UConn coach Dan Hurley downplayed his bizarre interaction with an official at the end of Sunday’s historic NCAA tournament victory against Duke, saying he thought the veteran referee was looking to “chest-bump me to celebrate.”

UConn completed one of the biggest comebacks in NCAA tournament history when freshman Braylon Mullins drained a 35-foot 3-point attempt to give the Huskies a 73-72 lead with 0.4 seconds remaining in their Elite Eight game against the Blue Devils.

In the immediate aftermath of Mullins’ shot, cameras showed an elated Hurley walking away from the UConn bench area and appearing to bump heads for a few seconds with official Roger Ayers, before both men continued to walk in opposite directions.

Hurley, addressing the now-viral incident during an interview this week with the “Triple Option” podcast, said Ayers is an “easy guy to work with” and denied that there was any animosity between the two of them during the game.

“Really, at that point in the game, we had it won,” Hurley said. “And [Ayers is] such an easy guy to work with during the game, that I thought he was coming over to chest-bump me to celebrate the shot.”

Hurley was not called for a technical foul, and UConn ultimately won after Duke’s desperation inbounds attempt was denied, securing the Huskies’ eighth Final Four trip and their third in four years under Hurley.

The NCAA announced its 11 officials for the Final Four on Monday, one day after UConn rallied from a 19-point deficit to beat Duke in the tournament’s East Regional final. Specific game assignments were not included in the NCAA’s announcement, but the list of officials did not include Ayers, who has officiated seven Final Fours, including last year’s.

Hurley referred to Ayers as a “cool-ass ref,” adding that they had positive interactions throughout the game.

“It’s not like that for me with him,” Hurley said. “My experience with him has been — we haven’t won every game, I haven’t agreed with every call. But in no way was that me and a ref that I had been at their throat the whole game.

“There were other points in the game where I had my arm around him, walking out of a timeout, we were cracking jokes and laughing.”

ESPN’s Seth Greenberg said on “SportsCenter” that he spoke Monday with Ayers, who told Greenberg that “nothing happened” with Hurley. Greenberg, a former longtime college basketball coach, added that Ayers “literally didn’t know what I was talking about” and said the interaction with Hurley was “absolutely nothing.”

Hurley told the “Triple Option” podcast that Ayers was approaching him to inform him how much time remained on the clock after Mullins’ miracle shot.

“He was just coming up to tell me there was 0.3 [seconds] — ‘I think there’s going to be 0.3 or 0.4 on the clock’ is what he was saying to me,” Hurley said. “And I was still so hyped from the shot going in.”

Hurley, who has a combative history with officials, was ejected from a regular-season game earlier this month against Marquette after making contact with referee John Gaffney in the closing seconds.

UConn will play Illinois in the first Final Four game Saturday in Indianapolis, followed by the other national semifinal between Michigan and Arizona.

Last week, after Michigan became one of four Big Ten teams to reach the men’s Elite Eight, coach Dusty May was asked how recent rule changes around compensation in college athletics had helped league teams have such success.

“You’d have to catch me off the record to answer that question,” May said with a smile.

The implication was clear: Now that every school can pay players — either through direct revenue share or via name, image and likeness dollars — Big Ten schools are no longer disadvantaged in recruiting by everything from booster bag men to shoe company AAU connections.

This narrative, of course, ignores many past scandals in the league, let alone that the Big Ten has produced plenty of contenders through the years. It just hasn’t won it all since Michigan State in 2000.

The overall sentiment is somewhat fair, however. While violations certainly occurred in the Big Ten, they generally weren’t as extreme as in other places.

Now though, it’s an open game and an open checkbook. That means game on.

Big Ten schools have already won the past three national titles in football (Michigan, Ohio State and Indiana), and with two teams in the men’s Final Four — Illinois joins Michigan — it has a chance to break that 26-year hoops title drought.

“I think now that the playing field has been leveled out as far as finances and things like that, the environments in the Big Ten are second to none,” May said.

It’s more than just legalized cheating, if you will.

The money allows Big Ten programs to take different strategies to construct rosters.

For decades, league schools seemed to battle each other over many of the same Midwestern recruits — effectively kneecapping each other over a point guard from Flint or a swingman from Indiana. In the end, many of the very best went to other conferences, anyway: Anthony Davis, Derrick Rose, Shane Battier, Antoine Walker, Jalen Brunson, Dwyane Wade and so on.

Last year, the two best high school recruits with Midwestern hometowns were Darryn Peterson (Canton, Ohio) and Darius Acuff Jr. (Detroit). They chose Kansas and Arkansas, respectively.

No matter. May, for example, has constructed arguably the best team in Michigan history without a roster full of area high school stars.

