Locked On ACC - Daily College Football & Basketball Podcast - Bracket Breakdown: Final Four: UConn, Purdue, Alabama or N.C State?

Starting point is 00:00:00 A 30-0 run from Yukon in the Elite 8 just hit different. Alabama, Purdue, and NC State. They all want their shot. Your final four preview starts right now. Locked-on Podcast Network presents the 2024 NCAA bracket breakdown. Presented by Nissan. I'm Teneitra Batiste, and I'm joined by our co-host of Locked-on College basketball, Andy Patton and Isaac Shade.

Starting point is 00:00:35 So excited to be with my guys again. 64 teams have played and gone home in the NCAA tournament. And now only four teams remain. Yukon, Alabama, NC State, and Purdue. It's time to break down the final four presented by Nissan. Are you the kind of driver that likes to push things a little further? Ever wonder what adventure could be around the next corner, take the Nissan Rogue, Nissan Pathfinder, or Nissan Armada,

Starting point is 00:01:01 and go find your next big adventure. Check them all out today at Nissan.com. start with how we got here, guys, and which players have carried these teams to the final four. Andy, let's just start here with Yukon, the 30-0 run. Yeah, what an incredible performance we have seen from Danny Hurley's team, not only in this tournament, but in last tournament as well. I mean, I think when all is said and done, even depending on how this shakes out for them if they don't win the championship, or, of course, if they do, we have to look back at this

Starting point is 00:01:31 two-year stretch of NCAA tournament games for Hurley and Yukon is one of the most dominant of all time. They have not had a single game be determined by less than 13 points in the last two NCAA tournaments. They have been in the lead in every game they have played in this tournament by at least 30 points. They didn't win them all by 30, but at one point in every game they have played in this tournament, they had a 30-point lead. They took the number two offense in the country at Illinois, and like you said, 30 to nothing run, just completely put them in a blender for a 50-minute period of time where they didn't score a single point in that game. This team is so deep and so balanced.

Starting point is 00:02:11 They are the number one offense in the country. They are the number six, I believe, defense in the country. They can beat you in multiple different ways. Donovan Klingin at full strength is an absolute monster. There's really only one player in college basketball who can really neutralize him, potentially a player he may face in the national championship game at Purdue, of course, and Zach Eady, but the way that Klingin is playing right now with his health, the way that Tristan Newton, the straw that stirs the drink for this team, he's so versatile and dynamic at the

Starting point is 00:02:40 point guard position. Alex Caravan and Cam Spencer can both be guys who can drop 25 on you any given night. Stefan Castle has really found his role as more of a defensive stop or not a guy who's being asked to score a whole lot. And just the balance of this team is really, really hard to stop. And as you've alluded to him, we haven't even seen anybody in this tournament come close. to taking this team down. And Isaac, there are so many superlatives that you can use for this team. You can talk about the fact that everyone knows their role. They play their positions with excellence. Well, one word that came to mind for me, or maybe it's two words, I'll say, is that they're technically sound. And when I say that, that's still a compliment,

Starting point is 00:03:17 because to me, that means everything. That means the two-way play from every single player on every possession. That's how you get a 30-0 run. So to look at it as a number is astounding, but to think about all that every player had to do to get them there was just mind-blowing. It absolutely is, Tenitra. And, Andy, I was checking while you were mentioning it. They're up to fourth in the defensive efficiency. So this team is top four nationally on both sides of the ball to your great point there, Tenetra.

Starting point is 00:03:47 And for me, that all goes back to the coaching of Danny Hurley. This is a man that will not settle for anything less than utter perfection. and like, like in every time he's interviewed, it's so funny because you're thinking he's going to say like, oh man, we're hitting on all cylinders, we're getting on all our strides. And he's like, you know, I guess we don't know how to win close games because we're blowing over. Like he's always just finding something to nitpick with his team. But I love that. I love the hunger that is there. And it goes all the way back to that press conference a couple years ago when he said, you better get us now because basically the freight train is coming.

