The chants echoed throughout social media and the University of Illinois campus on Thursday night, and you could just feel the coming regret.

“We want UConn!”

“We want UConn!”

Illinois students couldn’t help themselves after the Fighting Illini closed out Iowa State in the Sweet 16 on Thursday, and believing the top-ranked Huskies were perhaps overrated, fans of the Big Ten tournament champs stuck out their chests.

They chanted with bravado, some irrational confidence, and probably a little bit tongue-in-cheek, with the tacit acknowledgement that no one really wants to be in UConn’s path on the road to the Final Four, lest they end up looking like a squirrel with bad reflexes.

But despite all the program has accomplished over the last 25 years, it is a little bit new to hear fans of opposing teams putting the UConn men on this kind of pedestal.

For years, “We want Bama!” was the chant in college football, and it would be shouted shamelessly by students whether their team had just won the SEC East, or the Sun Belt. It’s a bit, like Larry David heckling your coach during a 30-point blowout.

Well, Illinois got UConn on Saturday night, but they definitely didn’t get what they wanted.

“Well, I think that I didn’t expect that,” head coach Brad Underwood said after his team’s 77-52 defeat. “But tons of credit to UConn. … Today wasn’t what any of us expected.”

The Illini were thrashed after a head-spinning 30-0 second-half run that shouldn’t even be possible in the Elite Eight. It was something you’d see from Bob Hurley’s teams at St. Anthony’s or Geno Auriemma’s during the height of the Huskies’ dynasty. Now, UConn’s got Bama in the Final Four.

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