INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Everywhere UConn guard Braylon Mullins looked Sunday night and Monday, he saw the same thing — another replay of his heroic 35-foot, game-winning 3-pointer to beat Duke.
He couldn’t avoid it.
Eventually, though, the freshman guard decided he needed to turn off the television, tune out the chatter and move on.
“The first day, it was countless,” Mullins said Thursday when asked how many times he’d seen the replay. “I was like every scroll on the feed. But it’s just after the first day, I was like ‘Hey, you’ve got to scroll past it. You’ve got to move on, flip the page.'”
Of course, just because Mullins — and the Huskies — want to leave that memorable moment in the past doesn’t mean others will, as they found out in Indianapolis.
On the first day of Final Four weekend at Lucas Oil Stadium, Mullins’ interviews with national television and radio outlets ran long, delaying his arrival to the locker room. When he finally made it, a horde of reporters swarmed his locker and, naturally, the topic turned to the shot that sent UConn to its third Final Four in four years.
“It’s insane just knowing that shot’s going to be played every March Madness and I’m a part of that moment,” he said. “That’s something I can cherish.”
Banner time
Dan Hurley made one thing perfectly clear: UConn doesn’t intend to settle for anything less than leaving Indianapolis with another title.
In his first seven seasons with the Huskies, he already won back-to-back championships in 2023 and 2024. The run ended with a 77-75 second-round loss to eventual national champ Florida last season, but now UConn is back looking for the school’s seventh title — the first coming in 1999.
“Everyone that comes to the Final Four gets a beautiful watch, but only one group is going to get a ring,” the coach said. “So get off social media, stop injecting the dopamine into your arm and get serious about the preparation and the practice because we don’t hang banners for Final Fours at UConn. We hang national championship banners. If you want to hang a banner, you’ve got to get your eyes off social media, get your face out of the phone and get locked in on Illinois.”
No distractions
Arizona coach Tommy Lloyd said Thursday he isn’t focusing on anything beyond his team’s goal of winning a national championship. That includes questions about him as a potential candidate to fill the coaching vacancy at blueblood program North Carolina.
“Listen, I’ve got my full focus on this team,” Lloyd said.” Nothing is distracting me. That’s just how I’ve decided to approach it.”
UNC fired Hubert Davis on March 24 after five seasons, leaving the job vacant for nearly 10 days.
“I’m a simple guy. I am kind of just one thing at a time,” Lloyd said. “I’m not a multitasker. You can ask my wife. I’m 100% locked in on Arizona basketball right now, and I’m excited to see what this team can do.”
No newcomer this time
At least Michigan coach Dusty May has a better idea of what to expect at this Final Four.
It’s his second trip to the sport’s biggest stage in four seasons, the other coming in 2023 with a 35-win Florida Atlantic upstart. He recalled spending a full day talking to other coaches who had reached the Final Four “about what to do and what not to do and how to prepare.”
This year’s Michigan team ranked no lower than fourth in the AP Top 25 poll after November, and the Wolverines ranked No. 1 according to KenPom in 58 of 94 daily rankings between Christmas and the start of March Madness.
“I think here we probably clinched an NCAA Tournament bid after Players Era (tournament) in November, so just the entire thing has felt different,” May said.
Gardner’s return
For Arizona director of player relations Jason Gardner, this is not just another tourney trip. It’s a homecoming.
The two-time All-American point guard led the Wildcats to a national runner-up finish in 2001 in their last Final Four appearance prior to this year.
But before he played at Arizona, he had quite the reputation in Indiana where he won the state’s prestigious Mr. Basketball Award in 1999. He later spent five seasons coaching IUPUI, now known as IU-Indianapolis, and spent one season as head coach at North Central High School in Indy, where he played prep ball. And now his son, Jason Gardner Jr., is considered a top recruit out of Fishers High School in suburban Indy.
“No matter where you go, there’s always an argument about which state is better, who has the best players, who has the most NBA guys?” Gardner said. “The good thing about Indiana is that everybody knows the coaching in Indiana is great, the players are very good, so being from Indiana everybody knows what basketball means and I think always kind of gives the state a leg up.”
The twin towers
Illinois post players Tomislav and Zvonimir Ivisic certainly fit the term of “twin towers” — in more ways than one.
Both top 7 feet, grew up in Croatia and played club basketball in Europe before attending college in the U.S. and eventually reuniting this season with the Fighting Illini. The 7-foot-1 Tomislav, the older brother by four minutes, starts. Zvonimir comes off the bench.
Injuries made it difficult to get the two working in sync early this season.
“There were some challenges early because of Tommy’s tonsillitis. He hurts his knee. Those were kind of in the formative times of practice where Tommy missed a lot of them,” Underwood said. “Their chemistry is unbelievable. Their competitiveness is unbelievable. They go at each other all the time. They’re very different people, even though they’re twins, and yet their synergy is really fun to see.”
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AP Basketball Writer Aaron Beard also contributed to this report.
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