Sport-Blog.com

The Illinois Fighting Illini are on their way to the Final Four for the first time in 16 years, thanks to an unbelievable 90-89 overtime win against the Arizona Wildcats. Illinois' fairy tale season looked to be coming to an end when they trailed by 15 points with just over 4 minutes left to play in regulation, but they were able to conjure up one more miracle finish to keep their championship hopes alive.

Led by senior Luther Head and junior Deron Williams, the Illini posted an incredible 20-5 run to close out the second half, as Arizona suffered a total meltdown. All five of Arizona's points during the Illinois run came on free throws.

Illinois clearly had the momentum as the game moved into overtime. Head and Williams again came up big for the Illini, combining to score 8 of Illinois' 10 points. On the other side of the court, Salim Stoudamire, who nailed a last-second jumper to propel Arizona past Oklahoma State in the semifinals, was held to just 9 points and 7 assists in 39 minutes.

Illinois' next opponent is the Louisville Cardinals, who pulled off an amazing come-from-behind victory of their own as they survived 18 three-point bombs from West Virginia and battled back from a 20-point second-half deficit to beat the Mountaineers 93-85 in overtime. Illinois and Louisville will face off on April 2 at the Edward Jones Dome in St. Louis. The winner will advance to the national championship game against either North Carolina or Michigan State.