Starting point is 00:04:26 And the freight train is not coming anymore. It is here. And Andy, if it's okay, I'm going to go so far as a step to say, depending on what happens next weekend, we could legitimately talk about this Yukon basketball team is not only better than last years as a conversation Andy and I just had on a recent show, but perhaps in the conversation for the best college basketball team of all time. which Andy would be so exciting because there's so much movement with the one and Duns and the transfer portal and NIA fallout that we don't get an opportunity to see a team have a core and then see that greatness one season, let alone duplicate itself or potentially to be great two seasons in a row or back to back.

Starting point is 00:05:11 And anywhere, that kind of took me talking about our next team as well. And Isaac talking about our next team as well is what we saw in the old days of the football Alabama. So whenever Nick Saven would hit the podium, he'd always find something, just like Dan Hurley would find, he'd always find something better for his team to do. But I got to tell you, the basketball Crimson Tide did their best example or their best kind of duplication of what the football team used to do. Because no pun intended, but they absolutely scored a title wave to punch their ticket to the final four. They have. And Teney, it's wild to think back because Alabama lost four of their last six games rounding out the regular season.

Starting point is 00:05:51 and the SEC tournament. And yet here they are on this run, knocking off Charleston, Grand Canyon, North Carolina, and then surprising Clemson team in the Elite 8 on Saturday. And I mean, when you look at where this is coming from, we've got to start nowhere else than Mark Sears, who has absolutely put this team on his back and shoulders and anywhere else he could find space for them and said,

Starting point is 00:06:16 come on, boys, I got space for all of you, let's ride. and it is something to watch. I mean, we talked about in the North Carolina game, had a very slow start. But once the faucet is open, good grief. It's a fire hose, man, and he is absolutely rolling. But what Alabama can do is just overwhelm you. It does, as you just said, come like in a tidal wave.

Starting point is 00:06:40 Once the floodgates open, you might as well just move and let it go right on by because whether it was an X factor like Grant Nelson, who had done nothing in the NCAA tournament blowing up against North Carolina or freshman Geron Stevenson who had the game of his freshman career in the elite eight to help punch the ticket to the final fort.

Starting point is 00:07:00 I don't think Alabama moves on without that contribution from him. So it's coming from so many different people. And oh, by the way, they've done it the last two games without perhaps their best shooter with all due respect to Mark Sears in Lutrell-Raitzel.

Starting point is 00:07:15 And indeed. And Andy, when we talk about the NCAA tournament. We love stories like Cinderella stories and redemption tours. And obviously the Purdue story has been one of a redemption tour, if you will. But I'll tell you, after Zach Edie's comments on yesterday where he basically said, hey, you over there, coach of that other team, you overlooked me too. It's like, I'm starting to kind of like, I like his edge, if you will, and I like what Purdue is bringing to the table saying, hey, we know how great these other three teams are. They're heading into the final four, but you better not count these.

Starting point is 00:07:48 Boilermakers out. Yeah, and I think that's kind of the attitude that Matt Painter wants to really kind of paint, for lack of a better word, with his team. You know, he recruits a lot of underdogs. He recruits a lot of guys who weren't top 100 or top 75 or even top 150 guys in their recruiting class. And the development, the player development at Purdue has been fantastic. It's easy to see the growth of guys like Braden Smith and Fletcher lawyer from year one to year two. How much better those guys have gotten, of course, Zach Edy, the growth of him from. his freshman year where he was a bid player to who he is now as almost certainly back-to-back national player of the year.

Starting point is 00:08:25 Like, these guys were overlooked in high school, and Matt Painter found them home and convinced them to, you know, how to play together and how to build a team and have that chip on their shoulder. And they didn't need any extra motivation coming into this tournament because of what happened last year, but they have absolutely rolled through everybody. And you can tell they're not letting their foot off the brakes at all. They have no intention of easing up or, you know, not. They're putting their best foot forward for every minute of every game because this team has no intentions of losing early in this tournament.

