Site of the 1992 Final Four … but that’s not necessarily a good thing.

Asked on a conference call Monday afternoon about his memories of Minneapolis, Huggins thought back for a moment, then answered:

“We lost twice.”

In the Final Four he was beat by — Michigan.

Hold the boos for a moment, won’t you.

His first trip to Minneapolis came as head coach at Akron in 1986, which was his first journey into the NCAA Tournament as a coach.

He lost that game in the first round to — Michigan.

You may now release the boos that the school which took Rich Rodriguez and John Beilein get every time they are mentioned in these parts.

“We lost to Michigan twice,” Huggins said.

If nothing else, Minneapolis fostered in Huggins an appreciation for what the NCAA Tournament really is. In 1986, he took on perhaps the best team in the country and “played a heck of a game,” only to lose 70-64.

“Afterward, you start to think, ‘How do you win six of these?'” he said.

Akron has never been back and will snap that spell Thursday against Gonzaga. Huggins waited only a few years to get back. In 1992, his third season at Cincinnati, he was in the Final Four. A year later, it was the Elite Eight.

“Then it’s like, ‘It’s going to be this way every year,’ but it’s not. It’s hard,” he said.

Ten of his next 12 trips to the Tournament with the Bearcats would end on the first weekend, including two in the first round. Last year was Huggins’ first trip to the Sweet 16 since 2001.