March Madness: Here's a storyline to watch about each of the Final Four teams in the men's field

Arizona, Michigan and Duke had looked like a clear top tier in college basketball as conference play began. All three spent time atop the AP Top 25 and went on to claim a No. 1 seed in March Madness.

Yet only the Wildcats and Wolverines have reached the sport's biggest stage.

The Blue Devils' stunning loss to UConn on Braylon Mullins' last-second 3-pointer ended the title push for the tournament's top overall seed, leaving Arizona and Michigan as the only 1-seeds to reach the Final Four. That comes a year after all four top seeds reached the Final Four for only the second time since seeding began in 1979.

Second-seeded UConn and No. 3 seed Illinois kept this from being an all-chalk Final Four, though it is again a gathering of favorites compared to past years.

Before these past two years, the tournament's final weekend featured at least one team seeded No. 4 or worse every year dating to 2010 — including a team seeded eighth or lower in each of the four Final Fours since the COVID-19 pandemic led to the cancellation of the 2020 tournament.

Here are storylines to watch on each of the teams that will play in Saturday's national semifinals in Indianapolis:

The Wildcats (36-2) won the West Region, continuing a dominant fifth year under Tommy Lloyd. They spent nearly half the season at No. 1 in the AP Top 25 (nine of 19 polls), entered the tournament as the second overall seed and have won all four tournament games by 12 or more points.

That has reconnected the program with some of its peaks under the late Lute Olson, including the program's last Final Four appearance in 2001.

“His legacy in Tucson is so powerful. He’s the guy," Lloyd said after Saturday's win against Purdue. "There’s others before him, but he’s the main catalyst to make our program the center of the community."

“When I got the job, I was, like, wow, people in Tucson really want to like their basketball coach, and it wasn’t a contentious relationship at all. They want to love you. The reason they want to love you is because they loved Lute so much and he meant so much to the community.”

The Wolverines (35-3) won the Midwest bracket with a dominating four-game run, with Michigan scoring at least 90 points in every game. That made Dusty May's squad the first team to score 90 points in every game through to the Elite Eight since UConn did it in 1995 before falling 102-96 to eventual champion UCLA.

“Just continuing to create offense for each other, whether it's through screening, cutting, passing, whatever the case,” May said before the regional-final win against Tennessee.

“I think just our guys have found a good rhythm and our role guys are making shots. ... And our stars have elevated their game as well.”

The Huskies (33-5) rallied from 19 down to stun Duke in the East Region final, capping a two-game grind through the nation's capital that included a tough win against Michigan State in the Sweet 16. That has brought UConn to the Final Four for the third time in four years, with the previous two resulting with the 2023 and 2024 championships.

Getting UConn out has proven difficult at this point, too.

The Huskies have now won 18 straight tournament games when reaching at least the second weekend going back to the Kemba Walker-led 2011 title run and another championship in 2014. And there's championship experience on the roster with Alex Karaban from the recent repeat title run.

“We’ve had to win a lot of close games throughout the year,” Huskies coach Dan Hurley said of the Duke comeback. “And I think that that honestly just gave us a level of comfortability in a game that it’s a one-possession game, it’s a two-possession game, we’ve been in this spot before.”

The Fighting Illini (28-8) pushed through the South bracket, beating Houston in its home city in the Sweet 16 before beating Iowa in an all-Big Ten regional final.

The Illini's size — KenPom ranks them as the nation's tallest team — has shown up on the glass and defensively in this tournament run. Illinois has outrebounded Penn, VCU, Houston and Iowa by an average 16.3 per game while holding them to 38.1% shooting, the best of the four remaining teams in each area.

That combination has brought Illinois to the Final Four for the first time since the 2005 team won 37 games before falling to North Carolina in the title game.

“Rebounding's always been something we tried to be good at all year, but I think defensively is where we’ve really made an impact,” Illinois coach Brad Underwood said.

“I think it can wear on people, it can make things difficult. We’ve relied on that all year being the biggest team in the country.”

AP March Madness bracket: https://apnews.com/hub/ncaa-mens-bracket and coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/march-madness

Illinois' Brad Underwood, center, celebrates with players after an Elite Eight game against Iowa in the NCAA college basketball tournament Saturday, March 28, 2026, in Houston. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis)

Arizona head coach Tommy Lloyd cuts down the net after a win over Purdue in the Elite Eight of the NCAA college basketball tournament, Saturday, March 28, 2026, in San Jose, Calif. (AP Photo/Kelley L Cox)

UConn guard Braylon Mullins (24) scores the winning basket during the second half against Duke in the Elite Eight of the NCAA college basketball tournament, Sunday, March 29, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Abbie Parr)

ABOARD AIRFORCE ONE (AP) — President Donald Trump on Sunday night said he has “no problem” with a Russian oil tanker off the coast of Cuba delivering relief to the island, which has been brought to its knees by a U.S. oil blockade.

“We have a tanker out there. We don’t mind having somebody get a boatload because they need … they have to survive,” Trump told reporters as he flew back to Washington.

When asked if a New York Times report that the tanker would be allowed to reach Cuba was true, Trump said: “I told them, if a country wants to send some oil into Cuba right now, I have no problem whether it’s Russia or not.”

On Monday, Russia's Transport Ministry said the oil tanker Anatoly Kolodkin arrived at the Cuban port of Matanzas carrying “humanitarian supplies” of about 730,000 barrels of oil.

The vessel is sanctioned by the United States, the European Union and the United Kingdom following the war in Ukraine.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Monday that Russia had previously discussed its oil shipment to Cuba with the United States. “Russia сonsiders it its duty not to stand aside, but to provide the necessary assistance to our Cuban friends,” he told reporters.

Trump, whose government has come at its Caribbean adversary more aggressively than any U.S. government in recent history, has effectively cut Cuba off from key oil shipments in an effort to force regime change. The blockade has had devastating effects on the civilians Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio say they want to help, leaving many desperate.

Islandwide blackouts have roiled Cubans already grappling with years of crisis, and lack of gasoline and basic resources has crippled hospital and slashed public transport.

Experts say the anticipated shipment could produce about 180,000 barrels of diesel, enough to feed Cuba’s daily demand for nine or 10 days.

Islandwide blackouts have roiled Cubans already grappling with years of crisis, and lack of gasoline and basic resources has crippled hospital and slashed public transport.

Cuba has long been at the heart of geopolitical tug-of-war between the U.S. and Russia, dating back decades. Trump on Sunday dismissed the idea that allowing the boat to reach Cuba would help Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“It doesn’t help him. He loses one boatload of oil, that’s all it is. If he wants to do that, and if other countries want to do it, it doesn’t bother me much,” Trump said. “It’s not going to have an impact. Cuba’s finished. They have a bad regime. They have very bad and corrupt leadership and whether or not they get a boat of oil, it’s not going to matter.”

He added: “I’d prefer letting it in, whether it’s Russia or anybody else because the people need heat and cooling and all of the other things.”

Associated Press reporters Megan Janetsky contributed to this report from Mexico City and Andrea Rodríguez contributed from Havana.

A man fill containers with potable water during a blackout in Havana, Sunday, March 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)

Activists from the vessel Maguro, that arrived from Mexico, unload solar panels and other humanitarian aid from the "Nuestra America," or Our America convoy, at the port in Havana Bay, Cuba, Tuesday, March 24, 2026. (Jorge Luis Banos/IPS via AP, Pool)

People spend the night in the dark on the Malecon during a blackout in Havana, Cuba, Saturday, March 21, 2026. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)