UConn's blowout over South Carolina completed one of the most dominant title runs ever

UConn snapped its eight-year championship drought Sunday, defeating South Carolina in a blowout win that was reminiscent of what we saw from the old Huskies teams that seemed to win the title every year.

On the way to pushing Geno Auriemma's record number of national championships to 12, UConn beat the Gamecocks by 23 points, tying the third-biggest title game deficit in NCAA Div. I women's basketball history. The two teams to win by more? The 2013 UConn team that beat Louisville by 33, and the 2016 UConn team that beat Syracuse by 31.

The 2025 Huskies joined those teams on a short list of champions to win their title games by at least 20, becoming just the seventh team overall and fifth for UConn. But even competing against its own deep program history, this year's team set itself apart as one of the most dominant ever; even more so than the 1987 Tennessee team they matched with the 23-point win.

Biggest blowouts in the NCAA women's national championship

• 2013: UConn 93, Louisville 60 (33 points)
• 2016: UConn 82, Syracuse 51 (31 points)
• 1987: Tennessee 67, Louisiana Tech 44 (23 points)
• 2025: UConn 82, South Carolina 59 (23 points)
• 2005: Baylor 84, Michigan State 62 (22 points)
• 2009: UConn 76, Louisville 54 (22 points)
• 2014: UConn 79, Notre Dame 58 (21 points)

UConn won its six tournament games by an average of 32.8 points this year, besting Tennessee's average margin of 19.4 points by more than 13. Considering how the Huskies started and finished, it's fair to say their tournament run clears the Vols as maybe the third-best ever behind only the two UConn teams with bigger title-game blowouts (those teams also had bigger average margins of victory; 39.8 points in 2016 and 38 points in 2013).

After that, it's hard to say there's been a more dominant tournament run than the one the 2025 Huskies just completed. And they did it as a 2-seed, which might be the most remarkable part.

UConn's dominant 2025 tournament run

• Round 1: 103-34 over No. 15 Arkansas St.
• Round 2: 91-57 over No. 10 South Dakota St.
• Sweet 16: 82-59 over No. 3 Oklahoma
• Elite Eight: 78-64 over No. 1 USC
• Final Four: 85-51 over No. 1 UCLA
• Championship: 82-59 over No. 1 South Carolina

Though UConn entered the tournament nearly neck-and-neck with South Carolina for top title odds at BetMGM, the selection committee seeded four teams higher than the Huskies, making their path to a championship just a touch more difficult. UConn had to go through three 1-seeds -- USC, UCLA and South Carolina -- on its way to the title, and go through them is exactly what the team did, winning those games by an average of 23 points and setting the record for the biggest win over a 1-seed with its 34-point victory over UCLA in the Final Four.

That's what dominance looks like. UConn displayed a level of it rarely seen before.