Locked On ACC - Daily College Football & Basketball Podcast - BONUS COVERAGE: NC State gets eliminated as Purdue advance to play UConn in the NCAA Championship

Starting point is 00:00:01 College basketball is down to its final game of the season, and it will be a true clash of the Titans as a pair of number one seeds in Yukon and Purdue, Square Off in Phoenix. Locked on Podcast Network presents the 2024 NCAA Bracket Breakdown, presented by Nissan. What's up, folks? Welcome into the Locked on College Basketball podcast, a daily national college hoop show, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. We are your co-hosts here on this live edition, Locked-on College Basketball. I'm Andy Patton. He is Isaac Shade. You are joining us at the place to get college basketball content every single day. And folks, we are down to the final two.

Starting point is 00:00:54 I want to thank all of you who have made the show your first listen or your first watch throughout the season, throughout the off season, into the regular season, into the NCAA tournament. And now here, as we get ready to wrap up what has been a fantastic fun, 2023, 24, college. basketball season. Want to shout out all the everyday listeners. Also remind you folks, you can listen to this show ad free on Amazon music if you have not done so yet. Great place to come check out the Locked-on College basketball show. Isaac Purdue, Yukon. This is the finale. This is the matchup that so many people were anticipating, expecting, hoping, whatever it may be, the two number one seats, a clash of the Titans, two seven-footers, two seven-foot two folks. In fact, we just saw this stat that this is the first national championship matchup where the two starting centers are seven foot two or taller.

Starting point is 00:01:44 There is so, so much to love about this matchup. We're going to kind of close the show getting into some of the storylines and specifics of the actual matchup between these two teams. But we want to start talking about these final four matchups. And Isaac, we'll actually start with the second game of the day on Saturday, this matchup between Alabama and Yukon. Because for most of this game, Alabama was rarely. in the lead, but they were never out of it. They were kind of in this game all the way throughout. Really nice shooting performance in the first half, kind of withered away in the second half, but still a big shout out to Nate Oates' team for being a team that not only got to the

Starting point is 00:02:21 final four, but gave Yukon more trouble than anybody else has in the sensitive light tournament. They did, Andy. Yeah, I mean, obviously we're going to shower all sorts of praise on Yukon. So let's make sure that we do the same to Alabama for, as we've talked about, this great run, Andy. We've mentioned how last year was the year, number one overall seed. They got the best freshman in America and they just wilted. Couldn't do it. Was it play? Was it everything off the court that was rounding it?

Starting point is 00:02:50 We don't know. But kudos. Because let's also remember, Nate Oates lost all three of his assistant coaches to head coaching gigs this year. And so to bring in this collection of dudes to get a whole new coaching staff and wind up being one of the final four teams and giving Yukon everything they just did, Andy, like you said, this 14-point margin that we see as the final margin of victory is not a good representation of how tight this game truly was, which I think says all the more about just how good

Starting point is 00:03:22 and veteran and experienced and calculated Yukon is that they were just able to continue pushing this thing out and salting it away to keep their streak alive of having won every NCAA a tournament game last season and this season by 13 or more points. Yeah, it was one of the big things we talked about coming into this game was what Alabama was going to need to do offensively. And the big talking point was the outside shooting because this is a team that lives and dies on the three-point shooting. They have all throughout the entire season.

Starting point is 00:03:53 And coming into a matchup where, I mean, we've seen what Donovan Klingan has done to other high-level offenses just by his peer presence alone. I mean, he was an incredible neutralizer against Illinois earlier in this tournament and we kind of thought, okay, the combination of, you know, potentially not having Ritesell at full strength, he did play and he scored six points. But between not having him is one of their best drivers, you're going against the team with Klingin and the paint and you kind of rely on the three point shot. We thought, okay, this is a team that's going to need to make a whole bunch of threes and they're going to need to take a whole bunch of them.

