NASHVILLE — Warde Manuel had a few minutes — but only a few — to say a few words. He had another rush to an airport to make, another plane to catch.

Someone mentioned to him that life was hectic but that it had to be a happy hectic.

“That’s a good way of putting it,” he said late Sunday night.

Manuel, the athletic director at the University of Connecticut, had come out of the triumphant locker room of UConn’s undefeated women’s basketball team, on the way back to North Texas for the men’s final Monday night against Kentucky. Two national championships were within his grasp, but the truth was that two, one or none would not much weaken the statement that had already been made about the UConn basketball brand.

“What this says is that moving through some difficult times and adjustments that we had to deal with, we came out stronger by showcasing what we all believed through those trials and tribulations,” Manuel said.