They had occasional modest success for decades but played in a meh conference (Yankee) which finally dropped basketball and they became independent. Calhoun showed up in the mid-'80s and made them what they are today. Their powerhouse status is the result of the 20-plus year run of tourney success he had and spillover for a couple seasons with Ollie after he retired and before Ollie got them into NCAA trouble and got canned. Hurley got them back to the top quickly. They've had a nearly unbroken 35-season run. Only UCLA, Carolina, Duke and Kansas can touch that (off the top of my head).
But UConn is a relatively recent Hoops phenomenon. UConn = Jim Calhoun.
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