Starting point is 00:08:55 They already are in a spot where I think they can feel pretty comfortable about exercising the demons from last year's loss to a 16 seed. But the only other team to ever lose to a 16 seed, Virginia, they won the whole thing. And you can bet that every single player on Purdue is aware of that fact and aware that they have an opportunity to do the same thing that Virginia did in 2019 and bring a trophy to Purdue. Yeah. Indeed. Indeed. And it's one of those things where you know, you get excited about it, Isaac, because hey, who wouldn't be, and I understand Zach Edie's motivation and looking at Rick Barnes and constantly saying, yeah, that guy, there's another one who doubted me. There's another one who doubted me. And that's the kind of motivation that you kind of need or you're used to hearing from these elite athletes knowing that that's what kind of pushes them to the next level and then they bring other guys along with them. It absolutely isn't. And I'm right with you, Tina. I hadn't really heard that edge from E until post game on Sunday. Andy, am I tracking correctly with that? Like, I don't remember ever hearing it. Do you?

Starting point is 00:09:55 No, that was kind of the first time I think he's really stepped out and said something like that. And I think maybe he felt like it was the right time to be able to express that because they've gotten to this point in the tournament. I was all about it, man. Bring that noise more often. Andy and I have talked a lot about Lance Jones, the Southern Illinois transfer, who's come in and added a level of athleticism. And that was one of the potential issues on Sunday against Tennessee was their shortened back court, which didn't match up well

Starting point is 00:10:22 with this, you know, kind of expected runner-up in the national player of the year, Dalton Connect. And while he still scored 37, they figured out a way to do it. This team is rolling and they've got a big opportunity against NC State on Saturday. Indeed. And it's one of those things where, like you said, Dalton Connect did his thing, right? He still had a Dalton Connect type of game for the most part, but it's those spurts.

Starting point is 00:10:47 I remember sitting there watching that game amongst family and friends, and we're thinking it's just going to take one piece here, one piece there forever, which one of these teams for their big guys, right? For their, like you said, national player, co-player of the year, one guy is going to step up or it's going to be that X factor and that's what's going to get you moving on. And that's kind of how you feel with NC State. They kind of feel like the entirety of the team is one that indeed is like an X factor. right, Isaac. It's like, it's given Jimmy V vibes. And to me, that's a beautiful thing.

Starting point is 00:11:17 It is a beautiful thing. And, you know, talking about how did we get here? Most of these teams, we have to start at the NCAA tournament, but we would be completely remiss to not start all the way back at the ACC tournament with NC State because were it not for just the second team ever to make a five games in five days run, they would not have even been in this field. As Andy said recently, they had zero percent chance of being an at-large team. And so they had to end up beating Louisville, who they were tied with with five minutes left in their first game of the ACC tournament.

Starting point is 00:11:51 They needed a missed Isaac McNeely free throw, who's a phenomenal free-throw shooter and a subsequent Michael O'Connell banked in three at the end of regulation just to get to overtime with Virginia. I mean, there's all these butterfly effect moments that have led us here. And then just like Kemba and the Yukon Huskies in 2011, They've just kept it rolling. Miracle after miracle after miracle after miracle. By the way, knocking off Duke for the first time they've ever played them in the NCAA tournament, Tenetra.

Starting point is 00:12:21 It is an absolute wild show. And it's all because of the DJ show. And it's DJ Burns inside and it's DJ Horn outside. And as you said, a whole host of dudes around them, Michael O'Connell has stepped up. I love what Mo Diara is doing even while being in the midst of Ramadan and all this. like it's an incredible story and it's so fun to be part of this history. Indeed, Andy. Indeed. Andy, I mean, you look at what NC State has done and it's just been astounding. Like you said, start to finish Isaac. But Andy, yeah, start to finish. It's been

Starting point is 00:12:51 crazy. Yeah, unbelievable run from NC State to be in this position to have, you know, like Isaac said, needed that missed free throw from McNeely to even be. Their season would have been done two, three weeks ago if that hadn't happened. But nobody looks like they're having more fun playing basketball than DJ Burns. And I'm excited to see this team continue to be rolling on here. Indeed, that's how and why we got to the final four. Now we break down the matchup starting with the earlier game and the lone Cinderella story in NC State. Can they take down?

