Arizona, Illinois, Michigan, and UCONN Reach the Final Four

A pair of Big 10 schools reached the Final Four in men’s college basketball, as did a team who has been a regular in recent years, and another that is making its first appearance in 25 years.

A pair of #1 seeds will face off in one semifinal. Arizona, the top seed in the West region, beat #2 Purdue 79-64. The Wildcats trailed at halftime 38-31, scored 48 in the second half while shutting down the Boilermakers, holding them to 26 points. This will be the first Final Four appearance in 25 years for Arizona, perhaps hard to believe since the Wildcats have been in the tournament nearly every year since the mid ‘80s, and were national champions in 1997.

The Wildcats opponent will be Michigan, the #1 seed in the Midwest region. The Wolverines demolished #6 Tennessee 95-62 behind a 27 point performance for Yaxel Lendeborg. Michigan last made the Final Four in 2018.

Over on the other side of the bracket, Illinois beat Iowa 71-59 to make the Final Four for the first time since 2005. The Illini were the #3 seed in the South Region, scored 43 points in the second half and held the ninth seeded Hawkeyes to 27. Keaton Wagler led Illinois with 25 points.

The best Elite Eight game was the last one played. Top seeded Duke led #2 UCONN by as many as 19 points, before the Huskies made a dramatic comeback. The Blue Devils led 72-70 and inbounded the ball with 10 seconds left. They only needed to hang onto the ball to win, but Cayden Boozer’s pass was deflected into the hands of Silas Demary Jr. with six seconds left. It was passed to Braylon Mullins who fired off a 35 foot three point shot that went in perfectly with 0.4 seconds to go, for the game winner.

UCONN won back to back championships in 2022-3 and 2023-4. The Huskies were eliminated in the round of 32 last year. The Illinois-UCONN and Michigan-Arizona games are April 4th, and the championship is April 6th.