DALLAS — Jim Phillips, the ACC commissioner, took the first flight out of Los Angeles on Friday morning but arrived here with a pep in his step that belied his lack of sleep. 

In the political realm that seems to dominate so much of the conversation in college sports right now, these have not been great times for Phillips. His conference has been relegated to second-class status in recent College Football Playoff expansion negotiations, having been strong-armed by the SEC and Big Ten into accepting a lower share of revenue that used to be split equally among the Power Five.

Meanwhile, the ACC is being sued by Florida State and Clemson over language in the document that binds them to the league through 2036, suggesting their departure is only a matter of time and legalities.

And whether it was the CFP snubbing the Seminoles in December or Phillips’ league getting only five bids to the NCAA men’s basketball tournament, there has been an air of grievance — and fragility — around the entire operation.

But the ACC’s roots are here in this tournament, in this sport where it usually seems to transcend whatever ugliness is swirling around the conference. And on Friday night, as the ACC secured a third spot in the Elite Eight — two of them here in the South Regional — Phillips acknowledged that March has made so many of those big problems seem a little smaller. 

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“This is an amazing conference that has 71 years of history, that stands for the right things and has been about incredible success competitively, national championship caliber in all sports – football, basketball, Olympic sports with world class universities,” Phillips told USA TODAY Sports. “So some of the narrative to me gets completely distorted from the reality of what’s actually happening in our conference. There’s a tension to certain areas of it, and I understand that. But to me, that hasn’t kept us from continuing to perform.”

And performing they are — to an undeniable degree.

The ACC will have at least one Final Four team cutting down nets Sunday in American Airlines Center when No. 4 seed Duke and No. 11 seed North Carolina State face off for third time this month. And it will have a second participant if No. 6 seed Clemson can beat No. 4 seed Alabama Saturday in the West Regional.

These are teams, by the way, that finished second, tied for fifth and 10th place in the ACC regular-season standings. And if Clemson can reach the Final Four for the first time in program history, it will be the second time in three years the ACC has had multiple representatives on the final weekend. 

Dysfunctional conference? Not in this tournament. 

“I’m not surprised,” Duke coach Jon Scheyer said. “We’ve had battles against those guys the whole year.”

There are, of course, big picture realities that Phillips must reckon with that don’t have anything to do with the ACC’s postseason basketball performance.

The truth is that the ACC has been left behind from a revenue standpoint — even marginalized, to an extent — by a bad television contract that was signed prior to his arrival as commissioner. Fearing potential departures, the ACC was forced last fall to invite California, Stanford and SMU — schools that fit the league’s ethos academically but are disaster geographically and add little to its competitive fiber in football and men’s basketball. 

If college sports continues its current march toward super-conferences and further merging of big brands, the ACC — through no fault of Phillips — may well end up as a major loser. That’s the reality, and everyone knows it. 

But at the moment, it’s also beside the point. The ACC doesn’t just have a lot to celebrate this weekend, it has every right to pound its chest toward the critics who thought all season that the league had lost a step in its signature sport. 

“We’re not the only team that took it with a level of disrespect,” NC State big man D.J. Burns said. “That’s why we’re all fighting now.” 

Here’s the reality: Over the last 10 years, the ACC has only been shut out of the Final Four twice. In that span, three different programs have won national titles. It might have multiple Final Four teams for the third time this weekend. Since 2021, the league’s tournament record is 36-19 and counting.

It is a level of success that has left the ACC wondering why it only received five tournament bids this year, five last year and five the year before that. 

‘If you look at a long history or a shorter sample size we want more access than what we’re receiving right now so we have to do something about that,” Phillips said. “To me, that is the No. 1 priority in the offseason. We can’t continue at that rate because our league is too good.”

What to do? Phillips has wondered if the league’s 20-game conference schedule has worked against the ACC. Before that, the league was regularly getting 7, 8 or 9 bids. But it’s also true that the ACC needs some of its traditional powers like Louisville or Syracuse to perform better. 

There are no easy answers. 

But beyond the hand-wringing and awkwardness, the league is doing something right. This tournament success, year after year, doesn’t seem like a fluke. 

“(The ACC) 100 percent prepared us, even from a physicality standpoint,” NC State guard Casey Morsell said. ‘We were prepared just for a lot of different things teams throw at us whether it be super fast, super slow. That has kind of what has been a major key for us to adapt with different things the game presents.”