Starting point is 00:04:23 We speculated 20 was potentially the number of makes that this Alabama team was going to need to have in order to win this game. And in the first half, they go eight of 11 and they're down four in theory meaning if they had made 10 threes they would have been up at half time so it was kind of trending towards hey this is the team that probably does need to knock down maybe not exactly 20 but 16 17 18 and minimum and after going 8 of 11 in the first half which is i mean incredible to shoot that in a half against anybody in college basketball to do that against yukon is crazy but then in the second half they just didn't have it three of 12 i don't think they attempted enough three as part of that was some turnover stuff part of it was just not just not being a

Starting point is 00:05:03 able to get the looks off that they wanted to get, but to only knock down three in the second half. I mean, like you said, they kept it close throughout, but not being able to get those looks and knock down those shots really kind of crushed this team in the second half. Andy, the star of the game is the freshman, Steph Castle. And what was neat about it is we had predicted this earlier in the week and said, look, we wouldn't be surprised at all if Danny Hurley goes out and says, you know what, Steph, your job tonight? is to hold down Mark Sears. And they did for a while.

Starting point is 00:05:38 And he did, in fact, have Steph Castle and his 6-6 frame on 6-1 Mark Sears. And I think it took, I just think it took him a while to get unhinged. He didn't have any shot attempts for a good long while, Andy. Now, once Sears did get going, he had a perfect 5 of 5 in the first half, had a really nice second half. So, you know, gets unglued as he often has in this tournament. in the second half. But Castle was a true two-way player in this game, Andy.

Starting point is 00:06:09 You know, right out of the gate, we saw Alabama doing what they've done to multiple non-shooters in this tournament, kind of backing off. You saw Grant Nelson right out of the gate, just not even attempting to close out on Steph Castle. Castle made them pay with two threes early and great stuff there from Castle. But then he just kept going. But I loved what Hurley did.

Starting point is 00:06:33 Andy, he figured out a way to say, all right, look, if you're going to sack off Castle and he's not going to hit him, he started using him as the screener, having him roll, got in some action, utilized him as a backdoor cutter, just found other ways for his stud freshman to get involved. And I loved it too, because we know, as we've always talked about, Danny Hurley will find any excuse to find a slight. And I was watching the postgame interview with Tracy Wolfson, who hilariously got up on a ladder after they had, did you catch that, Andy? Yes, I did, yeah.

Starting point is 00:07:06 For those who didn't see it, when Tracy Wolfson, who she's very short, I can look it up later, but interviewing Zach Edie after the first game was like this, and the rest of the broadcast crew joked with her that she should get a ladder. Well, sure enough, she did to interview Donovan Klingin. So props to Tracy Wilson for that. But you could hear it in Danny Hurley's voice in his response,

Starting point is 00:07:28 talking about Steph Castle that. He's like, well, they chose to sag off. off him and he made him pay. And so like always, always finding the slight, hilarious stuff there, but great, great game for Steph Castle. I know we got to that fourth foul and had to go out early, but he had already done all the heavy lifting, great night and was part of another balanced offensive approach from the Huskies, Andy. And I thought this is the right strategy for Nate Oates in Alabama. Like I, if I was going to get beat by somebody on Yukon, I would have wanted to get beat by Steph Castle because he has not been a huge offensive contributor for Yukon. He is a great player.

Starting point is 00:08:05 He is a great defensive player. And I think he has more offensive talent than he has been able to show at Yukon in part because of the talent around him, in part because he is a very unselfish player and is not out there trying to go get his. But he's a clear cut one and done talent. He has, there's never been any point in this season where it was expected that he was going to return to school. And a lot of guys like that try to get their shots, their looks. And he's never been that type of player. And so to go into this game and have Alabama make it plainly clear to him and to the entire team and to everybody in the arena and the millions of people watching, we don't think you can beat us offensively. I mean, that was the direct message that