Instead, armed with exceptional scouting and plenty of money, he hit the transfer portal and brought in Yaxel Lendeborg (UAB), Aday Mara (UCLA), Morez Johnson Jr. (Illinois) and Elliot Cadeau (North Carolina).

Those four alone make up 65% of the Wolverines’ scoring, 66.2% of their rebounding and 74.2% of their assists. U of M is 35-3 and won each of its tournament games by double digits.

Then there is Illinois coach Brad Underwood, whose program, based on proximity to Chicago, St. Louis and Indianapolis, should be a historic powerhouse. Yet the Illini have only occasionally gotten the best local recruits.

That’s one reason Underwood has put an emphasis on targeting European talent by using newly legal money to sign players who would have otherwise chosen to play professionally over there.

Illinois is powered by David Mirkovic of Montenegro, twin brothers Tomislav and Zvonimir Ivisic of Croatia, and Andrej Stojakovic, who spent part of his childhood in Thessaloniki, Greece, before moving to California where his father, Peja, played in the NBA.

Add in some Americans, including unheralded-recruit-turned-superstar Keaton Wagler, and the Illini are making their first Final Four appearance since 2005.

“NIL has opened it up so we can actually get the really, really good [European players],” Underwood said. “Dribble, pass, shoot guys. They’ve been extremely well coached. They are fundamentally very sound.

“We’ve had ones before, but maybe not the top-quality guys,” he continued.

Maybe under the old rules, May is two years into building a program and still trying to make recruiting connections while Illinois is stuck in its good but rarely great history.

Not anymore. The entire league is awash with talent, with six teams reaching the Sweet 16. And while Nebraska basketball couldn’t do the impossible that Indiana football pulled off, the Cornhuskers’ first ever NCAA tournament victory (and then a second) is proof enough that a new day is here.

Even a title this weekend wouldn’t give the Big Ten basketball dominance to go with the football variety, but here in the new era of college sports, it would suggest another step in its revival, if not arrival, as a true behemoth.

• Sahibzada Farhan declared Player of the Match.
• Kingsmen post 225/5, with Sadaqat’s 62 and Sharjeel’s 51.
• Multan Sultans will now face Lahore Qalandars on April 3.
  

Sahibzada Farhan’s brilliant century powered Multan Sultans to a successful 226-run chase against Hyderabad Kingsmen in the eighth match of the Pakistan Super League (PSL) 11 at Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore, on Wednesday.

Set to chase a daunting 226-run target, the 2021 champions knocked the winning runs for the loss of four wickets and eight balls to spare, courtesy of Farhan.

The right-handed opener oversaw the Sultans’ pursuit with an unbeaten century and top-scored with 106 off just 57 deliveries, studded with eight sixes and seven fours.

Farhan received ample support from his opening partner, Steve Smith, and vice-captain Shan Masood, who made 46 and 29, respectively, before knitting an unbeaten 37-run partnership with Arafat Minhas, who chipped in with a brisk 26 off 11 deliveries.

Saim Ayub was the pick of the bowlers for the Kingsmen, taking two wickets for 43 runs in his four overs, while Maheesh Theekshana and Hassan Khan could pick up one apiece.

Farhan was declared Player of the Match.

Kingsmen captain Marnus Labuschagne’s decision to bat first paid dividends as the tournament debutants piled up 225/5 in their 20 overs.

The Kingsmen got off to a spirited start to their innings as their opening pair of Saim Ayub and Maaz put together 59 runs in five overs until the former was caught and bowled by Peter Siddle and consequently walked back after scoring a 20-ball 27, laced with three fours and a six.

Maaz was then involved in brief partnerships with captain Labuschagne and wicketkeeper batter Usman Khan until eventually falling victim to Mohammad Nawaz in the 10th over.

The 20-year-old remained the top-scorer for the Kingsmen with a 26-ball 62, studded with five sixes and as many fours.

Usman followed suit 10 balls later as he was caught at the deep fine leg by Shehzad Gull of Mohammad Wasim Jr, resulting in the Kingsmen slipping to 127/4 in 11.2 overs.

Following the flurry of wickets, experienced Sharjeel Khan took the reins of Kingsmen’s batting charge and smashed an unbeaten half-century, making 51 off 26 deliveries with the help of four sixes and three fours.

Sharjeel shared crucial partnerships with Syed Saad Ali and Muhammad Irfan Khan at the backend, who contributed with handy cameos of 23 and 22 not out, respectively.

Mohammad Wasim Jr was the standout bowler for the Sultans, taking two wickets for 37 runs in his four overs, while Nawaz, Siddle and captain Ashton Turner made one scalp apiece.