It’s hard to know what the future holds, so at least for now, Phillips is living in the moment. If you doubt that, just turn on the television Saturday and see him sitting behind the scorer’s table in Los Angeles wearing an orange-and-white striped tie — the colors of the school that is currently trying to litigate its way out of the league. And the non Sunday, he’ll fly back and wear a neutral green tie. 

In the ACC right now, there are no favorites. The ugly politics will have to be sorted out eventually, but right now this is a conference with its back against the wall. Every win is cause for celebration. 

In the ACC, it’s never mattered — or been needed — as much as it is right now. 

BOSTON — The starters for Illinois are 19, 22, 23, 23 and 23 years old, and this veteran status may be the Illini’s biggest advantage when it comes to postseason play.

Well, that and senior Terrence Shannon Jr., who has already put together the best three-game tournament stretch in program history.

The lineup’s relatively advanced age could balance out one of No. 1 Connecticut’s own advantages. With four players back from last year’s national championship-winning rotation, the Huskies are the most tournament-tested team still alive in this year’s bracket. With nine postseason wins in a row coming by an average of just under 23 points per game, the Huskies don’t lack for confidence, either.

“It’s just a really deep team, well-coached, and they play really hard,” senior guard Marcus Domask said. “It’s just a complete team. They check all the boxes.”

But as they head into the program’s first Elite Eight appearance since 2005, the No. 3 Illini can point to age and experience as one of several factors that may be in their favor against a seemingly unstoppable opponent.

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“I feel like there’s, like, no pressure on us,” said senior forward Coleman Hawkins. “I feel like it’s another game. We’re going to prepare the same way. We’re going to practice the same way. We’re going to go about film the same way. So it’s no pressure for us. I feel confident. I feel comfortable.”

In addition to the five starters, Illinois can bring three more veteran contributors off the bench in 22-year-old guard Justin Harmon and 21-year-old forwards Dain Dainja and Luke Goode. Overall, there are five seniors, two juniors and one sophomore in the Illini’s primary rotation.

This is also a team with length across the board: Every player in the starting lineup is at least 6-foot-6 and there are three players in the rotation standing at least 6-foot-8, though none quite to the height of the Huskies’ 7-foot-2 center Donovan Clingan.

The Illini are “an older, experienced, veteran group with some bigger bodies, and they were the more physical team for a large part of the game,” Iowa State coach T.J. Otzelberger said after Thursday’s loss in the regional semifinals.

Illinois has been tested by injuries, including a knee injury that has plagued Hawkins for most of this season. Off the court, the team has been forced to weather Shannon’s suspension after his arrest in December on rape charges, a suspension that was reversed after six games by a federal judge who ruled that Illinois had violated Shannon’s civil rights. Shannon has not spoken to the media during the tournament on the advice of his legal counsel.

“I just think everybody has been through a lot,” Domask said. “Whether we’ve been on winning teams, losing teams, close games, blowouts, everybody on our team has just been so battle-tested that nothing anybody can throw at us isn’t something we haven’t seen before.”

And in Shannon, the Illini have the best pure scorer in this year’s tournament and a difference-making talent. While battling foul issues, he scored 29 points in 30 minutes of action against the Cyclones and scored six points down the stretch to seal the 72-69 win.

Shannon is the first Illinois player to score at least 25 points in three tournament games in a row and is now averaging 23.5 points per game, good for third nationally and the fourth-highest single-season mark in program history.

“He’s strong. He’s crafty around the rim,” Clingan said. “He’s an elite player, a lottery pick.”

The Illinois defense has also made huge strides during a seven-game winning streak that included the program’s fourth Big Ten tournament championship. Since kicking off this stretch in the wake of a loss to Purdue on March 5, the Illini have held four opponents to under 70 points, including all three tournament opponents.

This recent performance comes after almost a season-long struggle on the defensive end. Even with this month’s uptick in production, Illinois ranks 222nd nationally in scoring defense and 348th in turnovers forced per game. According to KenPom.com, the Illini rank 84th in the country in adjusted defensive efficiency, last among teams still alive in the tournament.

“Some teams get hot and get that confidence on defense, and then they can be the best defense in the country for an extended period of time,” Goode said. “That’s kind of the mentality that we’ve had, you know. Our metrics throughout the whole season might not show we’re the best defense in the country, but it’s kind of the mindset. Like, why not be the best defense in the country for this tournament? That’s kind of how we’ve thought.”