Starting point is 00:08:43 Nade Outs in Alabama sent to Stefan Castle, a true freshman who has not stepped into that role throughout the season. And for him to then step up and do it. I mean, that is, that is incredible. He knocked down his first two threes. He finished two of six. So, you know, the law of averages caught up to him a little bit, that 21 points was a season high for him. It tied his season high. So to have arguably his best offensive game in the most important game of the entire season when everybody knew that the opposing team wasn't taking him seriously as an offensive threat. I mean, that shows so much about Danny Hurley's coaching, about this team's overall depth

Starting point is 00:09:18 that they can have somebody come out and beat you who hasn't really taken on that role. And you alluded to it perfectly with how they shifted his role to get him to be into that short role situation. and backdoor cutting and kind of doing things that made Alabama's strategy not work as well. Fantastic coaching from Hurley and his guy stepped up when they needed to. And Eddie, I love that you just pointed out that depth. I'm actually bringing up, for those watching live on YouTube, a comment from Mr. Nobody who said, Yukon is like a heavyweight boxer that just wears you down with body shots. I've also, that's a great comment, Mr. Nobody.

Starting point is 00:09:51 I also liken it to a ground attack in football where it's just like those just bruising running backs who eventually just, you know, like Jerome Bettis, the bus, man, eventually you're just like, I'm so tired of tackling you, you know. And so that's a great point from Mr. nobody there. And I just love that they just keep coming, keep coming. And as soon as, you know, next thing you know, it's out to this double digit lead. And man, it was crazy stuff, Andy. And I want to go to the second half if I could really quick, where it was a half of runs. We had Alabama going on a 7-0 run. Yukon responded with their own 7-0 run.

Starting point is 00:10:32 Then Yukon goes on a 9-1 run to tie it up. And from there, or excuse me, Bama went on a 9-1 run to tie it up. And from there, Yukon goes on an 80 run. And that was just kind of it. And they just do it methodically. Like, everyone got so hyped for that Grant Nelson. It wasn't really a dunk.

Starting point is 00:10:49 He kind of threw it down, you know, threw it in. But Klingin's like, all right, fine. I'm just going to keep working. And then Klingin had those stretches where he was like just erasing Mark Sears off the glass, had a Dunkin transition, erased Nelson off the glass, had another, and it was just like, sure, fine, get all hyped, but we're just going to keep coming at you.

Starting point is 00:11:10 Andy, so impressive what they were able to do, shutting down this high-octane offense, zero fast break points, Andy, for the Alabama Crimson Tide. Incredible stuff. Really, really good stuff. Balanced offensive attack, defensive attack from Yukon. This team has been rolling for, I mean, really for two years now. And Alabama, great fight from them, but not surprised they weren't able

Starting point is 00:11:32 to slow down the Yukon train. All right. Well, Andy, Purdue's quest to Polo, Virginia remains intact after they took down NC State, who unfortunately finally ran out of gas behind another pedestrian, as Grant Hill called it, Zach Edy performance. We got more and we'll try to figure that out coming up in just a second. Right after I tell you about Nissan, are you the kind of driver that likes to push things a little bit further, do you ever wonder what adventure could be waiting around the next corner? While our friends at Nissan have a lineup of SUVs with the capabilities to take your adventure to the next level?

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Starting point is 00:13:25 going to have NC State's miracle run continuing on for a 10th straight game or we were going to see the continued pursuit of redemption for Purdue. Unfortunately for NC State, man, it just, they had won teams against great games, but they had not played one of the two best teams in the nation. And that's what happened, Andy, on Saturday night, given the boiler makers, their second ever championship appearance, the other one coming in 1969. We'll get into talking about later on, like,

Starting point is 00:13:57 can they finally end the Big Ten streak dating back to 2000? We'll see. But Andy, where I want to start is by asking you and I, and I guess everyone in the chat as well, because we got a lot of great chat action going. on this question. Have we gotten perhaps numb or desensitized to Zach Edie's exploits? And here's why I ask this. Zach Edie tonight finished with the following stat line.