Starting point is 00:13:20 Number one C, Purdue. This Final Four bracket breakdown is brought to you by Nissan. Are you the kind of driver that likes to push things a little further? Do you ever wonder what adventure could be waiting just around the next corner? Well, our friends at Nissan have a lineup of SUVs with the capabilities to take your adventure to the next. level. How about the 2024 Nissan Rogue? It's perfect for city drives and great escapes. It's got class exclusive Google built-in, which is always updating assistant to call on for almost anything.

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Starting point is 00:15:05 Yeah, I'm really excited about this game a lot. And I think it's not the matchup we expected, not the match of anybody expected. I think people are looking forward to Yukon potentially taking on Houston. or not, excuse me, Purdue, but I know, yeah, yeah, yeah, Houston or even Marquette. There was a lot of, like, potential excitement in those matchups, but this is a really fun one as well, and it starts in the front court, and it always does when you're talking about Purdue,

Starting point is 00:15:27 because Zach Edy is, like, the front and center of every game that he plays, how are you going to stop Edy? How much of an impact is he going to have defensively? And that's always going to be the storyline with Purdue, but now he gets to go up against a very unique big in DJ Burns, a player who has shown the ability to finish around taller, bigger guys in his career, a guy who is potentially has the ability with his ball distribution skills to maybe move Edy away from the rim a little bit. I think there's some intrigue where if Burns is

Starting point is 00:15:55 away from the rim, facilitating, making a lot of passes. If that pulls E.D. away from the rim, does that mean that Purdue then puts Trey Kaufman Red on him and lets E.D. kind of play in a different role as more of a roaming defender? Like, there's, I think that's the most compelling matchup because Zach E.D. and D.J. Burns are are pretty clearly the two most compelling players in this game. But I also am curious how Purdue is going to defend DJ Horn. And the way that he has played in this tournament up to this point, he has been absolutely fantastic. He's a great score.

Starting point is 00:16:25 He's a great shooter. Is he going to be as effective at getting to the rim? Obviously, E tends to mitigate that against a lot of teams. So a lot of interesting kind of matchup elements to this game. Michael O'Connell, I think, is going to have a huge role as he has. Mo Diara has been a great rebounder for NC State. Teams that don't rebound well against Purdue tend to lose, and it's very difficult to rebound well against Purdue.

Starting point is 00:16:48 So that's going to be another interesting matchup here. Again, it's a matchup we weren't expecting, but I think there's a lot of reasons to feel really interested in what might happen in this one. Yeah, and Isaac, I'm interested, too, to kind of see how it goes in terms of the starts, because I feel like both teams got off to some slow starts this past weekend. And I think, if I remember correctly, DJ Burns got into a little bit of foul trouble. So I'm interested to kind of see, yeah, and I'm interested to see if that might actually play a role, sort of, if you will, Isaac, not so much the play itself of whether or not, you know, you're effective on offense, but maybe how things go defensively and who kind of jumps out to the early start and does that team continue to dictate the tempo throughout? Yeah, well, when it comes to those starts, Tenitra, especially at this stage, it's different. You're in a football arena that you've not played in all season long unless you're Syracuse. and it is different sight lines,

Starting point is 00:17:42 it's different energy, it's different nerves. And a lot of times, the starts, we saw this, I thought we saw it at the beginning of the NC State Duke game, in fact, on Sunday, where it was just like, they were all still trying to like, you know, just kind of right breathing and stuff. And I know we kind of, like, that's a real thing that happens and is a factor in these games.

Starting point is 00:18:04 But part of it, too, is you talk about that perhaps foul trouble. Like you look at DJ Burns, and he only gives up 25 pounds to Zach Edy, which is kind of hilarious when you look at DJ Burns. You probably weigh more than Zach Edy, right? But DJ is only 6.9. Yeah. And Zach Ety is 7.4.