Combined, the Illini’s experience, Shannon’s scoring prowess and the team’s improved defense makes them a substantially tougher test than what the Huskies have faced in reaching the Elite Eight. While UConn has obliterated every postseason opponent since the start of last year’s tournament, Illinois can offer something different that what the Huskies have seen this month: an equally confident and veteran group that won’t be intimidated by this matchup with a juggernaut.

That could be enough to spark a mammoth upset.

“I don’t think we have to play a perfect game, because no one really ever plays a perfect game,” Domask said. “We’ve definitely got to be on top of our game, for sure.”

BOSTON — Illinois senior Terrence Shannon Jr. is putting together an NCAA Tournament run for the ages. Connecticut is very aware.

When the No. 3 Fighting Illini and No. 1 Huskies meet on Saturday with a Final Four bid on the line, all eyes will be on maybe the best matchup of this postseason: Shannon against the defending national champions.

While the Huskies have ripped through another three teams to run their postseason winning streak to nine games, all by a double-digit margin, Shannon’s ability as a scorer makes Illinois a dangerous opponent with enough punch to keep UConn out of the national semifinals.

“He’s playing like one of the best college players in the country,” sophomore forward Alex Karaban said. “He’s one of the tasks we need to get ready for. Like I said, he’s one of the best players in the country and everybody knows that.”

Shannon has scored 85 points through three games, becoming the first player in program history to score at least 25 points in three tournament games in a row. If he maintains this pace through the national championship game, Shannon would finish with the third-most points by a player in a single tournament, behind Michigan’s Glen Rice in 1989 (184 points) and Princeton’s Bill Bradley in 1965 (177 points).

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He scored 29 points in Thursday’s 72-69 win against No. 2 Iowa State despite playing just 30 minutes after getting into foul trouble.

“He’s strong,” sophomore center Donovan Clingan said of Shannon. “He’s crafty around the rim. He’s an elite player, a lottery pick.”

As an offense, Illinois reminds UConn of Marquette, coach Dan Hurley said. The Illini lost 71-64 to the Golden Eagles in non-conference play.

“I think there’s different elements with the way that they space the court,” said Hurley. “Obviously, we watched their game versus Marquette in the non-conference, the one they played at Illinois. So there was some familiarity coming in.”

But Shannon is a different sort of individual talent than UConn has faced this season, leaving the Huskies poring over game tape to find ways to put the clamps on maybe the best pure scorer left in this tournament.

UConn will focus on three factors in an effort to stop Shannon from taking control: his ability to get to the free-throw line, his aggressive pace in transition and a go-to move that defenders have struggled to stop.

Shannon has gone to the line 24 times in tournament play. He’s made 18, just below his season average (80.4%). During the regular season, Shannon made double-digit attempts from the line 11 times, including in all three games during the Big Ten tournament, with a season high of 19 attempts in a loss to Penn State in February.

“We’ve got to keep him off the free throw line,” said senior guard Tristen Newton. “He runs fast and hard into the defenders’ shirts and gets to the line.”

Shannon is also one of the best players in the country in transition, where he’s a “freight train driving to the basket,” Karaban said. He scored four times on the break against Iowa State, including an emphatic dunk of a steal to seal Illinois’ win with under a minute left.

“He’s really, really quick,” said Clingan. “In transition, he’s getting ahead of the defenders and getting to the rim.”

Then there’s Shannon’s favorite move in the half-court set, said Newton, who described how Shannon will drive to his left, take a Euro step, cradle the ball in his left arm and invariably finish at the rim or draw the foul.

“That seems to work every time he goes down the court,” Newton said.

UConn seems to have a good idea what Shannon will try to do and how, even if stopping his well-rounded game is a different story. In a perfect world, though, the Huskies will take Shannon out of his comfort zone and force his teammates to pick up the slack.

Illinois has two other players averaging double figures in forwards Marcus Domask (15.8 points per game) and Coleman Hawkins (12.3 points and 6.1 rebounds per game). But the Illini’s lack of offensive punch when Shannon was sidelined after his fourth foul in the second half against Iowa State showed how hard life can be with the senior off the court.

And UConn brings more to the table than the three opponents Illinois has beaten to reach Friday night: more bodies, more athleticism, more physicality and more length near the basket.

“He’s got to deal with what we do,” Clingan said.