Starting point is 00:14:21 You ready for this? Zach Edy, here we go. 20 points, 12 rebounds, four assists, two blocks. And Andy, in the broadcast, as I joked a second ago, Grant Hill called it pedestrian. I saw several people on Twitter saying like, somebody literally said if I was seven four I'd be dominating this game more than this and and it's just like if this is just a so so subpar performance and he's becoming the first player ever to have six straight NCAA tournament games of 20 points 10 rebounds then then I don't know what we're doing

Starting point is 00:14:58 what do you think about this Andy first of all I just don't who cares what people say on Twitter like we just we cannot like people have been saying that about Zach E.D for years. Like literally people, and obviously this is not true. There have been other seven and a half foot players in college basketball. There are other seven foot plus guys in college basketball right now. If every seven foot three, seven foot four player was capable of doing what Zach Edie is doing, they would be doing it. But they're not.

Starting point is 00:15:24 Like they're not produced. Had how many seven and a half foot players in the last like 15, 20 years? And they're not doing this. Like Zach Eadie is clearly more skilled and more talented than many of those other players. That is why he's a back-to-back national player of the year. It is not just because of his size. Obviously, it is a part of his story. It's silly to pretend it's not, but it is not the driving factor for all of that success for him.

Starting point is 00:15:47 He had five turnovers in this game. In a lot of ways, it was a question. It wasn't his best performance. 9 of 14 from the field, 20 points, and 12 rebounds is still really dang good. And I think the fact that it felt like a pedestrian performance says less, says more about the fact that Jackie typically puts up performance is better than this. Like this is below average for him. He only barely got to 20 and 10, which like you said, he has done six games in a row. He has now become the third player ever in the same NCAA

Starting point is 00:16:17 tournament to have 140 or more points and 70 or more rebounds. The only other players to ever do are Hall of Famers, Elvin Hayes and Jerry West. This is an extraordinary run for Zach Eden. I think, yes, there are just going to be trolls on people saying things on the internet that make no sense, like, oh, if I was that tall, I could do it. But I think, part of where this comes from is the amount of media narrative kind of pushing how great Zach E. is. I'm not saying that people shouldn't be doing that. They should. And they are for good reason because what he is doing is unbelievable. And it's an all-time NCAA tournament performance. And I think that that should be highlighted. But I do think there is some fatigue by the general audience,

Starting point is 00:16:58 whether it's people who lost to Purdue earlier in the season and are tired of seeing him. Like, great players get hated for being great. And they get. hated for how often they're on their screen and how often broadcasters are talking about them and how often people are tweeting about them. That creates people having extra frustration about the player. That is what's happening with Zach Edy because he is so tall and because some people who don't know ball think, oh, if I was that tall, I could do it too. But it's just the way that people are getting frustrated at an all-time icon who is getting a lot of much, much-deserved publicity for how great a tournament he's having.

Starting point is 00:17:34 Andy, did you like NC State's decision for the most part of the game to guard him straight up, to guard Zach Edy straight up instead of doubling? Yeah, I mean, yes and no. I mean, I think, again, the turnovers, a lot of the turnovers were on those kind of delayed doubles where they'd send somebody after he'd put the ball on the deck. I also think Eadie was just playing a little sloppier. Then he didn't typical, like he just, he wasn't quite as sharp as normal. And I think that that it happens.

Starting point is 00:18:02 And again, as we said, he still had a good game. but NC State kind of had to try something. We've seen the amount of doubles not working. And I think what really contributed to NC State keeping this game a little bit closer was the fact that Braden Smith just did not have game. I mean, he was a non-factor offensively. I think if you had told Kevin Keats that Braden Smith wasn't going to make a three-pointer in this game, or at least he was sorry, he's only going to make one and he was going to go one of nine.

