Wisconsin > Kentucky is Duke > UNLV 1991

Kentucky Wisconsin UNLV Duke

Follow the bouncing ball here.

1990 National Championship Game: Duke vs. UNLV

(UNLV won by 30. Mostly awful game.)

1991 Final Four: Duke vs. UNLV

(Duke avenges, wins by 2 over undefeated UNLV team … and in Indianapolis no less.)

2014 Final Four: Kentucky vs. Wisconsin

(Kentucky by 1, even though Wisconsin was a much higher seed.)

2015 Final Four: Kentucky vs. Wisconsin

(Wisconsin avenges, even though Kentucky came in undefeated … to Indianapolis.)

Obviously there’s a bit of the ol’ basketball storyline of “predominantly white team” vs. “predominantly black team,” sure. Bo Ryan seems mostly liked — Coach K was at the time, and probably still is for a lot of people — and people thought Tark was dirty, just like people think Calipari is dirty now. The storylines line up almost perfectly.

Ted Bauer