2026-03-29 21:58:06 EDT / 哥伦比亚广播公司新闻 / 美联社
亚利桑那和密歇根坐拥雄厚天赋，康涅狄格大学则气势如虹、氛围极佳。总得有人扮演不被看好的“黑马”角色。而在下周末的四强赛中，这个不可思议的角色将属于伊利诺伊大学。
如今的大学篮坛已然变天——这支过去七个赛季常规赛胜场冠绝大十联盟的球队，将在周六于印第安纳波利斯开启的NCAA锦标赛终极狂欢中，化身为现实版的灰姑娘。
布拉德·安德伍德执教的伊利诺伊队面临的首个挑战，就是阻击势不可挡的康涅狄格大学巨人队。周日的比赛中，康涅狄格曾一度落后多达19分，但在比赛仅剩几秒时，布雷隆·马林斯在中场附近抢到了一个松散的球权，突然间，不可思议地，康涅狄格获得了绝杀机会。
随着最后几秒的紧张局势展开，康涅狄格主帅丹·赫尔利认为叫暂停于事无补。
“当时就感觉，你只能放手让三月疯狂主宰一切，”赫尔利说道，“这就是三月奇迹。”
康涅狄格大学这些年早已见惯了这样的奇迹，而这或许是他们最令人瞠目结舌的一场胜利。马林斯在比赛仅剩0.4秒时投出一记仓促出手的三分球，帮助康涅狄格以73比72击败头号种子杜克大学，拿到了四强赛入场券。
杜克蓝魔队（35胜3负）曾在比赛还剩10秒时领先三分，随后康涅狄格的赛拉斯·德马里 Jr. 两罚一中。杜克此时选择控球耗时而不犯规，凯登·布泽尔在中场附近的传球被德马里破坏，康涅狄格抢到球权后，马林斯在35英尺外命中三分绝杀。
布雷隆·马林斯#24，康涅狄格大学哈士奇队成员，在2026年NCAA男子篮球锦标赛精英八强赛对阵杜克蓝魔队的下半场投中制胜三分后庆祝，该比赛于2026年3月29日在华盛顿特区的第一资本竞技场举行。埃米莉·钦 / 盖蒂图片社
哈士奇队上两次晋级到这一阶段时，最终都拿下了全国总冠军。
“这就是康涅狄格的文化，康涅狄格的血性，”赫尔利说，“我们相信今年这个时候，我们理应夺冠。”
所有晋级四强的球队都抱有同样的信念。
拥有布雷登·伯里斯的亚利桑那大学，以及阵中有亚克塞尔·伦德伯格的密歇根大学，两队合计拥有多达9名NBA选秀潜力球员。
根据博彩公司BetMGM的赔率，亚利桑那野猫队开赛时被视为略大的夺冠热门，赔率为+165，仅略领先密歇根狼獾队。后者在周日以95比62大胜田纳西大学后，夺冠赔率为+180。
但赔率榜上出现了一处反常转折：在周六晚间的第二场半决赛中，亚利桑那野猫队反而成为了1.5分的让分劣势方，对阵密歇根狼獾队。
伊利诺伊大学则是2.5分的让分热门，对阵康涅狄格大学。而实际上，赔率为+550的康涅狄格大学，才是印第安纳波利斯四强赛中最大的夺冠冷门。
即便如此，伊利诺伊大学——这个美国第六大人口州的旗舰学府，在校生近6万人——如今却最像今年横空出世的黑马，这一现象更能反映当下大学篮球的现状，而非伊利诺伊队本身。
他们作为3号种子晋级四强，是两年来四强赛中排名最高的种子队。（康涅狄格是2号种子。上赛季，四强赛的四支球队全部都是1号种子。）
今年这场1号种子对阵1号种子的对决——密歇根对阵亚利桑那——是来自顶级联盟的劲旅之间的重量级较量。
这与三年前的景象大相径庭，当时中等联盟的佛罗里达大西洋大学（时任主帅为达斯蒂·梅，如今他已执掌密歇根大学教鞭）和圣迭戈州立大学闯入了大学篮球的终极狂欢赛场。
自那以后，姓名、形象和肖像权（NIL）赞助政策以及转会门户彻底重塑了球员流动格局，又一轮联盟重组让顶级联盟规模愈发庞大（亚利桑那大学2023年还在太平洋十二校联盟，如今已加入大十二联盟），而曾经为“疯狂三月”增色不少的高成就黑马球队，如今陷入了沉寂。
本届锦标赛中，10号及以后的种子球队总共只赢了5场比赛（不包括资格赛轮次）。两年前，这类球队赢下了11场比赛，还送出了北卡罗来纳州立大学这样一支晋级四强的队伍。
毫不意外，安德伍德——十年前凭借带领10号种子斯蒂芬·F·奥斯汀大学在锦标赛中完成两次逆袭而进入伊利诺伊大学视野的主帅——将球队晋级四强更多视为一种必然，而非千载难逢的传奇故事。
不过，这是伊利诺伊大学自2005年以来首次晋级四强，2005年他们在决赛中不敌北卡罗来纳大学。
“我不想显得傲慢，”安德伍德说道，自2019-20赛季以来，他的球队已经赢下了96场大十联盟比赛，比普渡大学还多两场。“我从未怀疑过我们能够晋级四强，我一直认为我们有实力做到这点。但我也深知，这究竟有多难。”
大十联盟对此深有体会。伊利诺伊和密歇根都有机会为联盟拿下自2000年密歇根州立大学夺冠以来的首个全国总冠军。
伊利诺伊队的核心是所谓的“巴尔干集团”——一群拥有东欧血统的球员，球队后场球员基顿·瓦格勒有望成为NBA乐透秀。
即便如此，伊利诺伊阵容中最知名的球员或许还是安德烈·斯托亚科维奇，他的父亲佩贾曾三次入选NBA全明星赛。小斯托亚科维奇在斯坦福待了一个赛季，又在加州大学待了一个赛季，随后加盟安德伍德的球队，这是他三年内就读的第三所学校。
伊利诺伊队面临的任务是：如何限制对手——他们的对手阵中有五名场均得分上双的球员，核心是塔里斯·里德 Jr.。