Starting point is 00:18:25 And it was right at the end. If you told Kevin Keats that, like, hey, for the first 38 minutes of this game, Braden Smith's not going to make a three. I think Kevin Keats would have doubled and tripled Zach. Edie and said, okay, fine, we're going to throw everything at EDI because the guards aren't playing well, but he took a calculated risk saying, hey, let's play EDI straight up and let's try to slow down the guards. And again, maybe that was part of what contributed to Brayden Smith not having a very good offensive game. So there's a lot of kind of factors to it. I thought that Kevin Keats coached

Starting point is 00:18:53 a decent game. I thought they had an okay strategy coming into this one, but, you know, as much as we can lament what they did or didn't do defensively, they scored 50 points. That's just not enough. It's not enough a team like Purdue. They ran out of gas in the second half. So that the issues for NC State's team was on the offense event before. And to Smith's credit, even on a day where he was shooting poorly, still had eight rebound six assists. Yeah, yeah, exactly. So we've talked a lot this year about his ability to have triple double E type numbers just about game in and game out. And he did in those other two statistical categories. It's just like somebody in baseball, not letting a slump at the plate affect their defense. Right. Now,

Starting point is 00:19:34 Similar to Zach Edy, Smith also had five of their 16 turnover. So you don't love that from your point guard, but you'll take the other stuff. And Andy, what I thought was important is that, you know, we've talked about what an X Factor Lance Jones has been for this team. This is the real difference maker when everyone, you know, I think I tweeted something, the effect of, hey, like, I told you at the beginning of this tournament. Don't let your friends talk you in to Purdue's just Purdue and they're the same thing and it's going to happen all over again. like get all the free money you can on Purdue because they're going to be a great value. And it's proven to be true because it's not the same team. And a big part of that is Lance Jones, who in this game was five of 12 from the field,

Starting point is 00:20:14 four of nine from three, 14 points, four rebounds. He did have that one ill-advised three in transition with nobody under the rebound. But outside of that, I thought played a great game. Fletcher lawyer had three-threes, Andy. And so just even in a game where Smith wasn't doing it as much, It was nice to get that from those other guys alongside him. Yeah, Lance Jones is a monstrous addition for this team. I mean, you can just tell what he brings to this lineup that they didn't have last year,

Starting point is 00:20:41 that athleticism, that juice. Additional three-point shooting, obviously, that's been a huge factor for him to knock down. Four of the 10 made threes that Purdue had in this game. I mean, he was a really big factor. I really like what Trey Kaufman-Renn brings to this team as well. He only had seven points, and I don't know if this happened in other games. I remember very distinctly in the Gonzaga game where in the second half, Purdue went to Kaufman-Renn right away, and I think he had six or eight points in the first like three minutes of the second half against Gonzaga,

Starting point is 00:21:09 and he kind of did that in this game as well against NC State. I kind of went to him really early. I don't know if it's to give Edie a prolonged break or if it's like a situation where they know the defense is keyed in on Edie coming out of the half and they kind of throw something different at them by going at Kaufman-Renn. But it really worked. He only had seven points in this game, and I think most of them came in that stretch, but it was really valuable in minutes. And I noticed this too,

Starting point is 00:21:30 like we've talked about this a handful of times on the show that bench depth is obviously valuable, but a lot of the great teams don't play their bench all that often. Both Yukon and Purdue only had six players score in their respective wins. All five starters for Purdue as well as Mason Gillis, who had eight points, and then Samson Johnson had seven points for Yukon off the bench. So going to be interesting.

Starting point is 00:21:52 We'll get into more of what that means for the matchup coming up on Monday, but interesting to see that these two teams kind of relied pretty heavily on that starting lineup. And for Purdue to do it without Braden Smith offering much in terms of scoring offensively is a testament to their overall depth outside of just EDI. But obviously, of course, you know, EDI had a big factor as well. Yeah. And Andy, I think one of the things we often hear about is once we get to this part of the season, the commercial breaks are longer. There's more, you know, opportunities to catch your breath. And so depth is less of a value as it is in the season. And Andy, I know we need to get to another break here.

