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

Starting point is 00:00:00 A 30-0 run from UConn in the Elite Eight 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 Tanitra Batiste, and I'm joined by our co-host of Locked On College Basketball, Andy Patton and Isaac Shade. So excited to be with my guys again. 64 teams have played and gone home in the NCAA tournament.

Starting point is 00:00:41 And now only four teams remain. UConn, Alabama, NC State and Purdue. It's time to break down the NCAA tournament. And now only four teams remain, UConn, 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 and go find your next big adventure. Check them all out today at NissanUSA.com. Let's 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 UConn, 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,

Starting point is 00:01:22 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 two-year stretch of NCAA tournament games for Hurley and UConn as 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

Starting point is 00:02:05 didn't score a single point in that game. This team is so deep and so balanced. 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, in Zach Eadie. 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 point guard position. Alex Caravan and Cam Spencer can both be guys who can drop 25 on you any given night.

Starting point is 00:02:47 Stephon Castle has really found his role as more of a defensive stopper, 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, and we haven't even seen anybody in this tournament come close to taking this team down.

Starting point is 00:03:03 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 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.

Starting point is 00:03:25 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, Tanitra. 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, Tanitra. 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, uh, like in, in every time he's interviewed, it's so funny because you're thinking he's going to say like, oh man, we're, we're hitting on all cylinders. We're getting on all our strides. And 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.

Starting point is 00:04:06 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 and the train is not coming anymore it is here and Andy if if it's okay

Starting point is 00:04:31 I'm gonna go so far as a step to say depending on what happens next weekend we could legitimately talk about this UConn basketball team is not only better than last year's 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. 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. And Andy, where 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 Saban 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

Starting point is 00:05:35 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 Tanitra, it's wild to think back because Alabama lost four of their last six games rounding out the regular season and the SEC tournament. And yet, here they are on this run, knocking off Charleston, Grand Canyon, North Carolina, and then a surprising Clemson team in the Elite Eight on Saturday. And, I mean, when you look at where this is coming from teacher, we've got to start nowhere else than Mark Sears,

Starting point is 00:06:09 who has absolutely put this team on his back and shoulders and anywhere else. He could find space for them and said, 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,

Starting point is 00:06:25 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. 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 Jaron Stevenson, who had the game of his freshman

Starting point is 00:06:56 career in the elite eight to help punch the ticket to the final four. Like 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 and Luttrell Reitzel. Indeed. 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 Eady's comments on yesterday,

Starting point is 00:07:31 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 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. 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.

Starting point is 00:08:05 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 Eadie, the growth of him from his freshman year where he was a bid player to who he is now is almost certainly back-to-back national player of the year. Like these guys were overlooked in high school and Matt Painter found them a home and convinced them to, you know, how to play together and how to build a team and,

Starting point is 00:08:33 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 they're putting their their their best foot forward for every minute of every game because this team has no intentions of losing early in this tournament they already are in the spot where i think they can feel pretty comfortable

Starting point is 00:08:58 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 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,

Starting point is 00:09:17 indeed. And it's one of those things where, you know, you get excited about, about it, Isaac, because, Hey,

Starting point is 00:09:23 who wouldn't be. And, and I, I understand Zach Eadie'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.

Starting point is 00:09:41 And then they bring other guys along with them. It absolutely is. And I'm right with you, Tintra. I hadn't really heard that edge from until postgame on Sunday. Andy, am I tracking correctly with that? Like, I don't remember ever hearing it. Do you? 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.

Starting point is 00:10:11 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 backcourt, which didn't match up well with this 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

Starting point is 00:10:41 did his thing, right? He still had a Dalton connect type of game for the most part, but it's those spurts. I remember, you know, 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.

Starting point is 00:11:04 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,

Starting point is 00:11:16 that's a beautiful thing. 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 have to start at the NCAA tournament, but we would be

Starting point is 00:11:25 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 0% 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. 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.

Starting point is 00:12:03 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. 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 so fun to be part of this history. Indeed, Andy, indeed, Andy. I mean,

Starting point is 00:12:45 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 crazy. Yeah. Unbelievable run from NC State to be in this position to, to have, you know, like, 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 number one seed, Purdue? This final four bracket breakdown is

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Starting point is 00:14:36 Shop NissanUSA.com. All right, guys, this is one that I'm intrigued about because sometimes I'm going to call it loosely, Andy, the undercard, right? Because obviously everyone's looking to see if UConn is going to go back to back. That's where a lot of the attention is on the men's basketball tournament side. But I think this Purdue-NC State matchup can be just as intriguing as what we're going to see with UConn and Alabama. Yeah, I'm really excited about this game a lot. And I think it's not the matchup we expected, not the matchup anybody expected. I think people are looking forward to UConn potentially taking on Houston or not, excuse me, Purdue. But I know, yeah, yeah, yeah. Houston or even Marquette.

