STORRS, Conn. — When UConn was recruiting Alex Karaban, Tom Moore, who was covering New England at the time, stressed he was not a player who would jump out the first time you saw him. You had to go watch him play numerous games, doing his little bit of everything, to get a true appreciation.

The rest of the coaches followed up, someone from UConn seemingly at every AAU game, Karaban recalled, and soon they agreed he was a must-get.

“You’ve got to see him, you see him two or three times, you see the IQ, you see the feel, you see a guy who loves to play, a guy who’s a leader, who’s skilled and processes the game,” coach Dan Hurley said.

For Karaban and UConn’s fandom, it wasn’t love at first sight. They started out as friends, then became best friends, and finally it’s hard to imagine one without the other. That process took four full years, from Karaban’s arrival, beardless and boyish, in January 2022 as a redshirt freshman, getting a semester’s jump on his studies and a half season to acclimate to Hurley’s practices, to Saturday, Senior Day, when he became the first men’s basketball player at UConn to play a game with his name and number already unveiled in the Huskies of Honor above him before UConn’s 71-67 victory over Seton Hall.

“UConn is a family to us,” said Olga Karaban, Alex’s mother.

“It changed everything, it changed his life, everything, you can’t feel anything better,” said Alexei Karaban, his father.

It took 140 games, 117 victories for this love affair to reach full bloom on his Senior Day. Karaban’s legacy has come up a lot this week, in conversations and podcasts, and for me it’s not complicated; he was a meaningful part of more winning efforts than any player in UConn history. The word “winningest” was cobbled together in the 1970s and forced into the dictionary for just such careers.

Maybe Karaban wasn’t the best player in the country, or on his team. He has been a very good player on great UConn teams, but he was a constant and his value and importance transcends any individual stats he achieved, such as top 10 in scoring, or didn’t achieve. That one number, the final total of wins, will come up first when he is recalled in decades to come should he and the Huskies make it three national championships.

“He’s one of the greatest players who’s worn the uniform, for what he’s done for the uniform,” Hurley said. “Who’s done more while they wore the uniform than this guy?”

And he will be remembered reverently because Karaban’s departure marks not only the end of his career, but the end of a glorious arc of UConn history and the end of an era of college basketball as we once knew it. Player renumeration makes it more likely that all but the one-and-done level players will stick around in college, but the ability to find the highest bidder in the transfer portal makes it less and less likely there will be many four-year starters like him in the future.

Karaban, who earned his degree in economics in three years and will get a grad certificate in nonprofit management in May, never saw greener pastures at another school. He twice tested the professional waters, but didn’t see the wisdom in leaving to be a late first- or early second-round NBA draft pick. If he was going to play in the G League or overseas, he wisely chose to stay at UConn until the arena doors in Connecticut closed behind him. His draft stock is what it is.

And it gave him something that can’t be purchased.

“You see how the fans reacted,” Karaban said. “They were just celebrating, cheering what I’ve done for four years, and that’s something I can’t trade for. Having a legacy at UConn, doing everything you can for four years, having the fan support, having Coach Hurley and the coaching staff support, building these great relationships I’ve had with teammates the last four years, it’s something I wouldn’t trade for. I know, being here four years, I could come back to UConn forever and it’s always a home for me, no matter how good or bad my life’s going, Storrs is always home for me.

“That’s something you don’t find too often now, with college basketball players jumping around all the time, but if you want your legacy to be made, have special moments, a special career, build special relationships, you want to stay four years.”

Said his Mom: “He would stay longer, if he could. … It’s a living dream.”

Karaban was lifting his sweatshirt to wipe away tears when he came out with his family for the customary framed jersey presentation, and held it high for the crowd. But his Senior Day will be best remembered for what he did in the game. He played every second of the 40 minutes, going 8 for 11, including 5 for 6 on 3s, scoring 23 points. He hit 3s on successive possessions to bring UConn back from an eight-point deficit late in the game, and two free throws to help ice it once the Huskies wrested the lead from stubborn Seton Hall.

It turned out to be a grinding victory, characteristic of this 2025-26 team, and this time Karaban was more than a very good player on a great team. He was the best player on the court.

“Thank God we won this game tonight,” he told the crowd after the game. “Because I could not leave with a loss in this last game, so thank goodness we won.”

Karaban finishes his career with a 60-6 record at home, 31-1 in Hartford, and 29-5 on campus. The crowd roared its appreciation whenever he did anything in a game, chants of “Thank you Alex” heard early, chants of “A-K, A-K” heard after he finished his short speech.

This was A.K.’s day — in every way. And who is to say? He’s got one more run through March Madness; the very best may be yet to come.

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