4 Takeaways from the NCAA Men’s Elite Eight Basketball Tournament

As the final seconds ticked away in Sunday night’s Elite Eight showdown between No. 2 UConn and top-seeded Duke, it began to feel like the frenzied comeback orchestrated by the Huskies, who trailed the Blue Devils by 19 in the waning moments of the first half, would fail mercilessly. his counterpart Braylon Mullins of the Huskies. Mullins moved forward Alex Karaban along the right wing as the clock wound down. Karaban threw it back to Mullins, the true freshman sharpshooter who had seemingly missed everything he threw during the first 39 minutes against Duke. Now Mullins had no choice. He rose several meters beyond the logo. With the ball still in flight, Mullins began to backpedal as his desperation heave arched beautifully, poetically, parabolicly toward the hoop. And when he slid softly through the net with 0.4 seconds left — pushing the Huskies in front for an improbable 73-72 victory that ranks among the greatest comebacks and moments in program history — Mullins was already beyond midcourt, closer to the despair and desolation Duke exhaled than the riot that exploded along the UConn bench. And so the Huskies were headed to the Final Four for the third time in four years. Just like that, UConn was the author of a historic NCAA Tournament moment. Here’s my takeaway from the Elite Eight: 1. The pursuit of history continues for UConn under Dan Hurley [MEN’S BRACKET: NCAA Tournament Bracket, Leaders & Stats] After UConn won back-to-back national championships in 2023 and 2024, which placed the Huskies tied with North Carolina for the third-most titles in college basketball history (six), the long and arduous quest for a three-peat fell apart almost from the start. By the end of November last season, Hurley’s team had already lost three straight games at the Maui Invitational, where its sideline antics became a national storyline. At the end of February, the Huskies were 10-6 in the Big East, behind St. John’s and Creighton in the conference pecking order. By mid-March, they had exited the Big East tournament with a loss to the Bluejays in the semifinals. And in the round of 16, just days after the start of the Big Dance, UConn fell to No. 1 seed Florida, who won it all. Facing a soul-searching offseason, Hurley responded the only way he knew how: rebuilding and retooling the Huskies into a better version than the one they put on the field last season. He added a high-profile transfer agent in Silas Demary Jr. from Georgia. He recruited two instant impact freshmen, Mullins and Eric Reibe, both McDonald’s All-Americans. He challenged veterans like Karaban, guard Solo Ball and center Tarris Reed Jr. to become the dominant forces their predecessors had been when UConn won back-to-back titles. He chose a well-respected assistant coach from Villanova in Mike Nardi. At first, all the pieces seemed to fit together wonderfully. The Huskies opened by winning 22 of their first 23 games despite injuries to Reed and Mullins. The first and only team to beat UConn before February arrived was Arizona, who will join the Huskies in Indianapolis. But Hurley’s team suffered four losses in the span of five weeks to snuff out both the Big East regular-season title and any chance of winning the Big East Tournament, both of which were claimed by St. John’s. When the Huskies were revealed as the 2 seed during Selection Sunday, it was easy to doubt their chances of making another deep run. Nothing in the preceding weeks suggested that more March magic would happen – until, of course, it did. UConn opened by beating No. 15 Furman and No. 7 UCLA to reach the second weekend. Then Hurley’s team fended off No. 3 Michigan State in a Sweet 16 brawl between two of the nation’s toughest programs. Just reaching the Elite Eight was an achievement for a team that never really regained its early season form. The 19-point first-half deficit against Duke on Sunday ultimately seemed to mark the beginning of an unsightly end, especially considering that the 1 seeds entered the day 134-0 in games where they led by 15 points or more at halftime. “I just thought at the start of the game we were on our heels a little bit,” Hurley said in the postgame press conference. “I thought we were too defensive. We didn’t attack them and try to put pressure on them or make them uncomfortable. I just think we probably gave their individual players a little too much respect.” History, however, failed to account for a 3-point attack in critical moments after the Huskies missed 18 of their first 19 from beyond the arc. He also didn’t consider what might happen if Duke turned the ball over six times in the final 9:58. And history certainly hasn’t remembered that UConn has been the most successful sports program over the past quarter century, winning all six of its national titles since 1999 — one more than the Blue Devils own in their entire record. All of this set the stage for Mullins to do what Mullins ultimately did on Sunday night. And now UConn is still alive to win its third championship in the last four years. “This game was a reflection of the season,” Hurley said. “It’s been a season where we’ve had to deal with injuries to key players at critical times of the year that we’ve had to overcome, and we’ve had to show a lot of courage and resilience and just fight our way through the season. The game was a microcosm of that: we fought, we clawed, we put ourselves in position to take advantage of a mistake they made. “And one of the most brilliant shooters you’ve ever seen shooting a basketball made an incredible, legendary shot in March.” 