Starting point is 00:22:30 But briefly, let's just give some flowers, same as we did to Alabama, man, to NC State for this run. I know it kind of just sputtered and ran out of gas on Saturday night. DJ Burns wasn't able to have the same impact as he has had, as we expected going up against Zach Edie and giving up seven inches to him. But Casey Morsell, who's so often been really good, zero points on zero o five from the field Michael O'Connell

Starting point is 00:22:57 That was a bummer losing him early tried to make a go of it and just couldn't You know like that that hammy or whatever it was Just didn't allow him much And it was cool to see Breon Paskett And have a couple buckets for NC State Who would make a big three in that Louisville game That kind of ignited the ACC tournament run

Starting point is 00:23:15 So and of course great to see the other DJ The one that maybe not as many people know, but the one that is the leading score for NC State DJ Horn really show out in this game. I know kind of a struggle shooting for him as well, two of eight from three. But man, what a run from Kevin Keats and his guys. Absolutely. But, Isaac, we know that Yukon and Purdue that this was the matchup that everybody was most anticipating. And it's going to be absolutely fantastic.

Starting point is 00:23:42 And we're not even going to be able to touch all of the different storylines that are coming into this game. We're going to have a lot more about those on episodes leading up to the national championship. but we are going to try to close out today's show, get into some of those big storylines and what this matchup might look like. And we're going to talk all about that in just a second. Before we do that, though, I want to tell you that today's episode of Locked-on College basketball

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Starting point is 00:25:16 and use promo code Locked On College for $20 off your first purchase. Terms do apply. Again, create an account, redeem code Lockedon College for $20 off. down on the GameTime app today. Last minute tickets, lowest prices, guarantee. All right, Isaac, let's wrap this thing up talking about this matchup here, Yukon, Purdue. Again, I don't want to say it's what everybody was rooting for because I am sure that there are Al-Ai fans and NC State fans and fans of literally every other team who was not rooting for Yukon and Purdue. But it's hard to not have wanted this matchup from a just a peer basketball perspective,

Starting point is 00:25:58 of the intrigue, the lineups, the matchups, not just the storylines, all of it. Obviously, Eid versus Klingen is the big story in terms of the actual like basketball on the court storyline of these two seven footers, two defensive stalwarts, two very good low post offensive scores. That's definitely going to be the biggest matchup on the court. But from a storyline perspective, I mean, when we had Gonzaga Baylor in 2021, that's the last time that we had like the clear cut. These are the two best teams in college basketball and they're playing each other.

Starting point is 00:26:28 in the national championship. And because the sport has so many teams, because the NCAA tournament is a single elimination tournament over the course of three weeks, it is pretty rare to get the two best teams in college basketball actually facing off against each other. And with apologies to Houston, because I think that they were in that conversation throughout the year, I think it's pretty clear that this year, like we had in 21, is the two best teams in college basketball squaring off for all the marbles. Yep, Andy, I think you're absolutely right to let's let's remember Houston in memoriam here because we're it not for injuries. I think legitimately we've kept that threesome intact.

Starting point is 00:27:08 But as those injuries mounted, I mean, that's just the way it goes. These were the two best and that's what we get. Not necessarily the what I'm about to say. Well, let me just say it. And then I'll explain what I'm saying. Since the tournament expanded the 64 back in the 1985 season, this will be the 10th time. We've had a one seed versus one seed in the national championship.

Starting point is 00:27:28 So that's obviously not saying the two best teams necessarily, but two of the four best teams, 10th time. And Andy, it's just good for the sport when we get that. Obviously, we're going to get the same thing in the women's game on Sunday afternoon, a one seed versus a one seed as well. And so it's great that both the men's and women's championships are going to get a one seed. And, you know, it's fun when we get it. But even here, it's a upsets early chocolate situation again.