Starting point is 00:18:24 That's seven inches of difference. That is massive. And so that is part of this too. Not only that, even if DJ Burns isn't in foul trouble, he plays like 24-ish minutes a game this year. What is it? 24.8. Zach Eadie only sat for 30.

Starting point is 00:18:39 33 seconds of the Elite 8 game. So when DJ Burns is out, I don't think Ben Middlebrooks can handle Edy inside. Andy, do you see? I mean, is that a thing? Yeah, I think it's going to be really hard for this team to defend Zach Ead. I mean, even with Burns on the floor. Yeah, certainly if he's sitting, I think that's going to be a problem. And again, it's like, you know, there's only one team in the country that I think has a

Starting point is 00:19:03 player somewhat capable of defending Zach Edian. He's on the other side of the bracket. The conversation we had earlier with Yukon, but. Yeah, I think Eidie's going to have, I mean, I don't know if he's going to go for 40 and 16 like he did against Tennessee, but he could. Like he very much could do that in this game. And NC State's going to, Kevin Keats is probably spending every waking second, certainly while we're recording right now, he is sitting there trying to figure out what in the heck am I going to do to stop this seven and a half foot machine

Starting point is 00:19:28 because people have tried various things. They've tried the automatic triple team, the delayed double team. They've tried single coverage and making him score over the top, trying to make him go left, trying to get him in foul trouble. If anything had worked, if a team had figured out a way to beat Zach Eadie, everybody would be trying that. And the reason that there's not any consistency

Starting point is 00:19:45 is because nobody's figured out. It works with 100% certainty. I don't know that NC State has an obvious answer here, but I'm curious to see what they try. And I just wonder, I wonder, like, as we've often said, will we see, like, even just different, like, are there five or six different of these,

Starting point is 00:20:05 like, even junk defenses that Kevin Keats throw just to try something. And if so, the thing we always say about Purdue, because we know some form of multiple players are coming at Zach Edy at some point. So it's incumbent on the four dudes around him to knock down shots when they get the ball. And so what I'm watching for outside of Eadie then

Starting point is 00:20:26 is who is that hot hand out of the other four Purdue Boilermakers on the floor? Yeah. Well, you know what? I take a look at their old schedule because I said, hey, four teams figured it out, somehow in some way. And it looks like to me, nobody's figured it out since Saturday, March night. So you might want to go back and look at that film or that tape against Pitt. And maybe that'll inform you of maybe what NC State can figure out what to do before this coming weekend. So now that we have an idea on how Andy and Isaac think NC State versus Purdue will go, time to

Starting point is 00:21:00 see if Alabama can do what no other team in this tournament has done. And that is not get blown out by the defending champion, you got Huskies. This Final Four Breakdown is brought to you by LinkedIn. When you're hiring for your small business, you want to find quality professionals that are right for the role. That's why you have to check out LinkedIn jobs, which has the tools to help find the right professionals for your team, faster and for free. Thankfully, LinkedIn isn't just some other job board.

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Starting point is 00:22:22 to post your job for free. Turns and conditions apply. Guys, this run by the Yukon Huskies in the tournament has been so impressive that, I got to say it twice, 30-0 run in their elite 8. matchup against Illinois. But Alabama has a high-octane offense too. Can the tide hang with the Huskies, Isaac? Here's the thing about Alabama. They shouldn't be able to, and that's not an

Starting point is 00:22:53 Alabama thing. That's an, that's a 361 other schools in Division I that can't. But here's the thing about Alabama. There's always a what-if factor because of their ability to bomb from outside. If they get up, like I posed this question to Andy kind of off the cuff the other day of like, how many threes does Alabama need to hit in this game to pull the upset or even to just stay in it? And they are capable of taking somewhere between 30 to 43s. And if they can get up to, I think I put the number at 20, but somewhere from 15 to 20, which they are capable of doing. They hit 19 in a game earlier this year.