亚利桑那对阵密歇根的比赛，是一场高规格的强强对话，两支球队都证明了在无限转会和高额NIL赞助的时代，积累天赋的方式不止一种。
汤米·劳埃德执教的亚利桑那野猫队，五名首发球员中有四人在图森开启了大学生涯，第五名球员、大十二联盟年度最佳球员杰登·布拉德利从阿拉巴马大学转投而来，已经在野猫队效力了三个赛季。
与此同时，密歇根大学出场时间最多的四名球员——伦德伯格、莫雷兹·约翰逊 Jr.、阿代·马拉和埃利奥特·卡多——全部都是通过转会门户加盟的。
如今看来再合理不过的一个转折是，两位主帅都凭借在中等联盟的执教履历，登上了这项运动的最高舞台。劳埃德在冈萨加大学担任了数十年马克·富的首席助理，2021年肖恩·米勒下课后来到亚利桑那大学重建球队。而梅带领佛罗里达大西洋大学晋级四强后，转投了此前在传奇“五人组”成员朱万·霍华德执教下曾蓬勃发展后又陷入低谷的密歇根大学。
UConn downs Duke with last-second 3-pointer to join Illinois, Arizona and Michigan in Final Four
2026-03-29 21:58:06 EDT / CBS News / AP
All that talent at Arizona and Michigan. All that momentum and good vibes at UConn. And somebody has to be play the part of the unheralded “little guy.” At the Final Four next weekend, that role belongs, improbably, to Illinois.
In a sign of the times, the Illinii — a Big Ten team with more wins in the conference over the last seven seasons than any other program — will pass for something resembling Cinderella when college basketball’s biggest party kicks off in Indianapolis on Saturday.
The first challenge for coach Brad Underwood’s team will be stopping a hard-charging UConn juggernaut. After being down by as many as 19 on Sunday, Braylon Mullins retrieved a loose ball near midcourt in the waning seconds against Duke and suddenly, improbably, UConn had a chance to win.
As the frantic final seconds unfolded, Huskies coach Dan Hurley figured a timeout would do little good.
“It just felt like the window where you’ve just got to let March Madness take over,” Hurley said. “March magic.”
The Huskies have enjoyed plenty of that through the years, and this may have been their most astonishing win yet. Mullins sank a desperation 3-pointer with 0.4 seconds left to give UConn a 73-72 victory over top-seeded Duke, earning the Huskies a spot in the Final Four.
The Blue Devils (35-3) led by three before UConn’s Silas Demary Jr. made one of two free throws with 10 seconds left. With Duke playing keep-away to prevent the Huskies from fouling, Cayden Boozer’s pass near midcourt was deflected by Demary, and after UConn came up with the ball, Mullins swished a 3 from 35 feet away.
