Duke’s spectacular season ends in another inexplicable collapse, as UConn, Michigan, Arizona, & Illinois are Final Four Bound
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Posted By: Jordan Davis on April 01, 2026 From afar, the 2026 Final Four could seem uneventful regarding upsets or Cinderellas. After all, we’re only two seasons removed from 11th-seeded NC State playing in the Final Four. The year before, in 2023, the Final Four featured 5th-seeded Miami, 4th-seeded UConn, 9th-seeded Florida Atlantic, and 5th-seeded San Diego State. That was a stark difference from this year, which includes 2nd-seeded UConn, 3rd-seeded Illinois, and two 1st seeds: Arizona and Michigan. In reality, though, this tournament has been anything but uneventful, and the four teams we have left each have a unique path that has made this tournament a treat to watch for College Basketball diehards and casuals alike. From the dominance of the Arizona Wildcats, led by 5th year Head Coach Tommy Lloyd and a pair of superstar Freshman in Brayden Burries and Koa Peat, along with the PAC-12 Player of the Year Senior Guard Jaden Bradley who took out heavyweights along the way like, arguably the best player in the country this season Darius Acuff, and Arkansas, and star Senior Guard Braden Smith and Purdue the Wildcats won each of their tournament games by at least 12 points putting an emphasize on how stellar their play has been coming into the Final Four. Also, with their opponent on Saturday and a team that has been just as good as Arizona the Michigan Wolverines led by Dusty May who’s making his 2nd Final Four appearance after the FAU run in 2023 has debatably the best player left in the field with Big Ten Player of the Year Forward Yaxel Lendeborg who’s ascension over the course of this season and even more into the tournament has them on a warpath the same way Arizona has been. Beating teams by an average of 22.5 points a game in their 4 wins so far has made it the place where, if anyone was picking the Wolverines to cut down the nets on April 6th, you couldn’t be surprised. And maybe the most interesting of the four teams left, Brad Underwood’s Illinois Fighting Illini, whose last appearance in the Final Four was 2 years before their best player, Keaton Wagler, was born all the way back in 2005. After their first two games against Penn and VCU being easy victories, Illinois had to scrap for tough wins against 2-seeded Houston, which many had them losing to, and to “Cinderella-ish” 9th-seeded Iowa. Despite UConn being the most accomplished in the field, its road was much more uncertain than the rest. Usually, a team that is making their 3rd Final Four in 4 years with aspirations of winning their 3rd title in that same span would have been expected to make it back once again, but UConn, led by Dan Hurley were not the favorites coming into the NCAA Tournament. Following an ugly 20-point loss to St. John’s in the Big East Championship just 2 weeks ago, I think many thought UConn’s chances of making it out of the East Region were slim to none. Just the gauntlet of teams, players and coaches that were in their region made it seem impossible. From Michigan St, led by Hall of Fame Coach Tom Izzo and All American Guard Jeremy Fears Jr, Kansas with 2-time National Championship winning Coach Bill Self and the very divisive Darryn Peterson who has had questions about his health and effort this year, but is as talented as any player in the country and is a legitimate contender to be picked 1st overall in June’s NBA Draft, the aforementioned St John’s Red Storm coached by Controversial Hall of Famer Rick Pitino and Senior Forward and Big East Player of the Year Zuby Ejiofor, whose team was riding a streak of winning 18 of their last 19 games before the tourney that included 2 wins against the UConn Huskies. And none of this is to mention that this region and the entire 68 team tournament field were led by the #1 overall seed the Duke Blue Devils, coached by 4th year Coach Jon Scheyer, and the presumed National Player of the Year and projected top 3 pick in the upcoming Draft Cam Boozer who’s team only lost 2 games all year with the combined losses being only by 4 points after holding double digit leads in both those contests. #2 Connecticut after a 1st round decisive win against 15th seeded Furman, the Huskies journey quickly got challenging when in the Round of 32, UCLA played a game that was within single digits until about 5 mins left. Then, in the Sweet 16, UConn’s meeting with the Michigan State Spartans was almost like a reverse of the Duke game that came in the Elite 8 in a lot of ways. From holding a 21-6, then 25-10, 27-12, 31-16, and finally 33-18 leads all in the first half had Izzo’s team on the ropes, but a 19-4 run from Michigan St brought the lead to just 1, and then eventually took the lead by 1 before Star Seniors Tarris Reed Jr., and Alex Karaban with 20 and 17 points respectively fought off the Spartans for a meeting with Duke for a trip to Indianapolis in the Final Four on the line. “We did what we wanted to do,” said Duke coach Jon Scheyer after last year’s complete meltdown loss to Houston in the Final Four, and that was the case early on in this battle against UConn as the Blue Devils jumped out to a double-digit lead less than 10 minutes into the game. Ballooning it out to as much as 19 in the first half on the back of Cam and Caden Boozer (combining for 27 first half points), along with Isaiah Evans they looked to be well on their way to Indy, when led by tournament breakout star Tarris Reed’s 26 points and 9 rebounds UConn brought the game to one possession a couple of times, but Cam Boozer and Duke always had an answer like when it was 67-65, the Freshman had a tough take that made it 69-65 with 3:21 remaining. Despite the punches back, the Huskies weren’t going down. Like with less than a minute remaining down 4 with the ball, Silas Demary Jr. found Alex Karaban, who wasn’t ready to see his collegiate career end for a huge 3, and his only one for the night to make it 70-69. Another late bucket from Boozer for Duke, and going 1 of 2 at the charity stripe for Demary Jr, gave Duke a 72-70 lead with 6.2 seconds remaining, when Caden Boozer threw a pass looking for Dame Sarr that was tipped and passed to Freshman Braylon Mullins for a deep 3 that sent UConn back to the final four, and is instantly solidified as one of the greatest shots made in March Madness history. “I tried to get the ball to someone who had made one in the game”, says Mullins, who was 0-4 from 3 before that miracle shot. Karaban, who assisted Mullins on that shot, took to X after the game to say, “3 in 4 what they gonna say now,” and for a program that’s had as much recent success as UConn with Karaban there for all of it, there isn’t much you can say. Sadly, that is not the same for Jon Scheyer and Duke, who now stand at 11 years and counting since the last time they’ve stood on top of the College Basketball world as National Champions. Scheyer, after the game, said, “This is not about one play, it’s about every play that put us in this position,” and given the recent track record in the most important games, it’s hard to argue with him. Just last year in the Final Four against Kelvin Sampson’s Houston Cougars, Scheyer’s team held a 6-point lead with 32.4 seconds remaining and lost that one. For a former player (who won a National Title as a Dukie) turned coach, Scheyer has seen enormous amounts of success in his short time at the helm, both on court and in recruiting, but until he can get over the hump into winning it all as a coach, questions about him and criticisms regarding how he isn’t Coach K will remain. If you enjoyed this article, Join HBCU CONNECT today for similar content and opportunities via email! |
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Jordan Davis
Camera Operator, Journalist, Broadcaster, and Host, University of the District of Columbia University of the District of Columbia class of 2025 Member Since February 2024 |
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