Starting point is 00:27:55 And thankfully, it's good for content. And it's good for what's going to happen on the court as well. Yeah, and I think, you know, you want the best teams, but you also just want the most entertaining teams to watch. And I think that's where this matchup is intriguing, because I think most people would agree that Yukon is one of the most interesting, fun, compelling teams to watch in college basketball. They play a style where you don't always know which player is going to go off.

Starting point is 00:28:23 So it's not always going to be the same guys dominating like we had in this game where Stefan Castle was their leading score. I wouldn't have projected that before the game. Most of the people wouldn't have projected that either. And I think that makes Yukon stylistically really fun to watch. Purdue, not as many people find them as fun to watch. And I think that that's fair. And I understand that from a, you know, I get it.

Starting point is 00:28:43 They play a little bit of a slower pace and then they're very ball dominant down on the block. But the matchup is fun. And I think that's what's most compelling is maybe Purdue's not your favorite team to watch, but Purdue versus Yukon will be fun to watch. it's very hard to imagine a scenario where this game isn't very compelling with how Edie and Klingin matchup on the block. The matchup out in the guardrooms as well, Brayden Smith and interest in Newton are two of the best, most versatile, well-rounded point guards in literally

Starting point is 00:29:11 all of college basketball. I'm now even extra intrigued by how Stefan Castle is going to be deployed by Amy Gurley's team. Are they going to put them on Lance Jones? Are they going to put them directly on Braden Smith? How is that going to match up? On the flip side, Matt Painter's probably not going to sag way off of Stefan Castle. So now I'm curious how they are going to attempt to defend him. There's just a lot. They're two great coaches, two great rosters, two great programs. Like, it's hard to not feel excited about the matchup, even if maybe these aren't your two favorite teams, just stylistically in college basketball. Yeah. If only we could bump up that tip time just a little bit. Man, I'm already sleepy. Andy on the West Coast is all excited about it. Fine, whatever.

Starting point is 00:29:51 Yeah, Andy, that's a great point because I think about the defensive assignments, because we look at what happened tonight in this game and we think, oh, well, then of course, Steph Castle is going to guard Braden Smith, but I don't think we can just assume that. I think it's because it's what made most sense against Alabama and what they have and who they deploy. And it might very well be the case to once again cut off the head of the snake with Braden Smith. But then you've got lawyer in Jones. And we've talked about this a couple of times this week. but just in terms of size and height, Yukon's back court, man,

Starting point is 00:30:25 they've got an advantage there over Purdue that the boiler makers are going to have to find a way to overcome. And so there's a lot. Obviously, we're going to get into depth on this all a lot more on Monday show. But Andy, a couple of quick storylines we can probably look at here. One of the big ones, we often talk about Big Ten's national championship drought. It goes all the way back to 2000 in Michigan State. Can Purdue end it?

Starting point is 00:30:49 We're going to find that out on. Monday night or Andy perhaps Purdue will pull that in Virginia and we'll just now forever assume that you know what? Maybe would you willingly lose to a 16th seat as a one if it guaranteed you win the national championship the next year we'll see about that. Andy, what are some other storylines you're watching for? Yeah, those are the two big ones with Purdue. And for Yukon, it's when we've talked about quite a few times. Can they repeat as national champion? Something that has not been done since those Billy Donovan led Florida teams in 2006 and 2007. And again, Yukon, not only in the final four, not only now in the national championship,

Starting point is 00:31:26 they became the first defending champion to make it past the Sweet 16 since Florida did that in 2006 and 2007. It has been a long time since a defending champion has even advanced nearly as far as Yukon has. And we mentioned this when this game happened, but when Yukon played San Diego State in that round of 32 or in the Sweet 16, that was the fourth time that the two teams that played in the national championship the year previously had squared off in the NCAA tournament the next year. And all four times that that has happened, one of those two teams went on to win the national championship. Three of those four times it was the defending champion, including Florida, who played UCLA in the 2007 tournament. So Yukon's got a chance to kind of repeat some

