another championship, it was Newton and Cam Spencer serving as the head of the dog.<\/p>\n It allowed him room to breathe. The mantle finally came to rest upon his shoulders last year as the lone returner from those title winners, but it didn\u2019t go as planned. Or, at least, not like Hurley thought it would.<\/p>\n The disappointment of junior year sets up a Final Four run Karaban chases after a loose ball in the second half against the Alabama Crimson Tide on April 6, 2024. – Jamie Squire\/Getty Images<\/p>\n Ahead of Karaban\u2019s junior year, Hurley spoke openly and often about a three-peat and invoked the word dynasty, going so far as to make bracelets for his players with the word inscribed on them.<\/p>\n Only after, when it was too late, did Hurley stop and think about what he was doing. Rather than absorbing pressure, he was dishing it out, creating later what he called a miserable season (though to be fair, UConn\u2019s definition of miserable, 24-11 and a second-round loss, would be fine at plenty of places).<\/p>\n Karaban, whose numbers have always hovered in the same range, saw the biggest dip of his career. He shot just 34% from the arc and 43% from the floor. Having eschewed an early entry to the NBA draft twice already \u2013 one scout intimated that Karaban might have turned down a guaranteed first-round pick after his first year \u2013 the forward willingly signed up for his final run in Storrs.<\/p>\n He worked absurdly hard, crafting the shot that lost a little on its fastball last season. He set a standard that his fellow Huskies understood, even if Karaban never felt the need to scream it at them.<\/p>\n That is still his way. Hurley has pushed Karaban to get out of his comfort zone and find his voice as a more vocal leader. He is certainly more animated \u2013 he\u2019s let out more than a few primal screams during this NCAA Tournament \u2013 but he remains more of a leader by example than by vocal command.<\/p>\n Which, frankly, works as a counter-balance to Hurley, who is all bark, and just as much bite.<\/p>\n To watch them at times, in fact, is to watch a kid parenting a parent. Something of a Hurley whisperer, who is there to translate what the coach wants \u2013 minus the additional adjectives \u2013 for his teammates, usually sitting and smirking while Hurley riffs on the grievance of the day.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s a calming influence for me,\u201d Hurley said \u2013 adding glibly, \u201cI\u2019m waiting for you to laugh.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"Arkansas](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/d51d82d5a0ca2b5cb6c076debef907bd.jpeg\"\/)
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