They’re saying this Final Four repeats the history of 2008, and, by seed, they’re right. In many other ways, this Final Four is so much different.
Blue bloods populated 2008 Final Four, won by Memphis. Duke is only blue blood in this Final Four.
The 2008 Final Four reflected teams’ blue-chip recruits flourishing. Now, transfers like Florida’s Walter Clayton Jr. and Auburn’s Johni Broome are big party of college basketball’s story.
They’re saying this Final Four repeats the history of 2008, and, by seed, they’re right.
Kansas, UCLA, North Carolina and Memphis populated the Final Four that season, marking the first time four No. 1 seeds seized all the semifinal spots. Never had that feat been repeated until now. Auburn, Florida, Duke and Houston rumble toward San Antonio, which also hosted the 2008 Final Four.
The similarities mostly end there. In so many ways, this Final Four differs from the 2008. Here’s why:
∎ Only one blue blood this time. John Calipari joked in 2008 that if you combined the national championships won by UCLA and Memphis, they’d have 11. The punchline he left unsaid, of course, was that UCLA owns 11 titles and Memphis has none.
UNC and Kansas joined UCLA to supply three Final Four blue bloods. Back then, that trio owned a combined 17 national championships. Kansas and UNC won more titles since then.
Duke, winner of five national championships, supplies the only blue blood within this quartet.
Florida won back-to-back titles under Billy Donovan. Todd Golden joins Donovan and Lon Kruger as coaches to lift Florida to a Final Four.
Bruce Pearl is the only coach to take Auburn to a Final Four. He’s done it twice. Auburn pursues its first national championship.
Kelvin Sampson lifted Houston to heights unseen since coach Guy Lewis and his Phi Slama Jama crew of the 1980s. This marks Sampson’s second Final Four at Houston. Lewis supplied five. The Cougars have never won a national championship.
∎ Polls predicted the 2008 Final Four. The 2008 Final Four reflected preseason projections. The first four teams in the preseason USA TODAY Coaches Poll went like this: North Carolina, UCLA, Memphis and Kansas. The media picked it the same way. None of the four ever slipped outside of the top 10.
The top four of the coaches’ poll this season started with Kansas, Alabama, UConn and Houston. Kansas fizzled and lost in the first round as a No. 7 seed. Eighth-seeded UConn lost a second-round battle with Florida, and No. 2 Alabama succumbed to Duke in the Elite Eight.
Duke ranked No. 5 in the preseason, Auburn checked in at No. 11 and Florida came in at No. 21. You can’t label this Final Four cast underdogs, but they weren’t runaway preseason favorites, either.
∎ More upsets occurred before 2008 Final Four. The 2008 1-seed party came after upsets filled the tournament’s earlier rounds. In fact, that tournament supplied one of the greatest Cinderellas, Steph Curry and his 10th-seeded Davidson.
Curry, wearing a baggy uniform appropriate for the time, became almost an overnight sensation as Davidson charged into the Elite Eight against Kansas. The Jayhawks prevailed, 59-57, after throwing two defenders at Curry in the closing seconds, forcing him to a pass to teammate Jason Richards, whose 3-pointer missed. Kansas then stomped UNC in the Final Four and survived Memphis in overtime of the national championship.
Western Kentucky and Villanova, a pair of No. 12 seeds, joined Davidson as Sweet 16 Cinderellas. Even as the Final Four approached, some eyes lingered on Davidson in the rearview mirror.
As veteran sports columnist Mike Lopresti wrote before the Final Four, “If we can’t have Davidson, this field will have to do.”
In contrast, No. 10 Arkansas became this season’s only Sweet 16 team seeded higher than No. 6. Calipari coaching an Arkansas team bought from the transfer portal made for an unusual Cinderella.
Cinderella shined in 2008 before heading home before the clock struck midnight. This year, she left much earlier, just after cocktail hour.
∎ High school recruiting ruled in 2008. Transfers didn’t factor into the equation nearly as much in 2008. Brandon Rush and Mario Chalmers, veterans whom Bill Self signed as touted recruits, powered Kansas to the title. Runner-up Memphis’ best players were Chris Douglas-Roberts and Derrick Rose, blue-chippers signed by Calipari.
Kevin Love and Russell Westbrook fueled UCLA. Tyler Hansbrough and Wayne Ellington powered North Carolina’s engine. More examples of ballyhooed recruits flourishing with the program that signed them.
This Duke squad offers 2008 vibes. Freshman studs Cooper Flagg and Kon Knueppel lead the charge, alongside Duke mainstay Tyrese Proctor. Houston, too, features impactful veterans who played their full careers with Sampson, but transfers L.J. Cryer and Milos Uzan also help form the Houston nucleus.
In a transfer’s world, a Duke title would mark a throwback.
∎ No Division I champions coaching in this Final Four. Golden, 39, had never won an NCAA Tournament game before Florida’s Final Four run. This also marks the first Final Four for Jon Scheyer, 37, Duke’s third-year coach.
Pearl, 65, and Sampson, 69, chase their white whale, an elusive Division I national championship, to highlight winning careers. They have five Final Four appearances between them. Neither has reached a national championship game. Pearl is the only member of this coaching quartet to win a national championship. His title came at Division II Southern Indiana in 1995.
In that 2008 Final Four, Roy Williams already had won his first national championship at North Carolina, in 2005. Self won the first of his two national championships in 2008. Calipari’s national title came in 2012 at Kentucky. From that 2008 group, only UCLA’s Ben Howland never won a national championship.
Epic finish? Kansas-Memphis thrilled in the 2008 national championship game. Chalmers etched his name into Kansas lore with his 3-pointer to force overtime. That championship followed decisive semifinal results, though, despite projections that four No. 1 seeds would result in epic clashes.
Seventeen years later, they’re saying this Final Four will be epic. Based on the talent level in San Antonio, it should be.
Three good games would be another way in which this Final Four differs from 2008.
Blake Toppmeyer is a columnist for the USA TODAY Network. Email him at BToppmeyer@gannett.com and follow him on X @btoppmeyer. Subscribe to read all of his columns.