Starting point is 00:23:36 that is the world in which Alabama wins this game. If that does not happen, if they just have a normal day from three or even worse, a bad day from three, there's no hope. But with Alabama, there's always that. Yeah, because Andy, I can recall us talking about this ahead of their game

Starting point is 00:23:57 against Carolina and basically saying, hey, they're going to shoot lights out, right? But their defense on the other hand can be a little bit leaky. And this was one of those games where Carolina kind of sputtered just enough until Alabama's three-point shot started hitting and that second happened and that was kind of all she wrote. So you kind of, but you think with a Yukon, well, they don't quite have that leaky defense that we referenced.

Starting point is 00:24:22 Who won Alabama is going to stop Donovan Klingin? I think that's the, I mean, you could have made the same argument ahead of the Armando Baycott game for North Carolina and certainly that Carolina didn't do enough to win that game even though Alabama's defense wasn't great, but I just don't see an avenue for Alabama defensively to be able to slow down Klingin in the block. I think Hurley and Yukon are just going to go, they're just going to feed him constantly like they did in the Illinois game. I think he had seven of their first eight points,

Starting point is 00:24:48 something like that. He just was just, they established him right away. I think they're going to do that again, try to potentially get guys like Pringle or Nelson or whoever they throw on clinging in a one-on-one matchup, try to get those guys in foul trouble and hopefully be able to build up the kind of lead where if Alabama does go on a three-point shooting barrage,

Starting point is 00:25:06 because I don't think Alabama can win this game by shooting. shooting well from three in the second half, which is what they've kind of done up to this point this tournament is have a really good second half, be, you know, not necessarily as good in the first half. Maybe they're adjusting to the defense and what they're facing. I don't think that works against Yukon. So if this team comes out and they shoot threes immediately and they're hitting all game long, maybe that can keep them in the game. But at the end of the day, they have to figure out how to stop Donovan Klingin and they have to be consistent from three because the driving lanes, Aaron Estrada, he loves to drive to the basket. I don't know that that works.

Starting point is 00:25:38 against Stefan Castle and if he gets past Castle, what is he going to do against Klingan? So I don't know if, and Sears kind of same thing. Sears is a great three-point shooter, but part of his value to Alabama is also the ability to put the ball on the deck and get that little floater up in the lane or get all the way to the rim and get fouled. And that's going to be tough against Klingan. He's really good at using his body. He's really good at not committing fouls.

Starting point is 00:25:59 He's good at kind of contesting those little floaters. And so I think for Alabama, the offense has to be predicated on a barrage of three-pointers. Nate Oates' team is set up to do that. That is a big advantage for them. They can also space the floor and potentially make life a little bit more difficult for Klingen where he has to defend in space as opposed to just kind of anchoring down on the block. But I don't think this team, it's hard for me to see them doing enough defensively win this basketball game, even though I think they have the ability to score a lot of points

Starting point is 00:26:32 because of the style that they play, I think matches up okay with Yukon. Yeah, and that's the thing with that defense. outside of the Grand Canyon game, like they've been winning and the defense in moments looks better, but they've still, in the other three games, given up 96, 87, and 82 points. That will not work against this Yukon team

Starting point is 00:26:52 whose defense is otherworldly elite as well. Because like I'm looking at this. And Andy, if I'm Danny Hurley, I'm very seriously considering putting Steph Castle on Mark Sears and saying, good luck. Make somebody else beat me. that's not Mark Sears.

Starting point is 00:27:10 And I know they've got other guys that can do it, but he's the one that I would have the most concern about if I'm Danny Hurley. And I know Steph Castle is a freshman, but this dude is next level as a defender and an athlete. And so I'm really, really curious to see once that ball is tipped on Saturday, how do these dudes match up? That's going to be a critical thing to watch in this game. So it sounds like, Isaac,

Starting point is 00:27:33 we're looking at a potential championship game next Monday between Yukon and Purdue. What's Purdue's path to cutting down the nets? Well, what I like is, you know, three of these four teams we've talked about, Purdue, NC State, and Yukon have a dominant big that we're looking at that is probably the key player in each of those games.

