Next week, four teams with four unique stories will go to Glendale, Arizona, with the national title on the line.
For UConn, it's a chance to become the first team since Florida in 2006 and 2007 to win back-to-back championships. But it's more than that. If UConn's dominance continues, it will make the case that it is one of the greatest teams we've seen in recent men's college basketball history.
Purdue flushed the memory of last year's upset loss to Fairleigh Dickinson in the first round of the NCAA tournament to earn the school's third trip to the Final Four -- coach Matt Painter's first.
Alabama is also in the national semifinals. In men's basketball. It's the first time in school history.
NC State's magical run is even more stunning when you consider it is happening 41 years after Jim Valvano beat the odds and led the Wolfpack to the 1983 national title.
Here's a deeper look at the 2024 men's Final Four, and where these teams stand compared to one another.
1. UConn Huskies (35-3)
Original seed: No. 1 overall seed (East)
Path to Final Four: Defeated 16-seed Stetson 91-52; def. 9-seed Northwestern 75-58; def. 5-seed San Diego State 82-52; def. 3-seed Illinois 77-52
Yes, there was a 30-0 run. And it was one of more memorable runs we've ever seen in this sport. And Illinois wasn't some afterthought: Brad Underwood's squad had won the Big Ten tournament, and it had just defeated Iowa State, the top defense in America.
None of that mattered. Because anything a team has achieved in the past does not seem to matter against UConn.
It's not just that the Huskies executed that 30-0 run against a good team. It's how they did it. Alex Karaban hit a 3-pointer on one possession, and then Cam Spencer grabbed an offensive rebound and made a shot after Karaban missed another 3-point attempt. There were dunks by both Donovan Clingan and Samson Johnson. Tristen Newton, Stephon Castle and Hassan Diarra scored, too.
As the Huskies erased Terrence Shannon Jr. and Illinois from the bracket, they showcased a dominance no team in the field has matched. Plus, there isn't just one problem to solve with UConn. The 30-0 run also masked another element of this team's excellence: its defensive pressure.
Over four NCAA tournament games, UConn's opponents have averaged just 80.5 points per 100 possessions. To put that in perspective, the Minnesota Timberwolves are currently the best defensive team in the NBA, and they've held their opponents to 108.1 points per 100 possessions. Sure, the skill level is different in the pro league, but the Huskies have authored one of the most lopsided runs to the Final Four in recent college basketball history. Can they win another title? That's no longer the question. "Can anybody come within 10 points of this crew?" seems like the only mystery at this point.
Up next: vs. Alabama (Saturday, 8:49 p.m. ET)
2. Purdue Boilermakers (33-4)
Original seed: No. 1 (Midwest)
Path to Final Four: Defeated 16-seed Grambling 78-50; def. 8-seed Utah State 106-67; def. No. 5 Gonzaga 80-68; def. 2-seed Tennessee 72-66
In both games against Purdue this season, Tennessee committed 55 fouls, giving the Boilermakers a combined 81 free throw attempts. Purdue won both games -- in the Maui Invitational in November, and the Elite Eight in Detroit on Sunday. Zach Edey finished with 39 free throw attempts across both games. And that's the problem for Tennessee, and any opponent, that tries to defend the reigning Wooden Award winner. In their second meeting in Detroit, Tennessee coach Rick Barnes used a variety of defenders on Edey, and the Purdue superstar still finished with 40 points (a career high).
It was an ugly win for the Boilermakers, who entered the game as the top 3-point shooting team in America but finished 3-for-15 from beyond the arc. If there were an opening to beat Purdue, especially with Dalton Knecht going off (37 points), Sunday seemed like the opportunity. But the game always seems to go the way Edey wants it to go. Any early success against him rarely lasts. The challenge of dealing with him for 40 minutes seems impossible.
Edey ended up playing 39 minutes Sunday. Since Feb. 22, he has played 35 or more minutes in six games. America's best player is 7-foot-4, 290 pounds and has the stamina to play an entire game. Good luck.