Starting point is 00:32:08 history here and do what Florida, do what nobody's done since Florida, and be that team that wins the national championship two years in a row and really kind of, that'll be their sixth championship if they do it. I think at this point, the conversations around Yukon would really kind of cement their status as one of the true elite programs in all of college basketball, especially, I mean, winning back-to-back championships is incredibly rare in the modern era. And Danny Hurley's team's got a chance to do it. And they got a chance to do it by winning every single game by 13 plus if they can do that against Purdue.

Starting point is 00:32:36 Very tall to ask, obviously. But this has been a dominant two-year stretch by Danny Hurley's team. And we'll see if they can keep it up. Yeah, I mean, we legitimate. I mean, Andy, this is the territory we're in. If Yukon wins this game by 13 or more points, we're legitimately talking about this as one of the most legendary, iconic back-to-back year stretches in NCAA history.

Starting point is 00:33:01 I mean, that's the territory we're in. But again, if they don't win, if Yukon doesn't complete it on Monday night, I don't think it is remembered the same way, as we talked about on Friday's show. And as for Purdue, you know, it's like, I guess they don't get the full. full redemption if they don't win on Monday night.

Starting point is 00:33:21 But I think they've got enough redemption to have cleared up what they did last season. Andy, very quickly, obviously tomorrow Sunday is the women's national championship game. The chat is blowing up with talking about the moving screen, the illegal screen call at the end of the game on Friday night. I quickly need your take on it. I'll give mine. And then let's give a women's championship game prediction. Yeah, it was the right call.

Starting point is 00:33:46 And it sucks. I mean, it sucks. Like, it was a moving screen, and I do believe that officials should officiate the final seconds of games, really in any sport differently. Having said that, this was a pretty blatant moving screen. And, I mean, it's really unfortunate for Yukon that it happened the way that it did. But this is right call. And I think you have to make that call.

Starting point is 00:34:09 If it was a little bit more subtle, maybe you don't make that call. But you watch the replays of it, and that elbow flares out in a pretty significant way. So I thought it was the right call. I thought it was a bummer way for the season and for Yukon. I'm going with South Carolina championship. I love, love Caitlin Clark's game. Love what they've been able to do to be back here in this position. But Don Staley and the Gamecocks are really, really good.

Starting point is 00:34:31 And I think they're going to win this one. Yep. Everything you just said is where I've been at on it. You don't want to have to make that call. But both the slide and the elbow on their own, I thought were enough. to make it a foul, to make it worthy of a call. And so, man, it was egregious enough to do that. And then I'm with you.

Starting point is 00:34:53 It's so funny how we have all the stars, Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese and Juju Watkins and on and on and on. But it's this South Carolina team that is like, hey, remember us? We're undefeated, right? And so Camilla Cardoso, Don Staley, I think they get it done and have an undefeated national championship run. and Caitlin Clark's wonderful career comes to an end as a runner-up back-to-back.

Starting point is 00:35:19 It's going to wrap it up for us today here on the Lockdown College Basketball podcast. Folks, thank you so much for making this show your first listen or your first watch of the day. We appreciate all of you hanging out with us here on the live as well. We're going to be live again on Monday night, probably later than this, as Isaac alluded to, that game has got a late, late start time, especially for two teams not located on the West Coast. But it's going to be a fantastic night. Isaac, my friend, I'm already looking forward to get to. to do that live show after that game.

Starting point is 00:35:49 Thanks again to those of you who have made the show your first listen or your first watch of the day. Apologies to the lawyer family, not that they need it anymore. Let's go Wildcats. And until Monday, until Monday, peace.

Locked On ACC - Daily College Football & Basketball Podcast - BONUS COVERAGE: NC State gets eliminated as Purdue advance to play UConn in the NCAA Championship

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