Starting point is 00:27:56 For Purdue, while, let me go to the NC State side of that, actually, while I love what they're doing, and while I love DJ Burns and his happy go lucky, isn't this so fun moment that we're having, which we're all living in now. Yeah, yeah. There's a way in which I just think Zach Edie's just going to overwhelm him. He's got the height and the weight on him. And at some point, it's got to fall apart.

Starting point is 00:28:22 But look, as soon as I say that, NC State's going to shock us all again. So why am I even predicting that? But legitimately, you just ride the national player of the year in this thing. And then as I said earlier, you just need your outside guy. to hit some of their wide open shots that they'll take as as NC State double or triples down on ED. Yeah, and Andy, I kind of see similarly to Isaac, but what do you think might be a path for Purdue to be able to hoist that championship banner and say, hey, we've got one? Yeah, Purdue is a great spot to potentially win at all.

Starting point is 00:28:58 I mean, as great of a spot as you can be when you're when Yukon is in, it's in the region, is in the bracket. I mean, getting to the point where they have to play Yukon is a tremendous result for Purdue. But they are more than anybody else of these four teams and really more than anybody else when it was a full 68 field. They are more equipped to beat Yukon than anybody else. And Yukon had to avoid losing to teams that weren't as equipped. Purdue had to do the same. They are now each one went away from potentially doing that, setting up a potential Klingin versus

Starting point is 00:29:27 EDI matchup. I would be very intrigued if Yukon would still opt to double EDI or if they would just to let him play one-on-one with Klingin, who, clinging is huge. He's seven-foot-two, seven-foot-three, maybe he's got a big wingspan, and one of the only players in the sport, who is bigger than him is Zach Eady. And I just, if we get that matchup, and certainly Yukon has to take care of business against Alabama,

Starting point is 00:29:48 and obviously the flip side there, as Isaac talked about, but that is one of the most compelling one-on-one matchups that we've seen in a national championship game in a very long time. Those two players are exceptional on both ends of the floor. Klingan's defense has been getting all sorts of praise. He's from NBA draft prospects, from college analysts, everything. This is where you prove what you're capable of. He doesn't need to get five blocks in this game,

Starting point is 00:30:13 but if he makes EDI miss three, four, five shots that he doesn't typically miss, that might be enough for Yukon to potentially pull off a victory here, especially if they lock Castle in on Braden Smith and kind of make his life a little bit more difficult. Again, we have to get to that matchup first, but if we do, there's a lot of. a lot of compelling, like there's a lot of interest in that matchup. I still think I would be leaning Yukon because of how overall balance they are. But there is, it is very hard for me to

Starting point is 00:30:43 imagine Purdue wouldn't keep that thing really close. And they would have a very good chance of winning it as well. Because Andy, if, if Klingin is able to handle Zach Edie individually without bringing the double, I like the other four Huskies better than I like the other four boiler makers. And I like the other four boiler makers a lot. It's just that, as you said there, the balance that Yukon brings, even beyond Klingin, who is fully healthy now and all that, I just, I like the balance and the surrounding pieces around Donovan Klingin with all due respect to Trey Kaufman Wren and Fletcher lawyer and Braden Smith and Kandon Heidi and everyone else who, Lance Jones and everyone else who will be playing for the boiler makers. UConn's got

Starting point is 00:31:28 too much balance. So, Isaac, I'm going to throw a quirky question to you. And this is assuming that we still feel like Yukon is the presumptive favorite there. What are some of the things, maybe like one or two things that, hey, if Yukon doesn't have that perfect game or that complete game, because they probably have played the most complete games in this tournament of any team? But what are maybe one or two things that if they do these things, it gets Ferdua a shot, but they're that good that they can stumble. And, hey, they can still cut down the nets. Sure. I mean, you asked about it early. with the foul trouble with NC State and Purdue. I think if Zach Edy can get clinging into some foul trouble,

Starting point is 00:32:04 I know they got Stanley Johnson coming in behind him, but I think that puts Zach Edy in a place where you just keep feeding him because Yukon is a good three-point shooting team, but they're not an overwhelming three-point shooting team. And Purdue's three-point shooting percentage is elite. And so if they can offset that balance, I think they can make enough twos to offset what Yukon's doing, if Klingin is relegated to the bench.

