We’ve been waiting a long time for a Final Four like this — and so have most of its participants

As his feelings washed over him and he realized that, yes, taken Illinois to its first Final Four in more than two decades, coach Brad Underwood said the moment was even better than he had dreamt it could be.

Seconds after the clock hit zero and Arizona secured its first Final Four berth since Lute Olson’s 2001 team, coach Tommy Lloyd grabbed the microphone to speak directly to the fans in San Jose, paying homage to the late Hall of Fame coach synonymous with the Wildcat program: “I know this — there’s a good-looking guy with white hair looking down on us right now that’s happy!”

This is a fever dream of a Final Four for Arizona fans who have been waiting, quite anxiously, for a team to get past the NCAA Tournament’s second weekend. They’ve watched great teams fall just short of a Final Four berth over and over again — Sean Miller took three teams to Elite Eights and three others to Sweet 16s — but this squad wouldn’t be denied.

This is a pinch-me moment for Illinois fans, too. They’ve got the (admittedly frustrating) distinction of being one of the consistently best programs in men’s college basketball never to win a national championship. The Illini were just short in 2005, falling to Roy Williams and North Carolina; they haven’t come close to sniffing another shot at a title since then. Until now.

And they’re one of two Big Ten teams headed to Indianapolis, giving the conference its best chance in years to break its national championship drought. The Big Ten hasn’t won a men’s basketball title since 2000. Michigan, fresh off a 33-point drubbing of Tennessee in the Elite Eight, could be just the team to snap that skid — and win the Wolverines’ first title since 1989.

Finally.

It’s a fitting theme for the 2026 men’s Final Four.

Arizona is finally back among the sport’s elite. Illinois finally has a chance to win its first title. The Big Ten may finally have a team that can cut down those nets on Monday night. And UConn finally returns to the Final Four for the first time in … (checks notes) … two whole years. OK, so the Huskies are frequent visitors, and Michigan isn’t exactly an interloper, either, last on this stage eight years ago.

But for the other two programs? It took decades to get here, and circuitous routes for their head coaches, too. When Lloyd was playing for Walla Walla Community College, then-Gonzaga coach Dan Monson was recruiting the conference. Monson didn’t offer Lloyd a scholarship, but he said he’d help out if Lloyd ever wanted to get into coaching. That pledge ultimately led to Mark Few hiring Lloyd as an administrative assistant (after Monson left for Minnesota), and a two-decade stint for Lloyd in Spokane, Wash. He became known as college basketball’s premier international recruiter, and those around the game presumed he would eventually succeed Few, who still, to this day, hasn’t retired. In April 2021, Lloyd took the Arizona job.

Underwood, for his part, didn’t get his first Division I head-coaching opportunity (at Stephen F. Austin) until he was 49. After three years there (and a stunning NCAA Tournament upset of West Virginia), he jumped to Oklahoma State and then, in 2017, he landed at Illinois. Of the nearly four decades he’s spent coaching college basketball, a good chunk of that time was spent as an assistant at the junior college and low-major levels. That’s the backdrop to this Illinois run for one of the best coaches in the sport.

“I don’t want to sound arrogant, but I’ve never doubted us getting to a Final Four would happen,” Underwood said. “I have thought we have had other teams capable. But I also know how doggone hard it is to do it. For that, I just say thank you. I say thank you to everybody involved. And I’m going to get emotional, but I’ve been doing this 39 years, and you dream about this as a kid, and I dreamt about doing it at Illinois.

“This is my dream job, and it’s very fulfilling to get where we’re going.”

Lloyd knows what this moment means for his community, too. He called the people of Tucson “basketball historians” for all the stories they tell him about Arizona basketball in decades past.

“They really hold on to the things this program accomplishes, and they hold on to our struggles as well,” Lloyd said. “You take the 15 minutes of collective joy of each individual that loves this program, that’s happy right now — how powerful is that? How cool is that? You talk about getting the compound effect.”

It helps, too, when your superstar freshman is a local kid. Former five-star recruit Koa Peat is from Gilbert, just outside of Phoenix. People call him “Mr. Arizona,” his coach said. And he’s one of the faces of the team that returned Arizona to what it believes to be its rightful perch atop the sport.

Ties like that bind sports teams to their fans. This stuff matters. It’s why grown men weep when their alma mater does something they’ve never seen it do before. It’s why Underwood chokes up or Lloyd grabs a mic. It’s why, after the confetti has fallen, Dusty May stands still on a court in Chicago, watching his players climb up a ladder to clip off a little piece of a net. Because it’s ultimately all about the human connection, and what these moments mean to everyone that the athletes themselves represent.

High hopes don’t always result in Final Four runs. And three of these four fan bases will still end this season with losses. But as long as you’ve made it to Indianapolis, you’ve got a chance to keep dreaming. That’s what matters for Arizona and Illinois, and even Michigan, too.

Or … maybe just maybe UConn will turn everyone else’s dreams into nightmares and win its third national championship in four years. A one-year drought counts for something, too.