Sunday's win over the Vols (top five in adjusted defensive efficiency) proved the Boilermakers can advance, even on an off night, because they have the soon-to-be two-time Wooden Award winner. You combine that with improved defense and that shooting potential, and you have a squad that might be the only program in Phoenix that can interrupt UConn's path to back-to-back national titles.
Up next: vs. NC State (Saturday, 6:09 p.m. ET)
3. NC State Wolfpack
Original seed: No. 11 (South)
Path to Final Four: Defeated 6-seed Texas Tech 80-67; def. 14-seed Oakland 79-73 (OT); def. No. 2 seed Marquette 67-58; def. 4-seed Duke 76-64
It's difficult to ignore the parallels between this run for NC State and the 1983 rally by Jim Valvano & Co. That season had not gone well, either. And Valvano didn't think his team was a lock for the Final Four.
"If we don't beat Wake Forest 71-70, we don't play in the NCAA tournament," he told The New York Times then, about his team's pivotal victory over the Demon Deacons in the ACC tournament that year. "That's what's great about college hoop. You can always say, 'Hang in there, babe.'"
Forty-one years later, Kevin Keatts' job was on the line and DJ Burns Jr. was not yet a national star as the team prepared for an ACC tournament it had to win to secure an NCAA tournament berth. The Wolfpack had finished 2-7 in its final nine games of the regular season. From that point, however, this team defeated Duke (twice), North Carolina, Texas Tech and Marquette.
The metrics don't tell a story of an incredible team, though. Entering Sunday's win over Duke in the Elite Eight, the Wolfpack had made 35% of their 3-pointers -- solid, but not extraordinary -- since the start of the ACC tournament. They were also a top-50ish defensive team, and KenPom.com had them ranked in the 40s before Sunday's game, the lowest of any team still alive in the field.
Yes, Burns (29 points on Sunday) has been remarkable, but the truth is this team is just willing its way to victory against anyone standing in its way. For the past nine games, all elimination games, it has refused to go home. Following Sunday's game, Burns said, "Everybody is coming together." And as Valvano once said, NC State just keeps hanging in there.
Up next: vs. Purdue (Saturday, 6:09 p.m. ET)
4. Alabama Crimson Tide
Original seed: No. 4 (West)
Path to Final Four: Defeated 13-seed Charleston 109-96; def. 12-seed Grand Canyon 72-61; def. 1-seed North Carolina 89-87; def. 6-seed Clemson 89-82
On Feb. 24, Kentucky beat Alabama 117-95 in Rupp Arena in Lexington. It seems impossible that a college basketball team would score 95 points and lose, but because of its porous defense Alabama had somehow surrendered 117 points (146 points per 100 possessions). Alabama has been a team that can reach an offensive ceiling few can match -- as evidenced by the top-five ranking in efficiency it has enjoyed all season. But its sub-100 defense kept most from believing it could survive in the NCAA tournament. Looking back now, that Kentucky game was an anomaly.
Including Alabama's 89-82 win over Clemson in the Elite Eight on Saturday, the Tide have gone 19-1 this season when they score at least 89 points in a game. Against a Tigers team that had neutralized Baylor and Arizona, both top 10 in adjusted offensive efficiency on KenPom, they registered 125 points per 100 possessions. They have turned the NCAA tournament into a video game, and they're winning.
But their scoring capabilities also don't tell the full story. It's important to note how quickly Nate Oats' squad can change a game. Playing without Latrell Wrightsell Jr. this weekend, Alabama turned Saturday's game with a breathtaking display. In the first 13 minutes of the second half, it scored 30 points and made seven 3-pointers.
Now, the Crimson Tide -- who have made 41.4% of their 3-point attempts in the NCAA tournament -- head to the national semifinals, where they'll have a shot at the ultimate upset with one of the top scoring units in college basketball.
Up next: vs. UConn (Saturday, 8:49 p.m. ET)