UConn shatters Duke dreams with a miraculous Elite 8 shot that echoes Scott Padgett

UConn erased a 19-point lead against Duke behind a miraculous game-winning shot from Braylon Mullins, eerily mirroring Kentucky's historic 1998 Elite Eight comeback against the Blue Devils.

There is just something undeniably magical about watching a clutch three-point shot completely break the hearts of the Duke Blue Devils in the Elite 8. And when Kentucky can't win, it's nice to see Duke lose as well.

Today, college basketball fans were treated to another dose of some March magic. Freshman Braylon Mullins hit one of the biggest, most chaotic shots in March Madness history to completely ruin what looked like a Duke Final Four berth.

Duke was comfortably sitting on a 19-point lead. No 1-seed has ever lost with a 15-point halftime lead. They were on total cruise control, packing their bags for the Final Four. Even FanDuel released Duke vs Illinois odds. But in the words of Lee Corse, "Not so fast my friend."

Little by little, the championship pride of Danny Hurley’s squad kicked in, and they slowly started reeling Duke back into a dogfight.

An eerie reminder of the 1998 Kentucky comeback

Watching a talented Duke team blow a massive second-half lead in a regional final made me think back to when I watched Kentucky’s legendary 17-point comeback against those same Blue Devils on the way to the 1998 National Title.

It was Cameron Mills who hit his very first shot of the tournament to give Kentucky a late lead with just over two minutes to go. Moments later, Scott Padgett stepped up and delivered the ultimate dagger from the top of the key with just under 40 seconds remaining.

If you watched it live, those shots were huge. But they wouldn't happen without one man, Wayne Turner.

Wayne Turner set the standard for breaking Duke

Wayne Turner was the engine that actually broke the Blue Devils in 1998.

Turner took NABC Defensive Player of the Year Steve Wojciechowski out to the shed. He racked up 16 points and eight assists, effortlessly getting wherever he wanted to and completely controlling the pace of the game.

Fast forward to today.

As the game kept getting tighter, you could physically feel the momentum swing over to the Huskies.

A fatal freshman mistake completes the collapse

With just 10 seconds remaining on the clock, it became too much for Duke freshman Cayden Boozer.

Boozer was huge all day long, racking up 15 points, six rebounds, and five assists. But when UConn aggressively blitzed him near midcourt on the final possession, he panicked. Instead of just holding the basketball and forcing a foul, the freshman tried to end the game by flipping a pass ahead to two wide-open Duke teammates.

It was tipped and reminiscent of the Furman-Virginia game, a dagger 3 knocked out the Blue Devils.

Alex Karaban found Braylon Mullins near midcourt. The freshman stepped into the chaos and splashed a miraculous go-ahead three-pointer with just 0.4 seconds left on the clock.

Whenever Kentucky is eliminated from the tournament, watching Duke suffer a heartbreaking collapse is undeniably the next best thing.