UConn men actually sweat vs. Alabama. Can Purdue finish the Huskies?
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Alabama gave UConn its stiffest test of the men’s tournament. But Purdue is the one team that could actually finish the Huskies.
Purdue and UConn set to face off in national championship game
After strong performances from both teams in the Final Four, UConn will meet Purdue in the national championship game on Monday night in Glendale, Arizona.
Sports Seriously
GLENDALE, Ariz. — It is, in fact, possible to make UConn sweat. The last question to be answered before the 2023-24 season wraps up is whether Purdue can make them bleed.
To this point, nobody has — in two years of NCAA men’s tournament games. Eleven opponents up, 11 down, all vanquished by double digits. It’s incredible. It’s unprecedented. In an event defined by unpredictability, it defies all logic.
“We make a hard tournament look easy,” Connecticut coach Dan Hurley said a few minutes after his team vanquished Alabama from the Final Four 86-72. “It’s crazy.”
But is it inevitable?
Alabama gave UConn its stiffest test of the tournament Saturday, which may not be saying much when the Crimson Tide ended up on the wrong end of a two-touchdown margin.
But unlike UConn’s other opponents in the last couple of years of tournament romps, this was a real basketball game. Alabama’s 3-point marksmanship and the athleticism of its guards gave UConn some things to worry about. Had one or two plays gone differently around the 9-minute mark when Alabama was going blow-for-blow for a nice stretch, maybe it’s a different game. Maybe the pressure of a possession-by-possession battle down the stretch rattles UConn’s nerves. Maybe its outside shooting goes cold at the wrong time.
Maybe, maybe, maybe. The trick for UConn is they never allow us — or their opponents — to find out.
“They’re close to being bulletproof,” Alabama coach Nate Oats said.
What Oats’ team did Saturday was really, really good. To beat UConn, though, requires one more level of 40-minute greatness. And you better believe it’s going to take all 40 minutes.
That’s where Purdue enters the picture on Monday night.
Had you tuned in to college basketball at any point in November, December, January or February, you could have reliably predicted these two teams playing for the national title because they have been this good from start to finish. Other contenders came into the picture at one point or another, sure, but the contours of this season were always pointing to these two.
Purdue had the best player in Zach Edey with a supporting cast that was a year older, a year better and a year more determined to break through to the Final Four.
UConn had incredible depth, unmatched offensive execution and a coach who would not let them relax for even a moment as the expectation built that they could become the first back-to-back champions since Florida in 2006 and 2007.
“He never let the returners get complacent with what happened last year,” UConn forward Alex Karaban said. “There’s no…
Read More: UConn men actually sweat vs. Alabama. Can Purdue finish the Huskies? 2024-04-08 22:15:16