Braylon Mullins’ miracle, UConn women’s grace, this is March … in CT

WASHINGTON — Playing basketball for UConn is a heavy burden. What is once in a lifetime in some places, once a generation in other places, occasional in the most prosperous of programs, has become a baseline achievement for the men’s and women’s basketball teams in Storrs.

So the weight of the state was on again their shoulders when the women’s team started off against Notre Dame Sunday in Fort Worth, Texas, and the men’s took the floor in the nation’s capital against Duke. Final Four tickets were again on the line.

The women carried their burden with grace and defeated Notre Dame. Then men had the grit, the unfathomable grit, to claw back from a 19-point deficit to win one of the most dramatic games in the history of either team. Freshman Braylon Mullins, after a turnover, buried a 3-point shot from 30 feet out, the ball falling with 0.3 seconds left, to take down top-seeded Duke, 73-72.

Because this is March … In Connecticut.

UConn is known for brilliant coaching, but Mullins’ shot was an ad lib, pure courage and character from an Indiana kid who’s been shooting the ball all his life, and now he’s going back home to Indianapolis to play in the Final Four, as coach Dan Hurley announced to the delirious UConn fans who made the trip.

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The women, undefeated in 38 games and rarely challenged, earned their inevitable place at table with a 70-52 victory. They’ll head to Phoenix to play for their second championship in a row, their 13th since 1995.

“So there are some teams that want that challenge and accept it,” coach Geno Auriemma told reporters afterward. “The harder you make it for them, the more they enjoy it. There are other teams that don’t really want to deal with that. … This team no matter what I throw at them, they always just go, ‘Alright, we got this.’”

In the East Regional final, the men missed 17 of their first 18 shots from 3-point range, but hit four killers down the stretch. Nope, no need to take down or amend those “Basketball Capital of the World” banners on campus or on the highways greeting motorists entering the state. And, Jordan’s Furniture, which was going to comp items purchased within a month-long window if both the UConn men and women reached their national championship games, may yet be on the hook for millions.

UConn is the only school to win both men’s and women’s championships in the same year, achieving this in 2004 and ’14, and have now sent both schools to the Final Four, college basketball’s biggest marquee, for the sixth time.

The men were 5 1/2 point underdogs against Duke, the No.1 overall seed in the 68-team field. After beating Furman, UCLA and Michigan State to reach the Elite Eight for the third time in four years, they had momentum on their side, but both schools brought championship history, Duke eliminating UConn in 1964, ’90 and ’91, UConn returning the favor in 1999, 2004 and now, 2026.

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Duke appeared to be too much for the Huskies, who went more than five minutes without scoring during a disastrous first-half stretch to fall behind, 44-25. The  Blue Devils were too big, strong and fast, making it difficult to make any pass, disrupting UConn’s intricate offense. Trailing by 15 at the  half, they slowly chipped away at Duke’s lead and got within seven points midway through the second half, but continued to miss open 3-pointers.

Finally, Silas Demary Jr., playing with a severe ankle sprain in the tournament, made a couple, and then made a 3-point play to get UConn within a basket. Still down, Alex Karaban hit a three in the final minute. When Demary missed one of two free throws with 10 seconds left, it looked like Duke would hang on, but UConn’s pressure forced a turnover at midcourt and Mullins, expected to be an early entry to the NBA, hit the shot of his young life.

This shot will go down in UConn history with Tate George’s buzzer beater against Clemson in 1990, and Richard Hamilton’s against Washington in 1998.

This is March … In Connecticut.

Karaban, who was on the championship teams in 2023 and ’24 and has been part of more winning games than any player in UConn men’s basketball history, has been playing the best basketball of his career during the NCAA Tournament, and now has a chance to be a  three-time champ. Tarris Reed, the regional’s most outstanding player, scored 26.

Hurley and the UConn men take aim for their seventh championship beginning with a semifinal against Illinois, a team they beat in November, then either Arizona or Michigan. Saturday’s tip is 6:09 p.m.

Sarah Strong, Blanca Quinonez lead UConn women’s basketball to Final Four with win over Notre Dame

The UConn women, though, had enough answers to beat their own historical rival, Notre Dame, which played much tougher than it did in a 37-point loss in Storrs in mid-January. The new star has moved from horizon to center stage for Auriemma, freshman Blanca Quinonez, from Argentina by way of Italy, picked up the scoring slack with 14 points in the first half as the Huskies led by seven. In  the second half, consensus national player of year Sarah Strong found her scoring form and ended up with 21 points as the Huskies pulled away.

After the game, Auriemma, who just turned 72 and is completing his 41st season as coach, took the mic and told the crowd he didn’t know if he’d ever been prouder to take a team to the Final Four. That’s high praise from one who has coached four Hall of Famers and several more who are destined to be so, but this team broke an eight-year championship drought last season and, despite the loss of superstar Paige Bueckers, didn’t skip a beat this year.

“What we’ve done the last 35, however many games, was all in preparation for moments like this,” senior Azzi Fudd said. “So when it comes down to it, we have full confidence in ourselves; in each other. We know the coaches feel the same, so I think just the adversity that the coaches throw at us and prepare us through in practice.”

If the Huskies can close this deal in Phoenix, they would be the seventh UConn team to finish an undefeated season, unheard of in so many other places. But when it comes to basketball, like pizza, Connecticut is not like many other places make that, checks notes, any other place.

Because this is March … In Connecticut.