There was madness everywhere around TD Garden Saturday evening as the Connecticut Huskies prepared to take on the Illinois Fighting Illini for a chance to reach the Final Four in the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament.
After months of getting ready, Boston is shining as host of this round of the NCAA Tournament. With lines stretching down the block, the businesses outside TD Garden were clearly winning on Saturday, too. The UConn men overwhelmed Illinois on Saturday night, using a huge second half 25-0 run to take down the Fighting Illini 77-52 to advance tot he Final Four.
Repeating has never been easy, though John Wooden figured it out pretty well at UCLA, winning seven in a row from 1967-73 behind future Hall of Famers like Kareem Abdul-Jabbar — then known as Lew Alcindor — and Bill Walton. “For us, I think we’ve made it look easy in these past two tournaments,” Hurley said. “But it’s hard.”
The Illini have supplemented a team that lost in the first round of the NCAA Tournament last year and hasn’t been to a regional final since making it to the 2005 championship game.