Starting point is 00:32:29 So that would probably be the biggest thing for me is just being able to get foul trouble going on the big man inside. One thing that really intrigued me in this matchup, too, is the difference in size in the guard rooms. Like, Purdue doesn't have a ton of size, and it hasn't seemed to impact them all that much, but Lynch Jones is listed at 6.1-ish. Neither Smith or lawyer are particularly big,

Starting point is 00:32:53 and Yukon has a ton of length on the perimeter, or Tristan Newton's big for a point guard. Stefan Castle's like six, seven. He's practically a three small ball four size in the modern NBA. And Cam Spencer, he's not an elite defender, but he's got a lot of size too. And so, you know, who's Lance Jones going to guard? Like we've talked about this before a few times with Purdue. Like, are they going to put Jones on Castle?

Starting point is 00:33:16 Like Castle's not a great offensive player, but he's got five inches on Lance Jones. Like I could see that being an area that Yukon could attack. So just, you know, kind of one of the few non-Eady clinging aspects. of this matchup that I think is really compelling to me. Yeah, I think that's a great call that both of you guys make because it's always interesting when a team is so kind of head and shoulders above the rest, like do they have one or two areas that you can exploit that maybe one of two things happens? Either you get the upset or we get to have this conversation of despite these obstacles

Starting point is 00:33:48 that happened to them, they still won it all. They still got to cut down the net. So one final thought before we wrap up because we got to hear it from you guys. Isaac, you got to tell us who you're picking the cut down the net at the end of the night next Monday, Andy, and who you got as well. I got a ride with the Yukon Huskies. I just do not see anyone stopping or slowing them down. They already knocked off in Illinois last weekend, an offense that was better than Alabama's and a defense that was better than Alabama's. I don't see that.

Starting point is 00:34:18 And then I think there's just too much against Purdue. I would love the story of redemption for Purdue, pulling the Virginia. but Yukon back-to-back national championships in which they win all 12 of those games by 13 or more points. I'll be contrarian just to be contrarian. Yukon obviously has a fantastic chance of doing this, and they're probably going to be the favorite. Assuming they beat Alabama, they will be the favorite, whether they play Purdue or NC State. But let me let's roll with Purdue.

Starting point is 00:34:45 Let's roll with Purdue, Poland and Virginia, a phrase we've used a bunch of times because this is the only second time a team has made the tournament after losing to a 16th, seed and the other team won at all, so why can't Purdue do it? They're playing some great basketball right now. I think that Edy is a tough match, obviously a tough matchup for Yukon. I think the possibility of him getting clinging in foul trouble, being able to dominate on the block while they play Samson Johnson or are forced to double triple team him. Braden Smith has distributed the ball at an absolutely elite level throughout this tournament at 15 assists against Gonzaga. Like, I could absolutely see a reality where Braden Smith is carving up Yukon defensively, where Zach Eadie is overwhelming,

Starting point is 00:35:23 where Donovan Klingon is spending a lot of time on the bench, and Purdue ends up wasting the trophy and being the second team to lose to a 16-seat and win the championship the following year. After the teams cut down the nets, the action won't stop on Locked on College Basketball portal season, recruiting and more every day on Lockedon College basketball with Andy and Isaac. Get into it. Don't miss a moment.

Starting point is 00:35:44 It's part of the Lockdown Podcast Network. Your team, every day.

Locked On ACC - Daily College Football & Basketball Podcast - Bracket Breakdown: Final Four: UConn, Purdue, Alabama or N.C State?

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