UConn might want to pay close attention to the Arizona-Michigan Final Four matchup. If history lends itself to any indications or superstitions, the Huskies should be rooting hard for one over the other.
But let’s not get ahead of ourselves.
A lot has to fall into place first, but the framework is set for UConn to potentially face both Illinois and Arizona on the path to claiming their third March Madness title in four years.
The Fighting Illini and Wildcats, however, have a unique advantage that neither Furman, UCLA nor Michigan State possessed in the earlier rounds. They’ve already faced the Huskies this year and know what to expect from Dan Hurley’s mercurial squad.
It’s happened three times in the modern era where a March Madness Finals featured two schools who squared off earlier in the campaign.
The only footnote came in the 1988 Finals when Kansas upset Oklahoma, despite dropping a pair of regular season games to their conference foes. That’s just one example from an era that predates NIL money, the transfer portal and even the evolution of the 3-point shot. Heck, back then it was still known as the Big Eight.
So in hindsight, is it possible the 2026 college basketball champion was already crowned in November?
3 FOR 3*
Did Billy Donovan and Florida have an advantage when they knocked off Ohio State in the 2007 tournament? The Buckeyes kept it closer in the Finals, but couldn’t avenge their regular season loss as the Gators cruised to the repeat.
Anthony Davis and Kentucky cut down the nets in 2012 by dropping a Kansas team they’d previously beaten that year. The Jayhawks paid the favor forward in 2022 at North Carolina’s expense in one of the greatest comebacks in the madness of the NCAA Tournament.
That’s three Finals rematches and a trio of Finals titles for the regular season winner.
Again, small sample size. But if we zoom back from the bracket slightly, we discover that tournament rematches have occurred 37 times since 2008 with the regular season winner going 25-12 (.676) in the big dance.
ARIZONA: THE UCONN LOSS
The Huskies are 33-5 on the year, but one of those five losses came at the paws of the Wildcats. In the Huskies’ own stomping grounds, no less.
In the first top-5 showdown in Gampel Pavilion since 2006, No. 4 Arizona used a late 7-0 run to erase No. 3 UConn’s 64-62 lead with two minutes remaining. Jaden Bradley’s layup with 16 seconds to go sealed the 71-67 win for Tommy Lloyd’s crew.
A saving grace for the Huskies is that UConn center Tarris Reed Jr. was out with an injury during the regular season matchup. He’ll be sorely needed to battle Arizona’s big men, should the stars align and the two programs face each other in the Finals.
UConn wouldn’t have home field advantage this time and the Arizona faithful are historically known to travel well.
ILLINOIS: THE UCONN WIN
UConn was back on the court nine days after the Arizona loss to face then No. 13 Illinois at Madison Square Garden. Thanksgiving weekend was not so kind to the Fighting Illini who shot 20.7 percent and lost 74-61 in a game the Huskies led wire-to-wire.
But that was a much different Illinois team that saw none of their Final Four starting lineup on the court together at the same time due to injuries. Brad Underwood’s team is peaking at the right time. And besides, they have their own history to chase.
THE UNSPOKEN REMATCH
Overshadowed by UConn and the loudness behind the Huskies Elite Eight win over Duke is the other potential Finals rematch.
Michigan clinched the Big Ten title outright on Feb. 27 in Champaign with a convincing 84-70 win over Illinois. Now both programs sit a win away from an all Big Ten March Madness Finals.
It would be the first time that two conference schools meet in the Finals since the aforementioned 1988 Kansas – Oklahoma tilt nearly 40 years ago.
Adding some fuel to the March Madness fire is the rematch between Morez Johnson Jr., who not only transferred to Michigan from Illinois after last season, but also was instrumental in the Wolverine’s conference-clinching win. As expected…he was booed mercilessly by the Fighting Illini faithful.
The loss also gives Illinois the dubious distinction of having already lost to both UConn (13 points) and Michigan (14 points) this year.
THE LANDING
Remember, the universe calls the shots in March Madness, meaning nothing is a lock, especially with such a small sample size to work with.
UConn was missing some key pieces versus Arizona earlier in the year, as was Illinois against the Huskies. But if history has even the tiniest of say in the matter and the ball bounces just right, it’s possible that you could have saved yourself some anxiety and picked your March Madness back in November.