Braylon Mullins #24 of the UConn Huskies celebrates after shooting the game-winning three-point basket during the second half of a game against the Duke Blue Devils in the Elite Eight of the 2026 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament at Capital One Arena on March 29, 2026, in Washington, D.C. Emilee Chinn / Getty Images
The last two times the Huskies reached this point, they won the championship.
“It’s a UConn culture, a UConn heart,” Hurley said. “We believe we’re supposed to win this time of year.”
All these teams do.
Arizona, led by Brayden Burries, and Michigan, with Yaxel Lendeborg, have up to nine NBA prospects between them.
The Wildcats opened as slight favorites — at plus-165 to win the championship, according to BetMGM Sportsbook. That was a shade ahead of the Wolverines, who are plus-180 after their 95-62 romp over Tennessee on Sunday.
But, in one of a few strange twists on the odds chart, the Wildcats are 1 1/2-point underdogs to Michigan in Saturday night’s second semifinal.
Illinois is a 2 1/2-point favorite over UConn and, in reality, it’s the Huskies, at plus-550, who are the biggest long shot in Indy.
Even so, the fact that Illinois — the flagship university in the nation’s sixth most populous state and a school with an enrollment of nearly 60,000 — feels most like this year’s out-of-nowhere underdog speaks more about the current state of college hoops than the Illini themselves.
They are a No. 3 seed — the highest number at the Final Four in two years. (UConn is a 2. Last season, all four No. 1s made it.)
This year’s meeting of 1 vs. 1 — Michigan vs. Arizona — is a heavyweight matchup of power teams from power conferences.
It’s a far cry from a mere three years ago, when mid-majors Florida Atlantic (coached by Dusty May, who now leads the Wolverines) and San Diego State crashed college basketball’s biggest party.
Since then, NIL and the transfer portal have redefined the contours of player movement, another spasm of realignment has made the big conferences bigger (Arizona, now in the Big 12, was in the Pac-12 in 2023), and the high-achieving underdogs that used to make March Madness what it is have gone into a slump.
Double-digit seeds won a total of five games in this tournament (not counting the play-in round). Two years ago, they won 11 and sent one team (N.C. State) to the Final Four.
Not surprisingly, Underwood — the coach who landed on the Illinois radar a decade ago by coaching double-digit seed Stephen F. Austin to a pair of upset wins in the tournament — views his program’s trip to the Final Four more as destiny than a once-in-a-lifetime story.
It is, however, the first trip for Illinois since 2005, when it lost to North Carolina in the title game.
“I don’t want to sound arrogant,” said Underwood, whose teams have won 96 Big Ten games since 2019-20, two more than Purdue. “I’ve never doubted us getting to a Final Four would happen. I have thought we have had other teams capable. But I also know how doggone hard it is to do it.”
The Big Ten knows all about this. Both Illinois and Michigan have a chance to deliver a title for the conference for the first time since Michigan State won it all in 2000.
The Illini, led by the so-called “Balkan Bloc” — a cohort of players with roots in Eastern Europe — have a potential NBA lottery pick of their own in guard Keaton Wagler.
Even so, the best-known name on the Illini roster might be Andrej Stojakovic, whose father, Peja, was a three-time NBA All-Star. Illinois is the third school in three years for the younger Stojakovic, who spent one season at Stanford and another at Cal before joining Underwood’s crew.
The task for Illinois: Figuring out who to key on across a roster that has five players who average double figures, led by Tarris Reed Jr.
The Wildcats-Wolverines game is a high-powered matchup of programs that have shown there’s more than one way to amass talent in the era of the unlimited transfer portal and big-money name, image and likeness deals.
Four of the five starters for Tommy Lloyd’s Wildcats began their careers in Tucson; the fifth, Big 12 player of the year Jaden Bradley, moved over from Alabama and has been with the Wildcats for three years.
Meanwhile, the top four players in minutes played at Michigan — Lendeborg, Morez Johnson Jr., Aday Mara and Elliot Cadeau — all arrived from the transfer portal.
In a twist that makes perfect sense these days, both coaches parlayed roots in the mid-majors to a spot on the sport’s biggest stage. Lloyd spent decades as a top assistant for Mark Few at Gonzaga before heading to Arizona to rebuild the program after the ouster of Sean Miller in 2021.
May led FAU to the Final Four before heading to the Michigan program that had thrived, then collapsed, under former Fab Five star Juwan Howard.
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