The Wisconsin Badgers’ third Final Four contained some similarities with UW’s second Final Four. The 2000 Final Four had two 8 seeds and a 5. The 2014 Final Four had an 8 seed and a 7 seed.
The two main differences between the 2000 and 2014 Final Fours: The 8 seed in 2014 was far more talented than the 8 seeds at the 2000 Final Four.
We saw Wisconsin play Kentucky in two consecutive Final Fours. Obviously, the 2015 Kentucky team which nearly completed an unbeaten season was as great as it was because Karl-Anthony Towns — a lot like Anthony Davis for John Calipari in 2012 — was a generationally great big man, an elite force who transformed the geometry of basketball and took loads of pressure off the supporting cast. Devin Booker also changed the game for Kentucky that year as a newcomer, enabling the 2015 supporting cast to breathe more easily. Yet, let’s make a note about that 2015 supporting cast for Kentucky: It did have some important pieces from the 2014 team, such as the Harrisons and Willie Cauley-Stein. The 2014 Wildcats had plenty of talent; they just couldn’t discover how to access it until March came.
Wisconsin drew an 8 seed at the 2014 Final Four which was plainly better, with more upside, than the eighth-seeded North Carolina team which reached the 2000 Final Four.
The Connecticut team which beat Florida at the 2014 Final Four, snapping the Gators’ 30-game winning streak, was also far more talented than its No. 7 seed. The Huskies, a lot like Kentucky, badly underachieved during the regular season and played to their potential in the NCAA Tournament.
The 2000 Wisconsin team was a true Cinderella, a team which played far better than its raw talent to make the Final Four. The 2014 Kentucky and Connecticut teams which fought past Wisconsin and Florida and met for the national title did not play above their heads at the Final Four; they played the way they should have been playing all along. It was UW’s misfortune to draw UK, and not 2000 North Carolina, at the 2014 Final Four.