Starting point is 00:15:19 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, because Zach Eadie is like the front and center of every game that he plays. How are you going to stop Eadie? How much of an impact is he going to have defensively? And that's always going to be the storyline with Purdue,

Starting point is 00:15:36 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 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 Edie away from the rim a little bit. I think there's some intrigue where if Burns is away from the rim, facilitating, making a lot of passes, if that pulls Edie away from the rim, does that mean that Purdue then puts Trey Kaufman-Wren on him and lets Edie kind of play in a different role as more of a roaming defender? I think that's the most compelling

Starting point is 00:16:09 matchup because Zach Eadie and DJ Burns 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 scorer. He's a great shooter. Is he going to be as effective at getting to the rim? Obviously, he 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.

Starting point is 00:16:39 Mo Diarra 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. 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

Starting point is 00:17:01 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 uh 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, Tanitra, 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. It's different energy. It's different nerves. And a lot of times the starts, we saw this.

Starting point is 00:17:48 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 trying to write breathing and stuff. And I know we kind of like, that's a real thing that happens and is a factor in these games. But part of it too, as you talk about that, perhaps foul trouble, like you look at DJ Burns and he only gives up 25 pounds to Zach Eadie, which is kind of hilarious when you look at DJ Burns and you're like,

Starting point is 00:18:16 you probably weigh more than Zach Eadie, right? But DJ is only 6'9". Yeah. And Zach Eadie is 7'4". 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 33 seconds of the Elite Eight game. So when DJ Burns is out, I don't think Ben Middlebrooks

Starting point is 00:18:47 can handle Eadie 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 Eadie. 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 player somewhat capable of defending Zach E zach edie and it's on the other side of the bracket conversation we had earlier with yukon but yeah i think i think edie's gonna have i mean i don't know if he's gonna go for 40 and 16 like he did against tennessee but like he could like he very much could do that in this game and nc state's gonna kevin keats is probably spending

Starting point is 00:19:20 every waking second certainly while we're recording right, 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? 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 is because nobody's figured it out. It works with a hundred percent certainty. I don't know that NC state has an obvious answer here, but I'm curious to see what they try. I wonder, I wonder like, as we've often said, will we see like even just

Starting point is 00:20:03 different, like, are there five or six different of these, 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 Eaddy 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 Edie then is who is that hot hand out of the other four Purdue Boilermakers on the floor? Yeah, well, you know what?

Starting point is 00:20:32 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 9th. So you might want to go back and look at that film or that tape against Pitt, and 9th. 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

Starting point is 00:20:52 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 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, UConn 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. They've got a vast network of more than

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Starting point is 00:22:09 I hate writing job descriptions and I'm not good at it. LinkedIn helps me do it and it's so great. So post your job for free right now at linkedin.com slash locked on college. Once again, that's linkedin.com slash locked on college to post your job for free. Terms and conditions apply. Guys, this run by the UConn Huskies in the tournament has been so impressive that I got to say it twice, 30-0 run in their Elite Eight matchup against Illinois. But Alabama has a high-octane offense too.

Starting point is 00:22:44 Can the tide hang with the Huskies, Isaac? elite eight 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 Alabama thing. That's a 361 other schools in division one 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 like 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 against Carolina and basically saying, hey, they're going to shoot lights out. Right. But their defense, on the other 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 in that second half. And then that was kind of all she wrote. So you kind of, but you think with a Yukon, well,

Starting point is 00:24:19 they don't quite have that leaky defense that we referenced. Who won Alabama is going to stop Donovan Klingin? Like, 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

Starting point is 00:24:40 down Klingin in the block. I think Hurley and UConn 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, 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 Klingin 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, because I don't think Alabama can win this game by shooting well from three

Starting point is 00:25:09 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, 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 UConn. 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 against Stephon Castle. And if he gets past Castle, what is he going to do against Klingin? So I don't know if, and Sears kind of same thing.

Starting point is 00:25:45 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 Klingin. He's really good at using his body. He's really good at not committing fouls. 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.

Starting point is 00:26:09 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 Klingin 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 when this basketball game, even though I think they have the ability to score a lot of points because of the style that they play, I think matches up. Okay. With Yukon. Yeah. And

Starting point is 00:26:36 that's the thing with that defense outside of the grand Canyon game, like they've been winning and, and the defense in moments looks better better but they've still in the other three games given up 96 87 and 82 points that will not work against this UConn team 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. 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.

