It’s a tale of two freshmen.

Braylon Mullins of UConn became an overnight sensation after hitting a game-winning 35-footer to defeat Duke on Sunday and send the Huskies to the Final Four.

Duke’s Cayden Boozer, whose ill-advised pass attempt with just six seconds left led to a steal and the Mullins heroics, became the recipient of some of the nastiest social media posts you’d never want to see.

Mullins, 19, spent Monday being celebrated -- interviewed on the “Today” show and the focus of a package of stories on People.com, for starters. A celebratory kiss from his girlfriend, who is his high school sweetheart, went viral.

A year ago, he was named Mr. Basketball in Indiana. Now, basketball fans well beyond the borders of the Hoosier State know Braylon Mullins.

For Cayden Boozer, who has been a terrific ambassador and contributor for Duke as a freshman, he now is known for one play in a 40-minute game. And what an unfortunate burden that is for an 18-year-old to carry.

Mullins and the team were back in Storrs, Conn., on Monday morning, after their return from the NCAA Tournament East Region site in Washington, D.C.

The “Today” show caught up with him as he looked every bit the typical college student. Sitting in what appeared to be his dorm room, Mullins rocked a hoody and some messy hair as he discussed the game winner that capped the 73-72 win.

UConn rallied back from a 19-point deficit and was down by two points when Mullins connected.

"When we were on the defensive side of the ball, we tried to get a stop, tried to foul the worst free throw shooter on the floor, and they ended up turning the ball over," he said.

"I wanted to get the ball to Alex [Karaban]. He had just hit a shot I think a minute before that, and he ended up throwing the ball back to me," Mullins said.

"I knew there was like 0.4 seconds left on the clock, so I thought that was the best opportunity we were gonna get.”

Mullins was 0-for-4 shooting from 3-point territory until then. He is a 32.8% shooter from long range on the season.

He told the “Today” crew that he missed the “easy” opportunities earlier in the game.

"But the hard one went down," he said, before rushing off to English class.

The next time we see Mullins, he will be playing against Illinois in the first of two national semifinal games on Saturday in Indianapolis. He’s going home, with Lucas Oil Stadium located just about 30 minutes from his alma mater, Greenfield-Central High School.

In October 2024, twins Cayden Boozer and Cameron Boozer committed to Duke, where their father, Carlos, played from 1999-2002. The elder Boozer won the NCAA title with the Blue Devils in 2001.

Both were blue-chip recruits. 247Sports ranked Cameron as the No. 1 power forward in the Class of 2025, Cayden as the No. 4 point guard in the Class of 2025. (Mullins ranked as the No. 2 shooting guard.)

Cayden Boozer played a prominent role in the past few weeks of Duke's season, taking over as starting point guard after Caleb Foster suffered a broken foot in the final game of the regular season on March 7. He played increasing minutes in the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament, and then in the NCAA Tournament, averaging 12.5 points, 3.3 rebounds and 4.8 assists per game during Duke’s four games.

On Sunday, Duke took possession of the ball with 10 seconds to play, up 72-70. He was double-teamed by Mullins and Silas Demary Jr., and the latter tipped Boozer’s pass attempt and Mullins recovered it.

Boozer did not need to make a play. He could have held the ball and let the clock run out or allowed UConn to foul him to stop the clock in the waning seconds. He’s an 81.3% shooter from the free-throw line.

In the locker room after the game, Cayden Boozer talked about the botched play.

“I should have been strong with the ball and not turned it over,” he said, despondently. “I cost our team our season.”

Since then, Cayden Boozer has taken more than his share of the criticism with messages so mean-spirited that we won’t repeat them.

But there were others on social media who defended Boozer for his class and courage in defeat, for taking responsibility, for the contribution he made to Duke throughout the season, for making a mistake -- something all of us have done on the job.

His coach, Jon Scheyer, said Cayden Boozer was not to blame for a loss in which his team squandered a big lead. A lot of plays led up to the defeat.

“It's easy to look at that play – I look at every play that happened, especially in that second half –this is not about one play,” Scheyer said after the game. “It's about every play that put us in that position, and that's what you don't want to do, where one play something could happen.

“For me, look, it's going to be tough, but it's not going to be on one play.”

Cameron Boozer undoubtedly will enter the 2026 NBA Draft and be selected very high. Let's hope his brother stays at Duke and gets a chance to replace this memory with another one in the 2027 NCAA Tournament.

And that UConn and Duke meet for the national championship.

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