The Final Four is set – and it's made up of the defending national champion, a newcomer and two teams that haven't been in decades.
Defending national champion and No. 1 overall seed Connecticut will face first-time Final Four participant Alabama, while Purdue will meet two-time national champion North Carolina State at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona.
UConn used a 30-run to rout Illinois 77-52 as the Huskies seek to become the first back-to-back national champions since Florida did it in 2006 and 2007.
The Huskies (35-3) have set a school record for victories in a season and are led by center Donovan Clingan, who finished with 22 points and 10 rebounds in the East Region final.
Meanwhile, Alabama (25-11) knocked off top-seeded North Carolina to reach the Elite Eight and then downed Clemson in the West Region final.
Alabama guard Mark Sears drained seven 3-point shots in the 89-82 win against Clemson, setting the stage for a Final Four that pits battle-tested UConn against the inexperienced Crimson Tide.
The Tide have made the tournament each of the past four seasons under head coach Nate Oats, but they've never been to the Final Four before this year and had only been to the Elite Eight once before Saturday's victory.
For comparison's sake, the Huskies have won 10 straight tournament games by double digits. UConn is vying for a sixth NCAA tournament title in school history, all since 1999.
On the other side of the bracket are Purdue and N.C. State.
Led by center Zach Edey, the top-seeded Boilermakers beat Tennessee 72-66 in the Midwest Region final to advance to the Final Four for the first time since 1980. Edey finished with a career-high 40 points, to go along with his 16 rebounds, against the Volunteers.
Purdue (33-4) will take on arguably the hottest team in the tournament aside from UConn right now after N.C. State disposed of Duke in the South Regional final to get back to the Final Four for the first time since the Wolfpack won it all in 1983.
N.C. State big man DJ Burns Jr. scored a season-high 29 points in the 76-64 win against Duke.
It was the Wolfpack's ninth consecutive victory after steamrolling through the Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament to win five games in as many days and then defeating Texas Tech, Oakland, Marquette and the Blue Devils in the NCAA tournament to return to the Final Four for the first time since the late Jim Valvano was coaching the team.
N.C. State (26-14), which finished below .500 in ACC regular-season play, hasn't even sniffed the Final Four since 1986, which was the Wolfpack's previous Elite Eight appearance.
The national semifinals will be played on Saturday.
