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GLENDALE, Ariz. — It’s actually possible to make UConn sweat. The final question to answer before the end of the 2023-24 season is whether Purdue can make them bleed.
To this point, no one in the two years of the NCAA men’s tournament has done so. 11 opponents were higher and 11 were lower, all of which he won by double digits. That’s unbelievable. This is unprecedented. Events defined by unpredictability defy all logic.
“We make a tough tournament look easy,” Connecticut coach Dan Hurley said minutes after his team beat Alabama 86-72 from the Final Four. “That’s crazy.”
But is it inevitable?
On Saturday, Alabama gave schools their toughest test of the tournament, but it might not have meant much for the Crimson Tide to end up on the wrong end by two touchdowns.
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But unlike UConn’s other opponents in tournament brawls in recent years, this was a real basketball game. His 3-point shooting skills and guard athleticism gave UW some cause for concern at the University of Alabama. If one or two plays had gone differently around the nine-minute mark, when Alabama had been trading for a long time, it might have been a different game. Perhaps the pressure of the late-game possession-versus-possession battle is shaking the nerves of college players. Perhaps the outdoor shoot got cold at the wrong time.
Maybe, maybe, maybe. UConn’s secret is to never let us or our opponents know.
“We’re close to being bulletproof,” Alabama coach Nate Oats said.
What Oats’ team did Saturday was really, really good. However, he will need another level of greatness for 40 minutes to beat UConn. You better believe it takes 40 minutes.
Purdue will be there on Monday night.
If you were paying attention to college basketball at any point in November, December, January or February, you could certainly have predicted that these two teams would be playing for a national title. Because they were this good from start to finish. It is true that other candidates have been floated at one point or another, but the contours of this season have always pointed to these two.
Purdue had a great player in Zach Eady and a supporting cast that was a year older, a year older, and a year more determined to make the Final Four.
UW has incredible depth, unparalleled offensive execution, and expectations are high that it can become the first back-to-back championship since Florida in 2006 and 2007. There was a coach who wasn’t there.
“He never let the returning players be satisfied with what happened last year. They’re not going to be seen off,” UW forward Alex Karaban said.
Alabama’s game showed they can compete evenly with UW. It also became clear why it was so difficult for anyone, including Purdue, to actually finish the job.
With 12:41 remaining, this was a tied game. Alabama played fast and chaotic, swarming the paint defensively and hitting nearly 70 percent on threes.
after that? In just over two minutes, he scored eight straight UConn points.
And here comes Alabama again. Point guard Mark Sears goes downhill, makes a difficult shot and returns to the UW tension zone. How will they react? Gained two consecutive possessions and his second chance ended with his bucket.
Against UConn, the moment you feel like you have a chance, you tend to run away without even realizing it’s gone.
“The feeling as a group is we’re going to keep body blowing, body blowing, keep guarding, keep rebounding, execute offense and eventually we’re going to have a break point opportunity,” Hurley said.
“You might not be able to break them down for 18 or 25 minutes, but at a certain point, if what we’re doing is at a high level, it’s going to be difficult for the other team to maintain that. .”
Stylistically, Purdue will be a very different kind of opponent than Alabama. The Boilermakers are going to play pretty slowly. Their guards don’t have the same ability to get to the rim one-on-one. Alabama never just throws the ball into the post to set up an offense, but Purdue does it as often as possible, with the 7-foot-4 Eadie facing off against the 7-foot-2 Donovan Clingan. I’m about to try it.
But unlike Alabama, a team with obvious weaknesses defensively, Purdue has the best possible statistical profile to end this run.
With over 6,000 college basketball games played across Division I this year, these are two of the three most efficient offenses and two of the 12 most efficient defenses in college basketball. did.
In the NCAA Tournament, upsets often leave championship games that look like mismatches on paper, but that’s usually how they play out on the court, too. Not this time. There’s very little difference between the two teams when you look at it from a variety of angles, including scoring, defense, rebounding, and overall depth.
It could be great. But UConn has a way of making these games far less great than they could be.
“We just stay true to our identity,” Karavan said. “That’s what the coaching staff preaches every day. If you focus on defense and rebounding, everything else will fall into place. We trust each other so much that it’s good for great shots. Pass the shot.”
This formula works well for an 11-game losing streak in the NCAA Tournament. And now, Purdue is the only thing standing between the Huskies and the best two-year postseason run in sports history.
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