UConn-Purdue is clash of giants college basketball deserves

April 8, 2024

GLENDALE, AZ — purdue boiler maker Head coach Matt Painter isn’t just scouting. university university The Huskies will play in the 2024 Men’s NCAA Tournament National Championship Game on Monday night. Painter has watched UConn storm around the bracket for the second year in a row and is taking note of what he can steal for his team going forward.

“We’re going to steal some things from them next year,” Painter said Sunday ahead of the Giants’ clash. “UConn is a very good basketball team.”

That might be an understatement at this point. A year ago, UW won the national championship as the No. 5 seed by averaging 20 points per game, the fourth-largest margin in men’s tournament history. Despite losing three players to the NBA and two more to graduation, this year’s version of the Huskies is even better. UConn is +125 in his first five tournament wins of the year. His all-time record was at Duke in 1999, when he won six games by a +126 margin.

In a time in sports where that shouldn’t be possible, UConn is showing unprecedented dominance. Huskies coach Dan Hurley also knows Purdue is no slouch.

“Us and Purdue, we’ve obviously been the two best teams in the country the last two years,” Hurley said after his team defeated Alabama on Saturday night to advance to the national title game. “It’s great for college basketball to have two big dogs playing on a Monday night.”

Hurley’s comments raised some eyebrows considering how Purdue’s season ended a year ago. The Boilermakers became just the second No. 1 seed in history to lose to a No. 16 seed when Fairleigh Dickinson shocked the world and broke hearts. Purdue is on a redemption tour during the season that includes some of the most difficult non-conference schedules in the country. Somehow, Painter’s team had defeated Gonzaga, Tennessee, Marquette, Alabama, and Arizona all by mid-December.

Purdue’s regular season performance didn’t mean much to outsiders who were waiting for it to collapse again in March. That’s not happening. Instead, the Boilermakers dominated in their own way, winning five games by a +98 point differential.

A rare national championship game between the two strongest teams in the country remains. Either way, we’re preparing for an incredible storyline.

A win at Purdue would be the ultimate redemption after last year’s crushing loss to the No. 16 seed. It seals Zach Eady, the sport’s first back-to-back Player of the Year in more than 40 years, as the greatest college basketball player of all time to skeptics who refuse to call him that. It will be.

A win for UW would cement the Huskies as the sport’s new superpower. No team has won back-to-back national championships since Billy Donovan’s Florida Gators in 2006-07. It’s almost unbelievable that UW has built an even better team after sending three starters from last year’s champions to the NBA.

There’s a lot of intrigue surrounding this matchup, but it’s the big man fight that steals the show, and everything else is just a side story.

The Story of the Zack Eady vs. Donovan Clingan Tape

Purdue’s Zach Eady and UW’s Donovan Clingan are two of college basketball’s biggest stars, both literally and figuratively. Here’s how the two match up:

name: Zach Eadie

height: 7’4

weight: 300 pounds

wingspan: 7’10

class: Senior

nba draft projection:After the first lottery

Key statistics: He averaged 24.9 points, 12.2 rebounds, 2.1 assists, and 2.2 blocks per game, shooting 66 percent from the foul line and 71.1 percent from the foul line.

What makes him so good? College basketball hasn’t seen a player like Eadie since Ralph Sampson walked the court 40 years ago. He is a skilled interior scorer, an elite rebounder, and can get to the free throw line at will. Eadie also has the rare ability to avoid fouls…or at least be able to convince the referee not to call them. The most impressive thing about Eadie is his conditioning. In Purdue’s Elite Eight and Final Four wins, Eady was off the floor. Total 33 seconds. His ability to play an entire game with his size is amazing, and it may be the single biggest factor in this title game.

Edy also has some drawbacks. He’s pretty slow defensively. The pick-and-pop big guy gives him a lot of trouble. He’s not an elite passer and can force turnovers when double teams break down. He has zero shots from beyond range and is decent but not great from the foul line.

Purdue’s entire team is built to take full advantage of Eady’s impossible combination of size, scoring, and rebounding. Players this big and this good are incredibly rare. It will be a lot of fun to see him on the biggest stage in sports.

NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament - Final Four - Practice

name:Donovan Clingan

height: 7’2

weight: 280 pounds

wingspan: 7’7

class:Sophomore

NBA draft predictions: Top 10, maybe top 5

Key statistics: He averaged 13.1 points, 7.4 rebounds, 1.5 assists, and 2.5 blocks per game while shooting 63.7 percent from the field on true shooting and 58 percent from the foul line.

What makes him so good? Clingan is the best defensive player in college basketball. He’s a Rudy Gobert-inspired rim-protecting giant who can suffocate opponents simply by raising his arm. Clingan’s mobility has been his biggest improvement this season, as he has shown the ability to play at the level of screens and recover to the rim. He’s also a good passer offensively. UW will use him as a hub for half-court action, allowing Clingan to hit a cutter or kick out to a shooter. Of course, he’s also a threat to dunk and grab putback buckets when he gets close to the rim.

Clingan has a tendency to get into foul trouble. He is not in elite shape and rarely plays 30 minutes in a game. His scoring touch may also leave some dissatisfaction. He’s going to miss a few bunnies trying to score near the goal. Like Eadie, Clingan isn’t much of a threat to space the floor as a shooter. He’s aggressively bad from the foul line.

The truth is, UConn usually blows opponents out of the water when Clingan is on the court. He covers so much ground defensively and occupies so much space vertically that he can mess up opponents’ offensive game plans. But he’s never seen a test like Edie’s.

UW vs. Purdue game

Purdue

PG: Braden Smith, sophomore

SG: Fletcher Royer, sophomore

SF: Lance Jones, 4th year graduate student

PF: Trey Kaufman-Len, Sophomore

C: Zach Eady, Sr.

university university

PG Tristen Newton, 4th year graduate student

SG: Cam Spencer, 4th year graduate student

SF: Stephon Castle, freshman.

PF: Alex Karavan, sophomore

C: Donovan Clingan, sophomore

One key factor determining UW vs. Purdue

If Purdue can keep the game close, Clingan’s ability to play significant minutes could be the deciding factor in the game. He only played more than 30 minutes three times all year. He has never played more than 32 minutes in a game. If Eady can stay out of foul trouble again, you know he’s not going to come out all night to rest. This will be a physical challenge Klingan has never experienced before.

University vs. Purdue Prediction

UConn’s biggest advantage in this game is the size of its guards. Eadie and Clingan are great players, but for me, the best NBA prospect in this game is Huskies freshman guard Stephon Castle. With a strong 6’6 frame, Castle is able to bulldoze Purdue’s weaker and smaller perimeter players on his way to the basket. Considering the swirling offensive action that UConn is able to run around Clingan, it’s hard to imagine the Boilermakers being able to keep up.

National championship prediction: UConn 80, Purdue 71