Purdue

[Slappy]

Would we beat them on a neutral court?

 

[FfldCntyFan]

I for one would love the opportunity to find out.

 

[businesslawyer]

Would we beat them on a neutral court?

I hope we find out. Because the way both teams are playing, that won’t happen until the national championship game.

 

[caw]

Would we beat them on a neutral court?

Toss up being honest. A lot would depend on how it is whistled. Our centers have a tendency to foul and Edey has a tendency to draw fouls. Though a lot of Clingan's fouls are drawn by smaller centers. Edey is way stronger than Clingan but much less mobile. On the flip side, Newton and Castle also draw a ton of fouls from the opposition and I can't imagine UConn's guys would be scared of Edey in the paint.

Purdue moves the ball well and shoots it well but doesn't exactly cut as well as UConn on offense because they have the big tower that really can't cut. They do get a lot of good threes by swinging the ball around off pretty simple action because Edey draws so much attention and Smith does a great job of attacking seams.

On defense they play an aggressive drop, similar to Creighton, to the point it is basically a one-man zone. Clingan also plays a drop but in a much more mobile fashion. Not sure how well their guards would do with all the dribble hand offs UConn runs, or how Edey would deal with all the cutting and passing UConn would run around the rim. Clingan should also kill Edey up and down the court which could lead to a good amount of good fast break opportunities.

They do rebound the ball well though and crash the glass with more than just Edey (if you double him). Clingan would really need to keep him off the glass and the rest of the guards would have to gang rebound, which is kind of what UConn already does.

 

[Rocktheworld]

I’ll say this.

We dominated out of conference last year and struggled disproportionately in the Big East. A lot of us chalked that up to familiarity with Hurley and our team.

This year -and granted, this final stretch will be way tougher than any stretch we’ve seen all season- our offense is humming and nobody in or out of conference can stop us. It feels like Hurley’s system, with several key players returning and a player like Cam being injected, has hit a new level of complexity that even familiar coaches aren’t ready for.

So what does that mean for teams in the tournament this year when our offense is even better and our defense is roughly as good?

Regarding Purdue in particular, Edey shouldn’t scare us as long as Clingan is in front of him. And it’s a massive drop off in talent after him (if you can call him talented) relative to our remaining starting four.

 

[XLCenterFan]

They are the one team that I respect right now. I have watched a few of their games. They have winning elements - maturity, a big man, athleticism, shooters, poise. If everything goes right for them and they play great, and we come out slow and playing bad and missing shots, they will give us a game.

 

[willie99]

Yes, we're better, and we're also tournament tough

 

[Chin Diesel]

Would we beat them on a neutral court?

Yes.

Lock thread.

 

[uconngb]

Would we beat them on a neutral court?

We would find out in April except for the fact that they won’t make it that far

 

[EBonz30]

Would smoke them- wonderful matchup for the Huskies- have the size to somewhat neutralize Edey- & are better at every other position- dream matchup for the final for the Huskies- total smoke show.

 

[jleves]

I think it's really starting to look like 1999 where there were two teams obviously better than everyone else. Would be great to see them meet in the final game.

 

[aceboon]

Not gonna comment on UConn to not jinx anything, but in regards to Purdue I need to see them break through to actually believe it's gonna happen. This has been happening since the 80s with them.

 

[Waquoit]

I think Edey is really good. They say their guards are a push with ours. It wasn't close last year.

 

[alexd]

The real question is, would Purdue hang with us??

 

[storrsroars]

If I'm DH, I simply chase Purdue's guards from the perimeter and force everything inside to Edey to make him work on every possession. I've said we'd beat Purdue all season long and I remain convinced of that. I think it would be double digits as well.

 

[Ripper32]

The real question is, would Purdue hang with us??

Of course they would.

 

[UCTitleTown]

Edey will be exposed again when forced to guard a small team in the tournament and likely not make the Final Four.

 

[BigTenFan]

Purdue has a deep bench with a lot more experience than last season

 

[Giddyup5]

Let Edey get his. Do not double when DC in the game and see if their role players can win the game.

 

[Travelman6]

I'd say it's as close to a coin flip as you can get, maybe, at most 55/45 in favor of UConn and 8/10 it's a single digit game regardless of who wins.

 

[ScottCT]

Will Purdue even make far enough in the tournament to play us? History suggests no.

 

[auror]

Purdue's only 2 losses this year are to teams that shot 50%+ from 3 (and made over 10 3s each) on the road.

 

[MexicoHusky]

I think if Clingan got in foul trouble (which is totally possible) we'd be in a lot trouble. We become a real dounut team. We'd need to change the game at that point. Speed it up. Maybe even use the Karaban at the 5 lineup and try to outscore em.

 

[Brochacho]

Purdue is the one team I don't want to play in the NCAAs. I'd take us over any other team in CBB without a doubt. Our efficiency metrics are essentially the same but they've played a tougher schedule. Edey is a more rounded player offensively, better conditioned, and fouls less than Clingan and isn't a liability at the FT line. I just don't see that matchup working well for us. Clingan will hear his name first in the 2024 draft though.