Houston – Every UConn basketball player has a personal story about their road that ended with Monday night’s national championship victory over San Diego State, the fifth in program history.

Junior Adama Sanogo, who’s from Bamako, Mali, once loved soccer, not basketball. He started playing the latter sport when he was 14.

“I was like, `What am I doing? This is not my thing. I’m not doing this. This is bad. This is not my sport,’ ” Sanogo recalled thinking about that first day on a basketball court.

Two years later, Sanogo moved to the United States to attend high school, diligently worked on his game and now is one of stars of March Madness.

“Thank God I came to the United States,” Sanogo said. ”Thank God I’m playing basketball. WIthout basketball, I would not be able to be here right now. That’s something that I’ll really appreciate for the rest of my life.”

Now he's the Final Four Most Outstanding Player after finishing with 17 points and 10 rebounds in the title game.

Senior Tristen Newton also benefited from making a life-changing decision.

After spending three seasons at East Carolina, Newton wanted to challenge himself at a higher level, so he entered the transfer portal and ended up in Storrs.

He has played an invaluable role as the starting point guard.

“I could have stayed at ECU and probably averaged a lot more points,” Newton said. “I wanted to play at a higher level and show my talents. Playing here has boosted my career.”

Growing up in Buford, Ga., senior Nahiem Alleyne, another transfer, didn’t really know much about UConn. He rooted for Kentucky in the 2014 national championship game that UConn won, 60-54, in Arlington, Texas.

“I’ll be honest with you, I wasn’t really watching college basketball then,” Alleyne said. “I was a Kentucky fan because my mom went to Kentucky. I saw UConn when they played in the championship against Kentucky. Shabazz Napier did his thing. They won it all. That was number four for them.”

The Huskies eventually won over Alleyne, a steady contributor off the bench in his first season since transferring from Virginia Tech.

Just a year ago, Sanogo, junior Andre Jackson and sophomore Jordan Hawkins met with coach Dan Hurley after a second straight NCAA tournament first round loss. They helped set Hurley’s plan in motion and serve as the strong foundation during a special season.

The trio provided vital leadership, starting last spring when they warmly welcomed four transfers and two other important newcomers in freshman Donovan Clingan and redshirt freshman Alex Karaban.

“I was just trying to make sure everybody was on the same page, that we all had the same mission and goal in mind,” Jackson said.

The Huskies grew into a close-knit, unselfish team. They genuinely care about each other and all made sacrifices for the good of the team.

“We have one common goal and that is to be successful and win,” junior Hassan Diarra said. “And through that, we put our egos aside and came together because we understood that.”

And UConn’s tight bond has shown during a dominating postseason run.

“I’ve never been around guys like this year’s team,” Sanogo said. “We always do something together. We’re like family.”

They wrote a happy ending to their story with a 76-69 win over San Diego State in the NCAA title game at NRG Stadium.

“It’s been one hell of a ride,” Alleyne said.

g.keefe@theday.com