2. Michigan star Yaxel Lendeborg reaches new level in postseason Michigan forward Yaxel Lendeborg was already recognized as one of the best players in the country long before this year’s NCAA Tournament began. The high-profile transfer from UAB entered Sunday’s game averaging 14.9 points, 7.0 rebounds and 3.3 assists per game for a team that has won the Big Ten regular season title by four games, making him a surefire first-round pick in the upcoming NBA draft. So the fact that Lendeborg played well during the Wolverines’ dominant run to the Final Four, a run that crystallized with a 33-point outburst against No. 6 Tennessee on Sunday, should hardly be considered a surprise. This is the second time this season that Lendeborg has posted at least four consecutive games with an offensive rating. of 136 or higher, according to KenPom, before his current run in the tournament, the only other time he accomplished this feat was during Michigan’s six-game non-conference stretch from November 4 to December 6. The slippery slope of being happy and satisfied to be there, but also knowing that you still have work to do so that we can accomplish what could be Our ultimate goal is to play. [next] Monday.” To put this remarkable streak in context, consider where Lendeborg’s offensive efficiency stands nationally. His individual rating of 154.5 since March 17 – the day this year’s First Four began – is third in the country among players who have logged at least 75 minutes since then, according to Torvik. Lendeborg is behind Purdue guard CJ Cox (155.5) and Nebraska guard Pryce Sandfort (155) in this category What was already a tremendous season for Lendeborg enters a new stratosphere. 3. Arizona will have a huge statistical advantage in the Final Four There was something unique about Arizona taking its first lead against No. 2 Purdue on Saturday night at the free throw line, where guard Jaden Bradley made a pair with 14:34 to play, officially erasing his team’s deficit at halftime. Wildcats, who pulled away to win by 15, will never trail again All season, head coach Tommy Lloyd’s team has thrived on attacking the rim in an era largely defined by 3-point shooting. Interior pressure leads to fouls in large quantities, resulting in more free throws against the Boilermakers, 39 against No. 4 Arkansas. 39 against No. 8 Utah State and 33 against No. 16 LIU The bottom line? Ninety-nine points at the free-throw line in four games, compared to just 43 for the Wildcats’ opponents “You foul,” Purdue head coach Matt Painter said in his postgame press conference. “When you have fast guards that can beat you, you’re a victim. of a fault. Go watch their free throws. It was the fewest free throws they have made thus far in an NCAA Tournament game. They just lived in the painting. That was our concern.” That will be the concern of every team remaining in this year’s tournament, given how big the disparity is between Arizona and the rest of the field. Entering the Final Four, the Wildcats rank seventh nationally in free throw rate, according to KenPom, which measures how often a team generates free throws. None of the other national semifinalists come close: Michigan is 100th, Illinois is 237th, UConn is 306th If Arizona manages to win its first national championship since 1997, its uncanny ability to generate free throws will be a big reason why. 4. Illinois and Arizona exemplify college basketball’s international expansion In early February, Duke head coach Jon Scheyer gave me an interview for a series about what is, at least in terms of efficiency, the greatest offensive season in history. One of the reasons Scheyer cited was improved team building in an era where players are flooding the sport from all corners of the world. “I think you have the ability to build around your best players in a different way,” Scheyer told me. Instead of just being able to recruit high school players, you can recruit virtually anyone in college, in Europe, and now potentially in the G-League. opportunity as a coach. And obviously, everyone has their own way of doing it.” In late March, the first two teams to advance to this year’s Final Four – Illinois and Arizona – certainly had their own ways of doing it. Lloyd and Illinois head coach Brad Underwood filled their teams with elite international talent ready and willing to trade lower-level professional experiences overseas for the chance to play collegiately in the United States. Stojakovic, David Mirkovic, Tomislav Ivisic and Zvonimir Ivisic – are all from Europe The connection between Illinois and international prospects has become so strong that memes depicting Underwood in traditional Eastern European garb are commonly shared on social media, including by the coach himself: Consider the Wildcats, whose fourth and fifth leading scorers – Ivan Kharchenkov and Motiejus Krivas – as well as their. highest scorer s dynamic on the bench – Anthony. Dell’Orso — all were from outside the United States. Lloyd, now in his fifth season, learned the ins and outs of international recruiting during his two decades as an assistant coach at Gonzaga. “I think college basketball, over the last two years, has reached the highest level of performance that I’ve seen in my 50 years,” St. John’s head coach Rick Pitino said before his team’s loss to No. 1 Duke in the Sweet 16. “That’s because of the foreign influence, they don’t want to go to the EuroLeague or the EuroCup anymore. They want to go to the EuroCup. [United] States because they make more money. We can even compete with the EuroLeague in terms of remuneration. The way the game is played on the field is the best I have ever seen. Conn and Illinois, this semifinal matchup between 1 seeds can, and probably will, be considered a de facto national title game. No team has been more dominant through the first four rounds of the NCAA Tournament. No team has come out of more dominant conferences to win their respective regular season titles. And no team is better suited to contend in the low post than the Wildcats and Wolverines, who have the most formidable backcourt rotations in the country. This game should be an absolute classic. No. 3 Illinois at No. 2 UConn — Thanks to Mullins’ historic shot, whose place in UConn history is now indisputably assured, the Huskies will head to the Final Four knowing they’ve already beaten their next opponent. UConn and Illinois met in a nonconference game at Madison Square Garden on Nov. 28, well before either team reached its playoff peak. Hurley’s team won rather comfortably, 74-61. Reed and Illinois star Keaton Wagler combined to score just five points in that game, which provides a window into how much has changed since then. The rematch in Indianapolis will have many, many new layers.