There's no hiding the fact that the UConn Huskies have been one of the best college basketball programs in history, cementing their place as a blue-blood over the last few years by winning two of the three most recent National Championships.
However, exactly how dominant they have been in the postseason is genuinely shocking, so when Brad Underwood and Illinois faced Dan Hurley and UConn in the Final Four, the Fighting Illini truly may have had an impossible task at hand.
UConn Huskies undefeated in Sweet 16 and beyond
Since 2009, nine years before Hurley even took over as UConn's head coach, the Huskies have gone 19-0 in their Sweet 16, Elite Eight, Final Four, and National Championship appearances.
Yes, you read that correctly. UConn has gone undefeated when the team has reached the Sweet 16 for nearly two decades.
On top of that, over the last four years (since 2023), Hurley and the Huskies have gone 18-1 in the entire NCAA Tournament, including covering the spread in every single matchup.
To sum all of that up, it has been as close to impossible as it could be to defeat UConn in the Big Dance; Illinois's loss was just the latest tally in the Huskies' NCAA Tournament win column.
For a little more context, a team has been this dominant in the postseason since the UCLA Bruins in the early to mid 1970s. If UConn wins the National Championship, securing their third title in four years, the Huskies will be the first program since the 1972-75 Bruins to do so.
Yes, Illinois had a bad night of shooting, and there were plenty of missed calls by the officials, but that doesn't account for the now decade-long dominance of the Huskies, something that no opposing head coach has been able to figure out.
Also read: UConn curse on Illinois basketball looks to be deeper than first thought
Illinois has so much to be proud of: taking the program back to the Final Four for the first time in 21 years and Underwood reaching his first-ever Final Four as a head coach, just to name a couple of the Illini's accomplishments.
This season is nothing to write off just because the Fighting Illini didn't make it to the National Championship, but everyone should take note that they never want to face the UConn Huskies in the Sweet 16 or later.