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Myron Medcalf, ESPN staff writer
Yes, this is the 2024 Elite Eight field. Yes, Clemson and Alabama will battle on a bigger stage. In basketball, not football.
But that's not the only interesting storyline in the last games before the national semi-finals. UConn has been chasing a national title for more than 15 years. Can a hot Illinois team stop the Huskies? Clemson and NC State have had magical runs. And Duke hopes to seal the John Scheyer era with a Final Four appearance after knocking off 1-seed Houston.
Since we've reached the Elite Eight, we've added more weight to the way teams are currently playing in this reshuffle. You may like this order. You may hate it. Anyway, thanks for reading.
Check out everything we learned after the Sweet 16.
Yukon Huskies
Original Seed: No. 1 whole seed (east)
NCAA Tournament Results: beat 16-seed Stetson 91-52; beat 9-seed Northwestern 75-58; Defeated No. 5 San Diego State 82-52
There are things that happen in UConn games — things that would destroy most teams, but didn't affect the Huskies. In Thursday's win over San Diego State, a team with a top-10 defensive mark entering the game, the Huskies managed just one field goal in nearly five minutes (7:53 to 3:11) in the first half. They still led by nine points at half-time and then played with Brian Dutcher's team in other ways.
San Diego State has allowed just 46 points in the paint in its first two competitive games, including 38 points in the paint Thursday before facing UConn, according to ESPN Stats & Info. The Huskies are just 28 seconds behind in this year's NCAA tournament; All 28 seconds happened in the first minute against the Aztecs.