Starting point is 00:27:23 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, we're looking at a potential championship game next Monday between UConn and Purdue. What's Purdue's path to cutting down the nets? Well, what I like is three you know, three of these four teams we've talked about, Purdue, NC State, and UConn, have a dominant big that we're looking at that is probably the key player in each of those games. 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,

Starting point is 00:28:06 isn't this so fun moment that we're having, which we're all living in now? Yeah. Yeah. There's, there's a way in which I just think Zach Eadie is 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. 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 you,

Starting point is 00:28:33 and then, as I said earlier, you just need your outside guys to hit some of their wide open shots that they'll take as, as NC state double or triples down on Edie. Yeah. And Andy, I kind of see similarly to Isaac,

Starting point is 00:28:47 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's in a great spot to potentially win it all. I mean, as great of a spot as you can be when UConn is in the region, is in the bracket. I mean, getting to the point where they have to play UConn is in the region, is in the bracket. I mean, getting to the point where they have to play UConn 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 UConn than anybody else. And UConn had to avoid losing to teams that weren't as equipped. Purdue had to do the same. They are now each one win away from potentially doing that, setting up a potential Klingin versus Eadie matchup. I would be very

Starting point is 00:29:29 intrigued if UConn would still opt to double Eadie or if they would just try to let him play one-on-one with Klingin, who Klingin 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 Eadie. And I just, I'm, if we get that matchup and certainly yukon has to take care of business against alabama 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 klingon's defense has been getting all sorts of praise. He's

Starting point is 00:30:05 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, but if he makes Edie miss three, four, five shots that he doesn't typically miss, that might be enough for UConn to potentially pull off a victory here, especially if they lock know, they lock Castle in on Braden Smith and, and kind of make his life a little bit more difficult. Again, where we have to get to that matchup first, but if we do,

Starting point is 00:30:33 there's 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 balanced they are, but there is, it is very hard for me to 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 Klingon is able to handle Zach Eadie individually without bringing the double, I like the other four Huskies better than I like the other four Boilermakers,

Starting point is 00:30:58 and I like the other four Boilermakers a lot. It's just that, as you said there, the balance that UConn brings, even beyond Klingon, who is fully healthy now and all that, I just, I like the balance and the surrounding pieces around Donovan Klingon with all due respect to Trey Kaufman-Wren

Starting point is 00:31:17 and Fletcher Lawyer and Braden Smith and Camden Heide and everyone else, Lance Jones and everyone else who will be playing for the Boilermakers. UConn's got too much balance. So Isaac, I'm going to throw a quirky question to you. And this is assuming that we still feel like UConn is the presumptive favorite there.

Starting point is 00:31:36 What are some of the things, maybe like one or two things that, Hey, if UConn 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 gives Purdue 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 earlier with the foul trouble with NC State and Purdue. I think if Zach Eady 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 Eady can get Klingin into some foul trouble, I know they got Stanley Johnson coming in behind him, but I think that puts Zach Eady in a place where you just keep feeding him because UConn 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 UConn's doing if Klingon is relegated to the bench. So that would probably be the biggest thing for me is just being able to get foul trouble going on the big man inside.

Starting point is 00:32:38 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 six one ish neither smith or lawyer are particularly big and uconn has a ton of length on the perimeter 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, you know, he's not an elite defender, but he's got a lot of size too. And so, you know, who's

Starting point is 00:33:11 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? 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 UConn could attack. So just, you know, kind of one of the few non-E.D. Klingon 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 that happened to them, they still won it all.

Starting point is 00:33:50 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 to cut down the nets at the end of the night next Monday, Andy, and who you got as well. I got to ride with the Yukon Huskies. There is, 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.

Starting point is 00:34:17 I don't see that. And then I think there's just too much against Purdue. I would love the story of redemption for Purdue pulling the Virginia, but UConn, 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. UConn 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's roll with Purdue. 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,

Starting point is 00:34:54 and the other team won it all, so why can't Purdue do it? They're playing some great basketball right now. I think that Edie is obviously a tough matchup for UConn. 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. He had 15 assists against Gonzaga. I could absolutely see a reality where Braden Smith is carving up UConn defensively, where Zach Eadie is overwhelming, where Donovan Klingin is spending a lot of time on the bench,

Starting point is 00:35:25 and Purdue ends up hoisting the trophy and being the second team to lose to a 16 seed 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 Locked On 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 Locked On Podcast Networkball with Andy and Isaac. Get into it. Don't miss a moment. It's part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day.

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