Purdue

[superjohn]

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.

We're better everywhere else and Clingan can at least slow down Edey. I think it's a very favorable matchup for UConn.

 

[Luckyhusky81]

Braden Smith has actually been pretty impressive when I have watched them. Eddy is super talented and skilled offensively as much as I hate to say it. It would be a good game, and I think we would have to tell clingan to just get in the way without fouling for the first few positions to not get immediate foul trouble and to get acclimated to the game .

 

[BigTenFan]

Edey is a pretty amazing story-450th ranked player out of HS to two x NPOY
No matter what happens going forward - he has improved each year and made the players around him better

 

[Ricker]

Comparison to 1999 Duke/UConn separating from the field and meeting in the finals is interesting. Jake Voskuhl was very foul prone in certain games and was also our key answer to Elton Brand. I felt we would win if Jake could stay on the court. I feel the same way with Clingan vs Edey. If Donovan can play all his desired rotations, I think we win by double digits. 2 Fouls in the first 5 minutes and our chances are 50/50 to win a gut wrenching squeaker. Rewatching games from Hawaii would be instructive because he fouled out his opponents who hung in games without their key big men. I remember Marquette scrapped with quick hands collapsing around him. Maybe spreading the court with Alex at the 5 would result in them not being able to stop us from shooting 3's. Alex, Cam, Newton, Castle, Ball, Diarra rotation if Donovan is limited to 15 min. (I assume Samson wouldn't last 10 min against Edey in a game called that way)

Keep in mind Edey was from Canada and was likely not seen by anybody until he got to IMG. It was obvious that he was a talent when he played at Hoophall against Sanogo. I wrote about him in Jan 2020 on the Boneyard. In Edey's case it is more about the 'talking heads' taking a while to notice. He should have been ranked in the top 100 to begin with. IMO His improvement should be viewed as a top 80 player becoming dominate NPOY rather than a 450 rags to riches story. Still a big credit to him.

 

[Brochacho]

We're better everywhere else and Clingan can at least slow down Edey. I think it's a very favorable matchup for UConn.

I’d generally think so too. I’d have no worries about Cam and Karaban on defense and feel like we can run our offense. But if that Clingan matchup is a minus that could wreck the entire game for us. This years Purdue team is essentially last year’s except now they shoot 40% from 3 instead of 32%. They don’t shoot at the volume we do but that’s a tough combo to deal with. Purdue is a good team and I feel like the universe will reward them for their upsets the past few years. I don’t see them getting bounced before the Final Four this time.

 

[Rico444]

If Clingan can't stay out of foul trouble then we would struggle. If he is able to stay on the court I think we'd have the advantage.

 

[Marat]

How about rhe coaches. Is Painter better than Hurley ? I don't think so.

 

[CardiacAndre7]

I think Edey would get Clingan into some serious foul trouble. But they don’t give the gimme calls as much in the tournament, so maybe he’d have a better shot.

 

[imno1]

Both Purdue guards can stroke it from 3. As a team they shoot, rebound, and assist at a higher rate than we do. But it would be a shame if this debate isn't settled on the court. Purdue vs UConn is the final that college basketball fans deserves.

 

[bfs3]

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

This happens every year to a team in tournament. If they can win that game then I think they’ll make it to the final.

 

[Tiamat7]

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.

"if you can call him talented".

I recall reading a serious empirical analysis of a sample of lots of 7 foot plus guys and their output. Edey is among the top 10 percent. Sure he's tall, but he's also very talented.

 

[AdamaNation]

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

We will never know. They will do the typical big 10 nose dive by the second weekend

 

[AdamaNation]

We're better everywhere else and Clingan can at least slow down Edey. I think it's a very favorable matchup for UConn.

Start to have Donavan shoot more threes in the blowouts to have painter consider the thought if chasing DC out a little. Edey will certainly get some chippy fouls. And be ready to singare eat a few fouls to keep dc out if trouble. Not sure Purdue has a legit backup. But for all we know SJ may be way to quick as well.

 

[The Yakk]

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.

Not just Purdue. Every Big 10 team.

They are all first-weekend speed bumps until one of them proves otherwise.

 

[AllHusky]

We have a tough road ahead- think we are getting way too ahead of ourselves- after the upcoming DePaul game- we have six challenging games in a row- would expect us to lose two of them- hopefully still finish with a 1 seed- that’s where our focus should be- wouldn’t be the worst thing to lose a game before the tournaments.

If you say so.

 

[UCTitleTown]

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

We can employ the same game plan as JC used against Shaq and LSU in the NCAA Tournament. He got his points and we won by 15 or 20.

 

[WhereistheDove?]

I would think it’s mostly a toss-up, a lot dependent on DC foul situation. Having someone Clingan’s size to at least make life someone difficult for Edey and large guards that rebound well probably makes us their toughest competition. A lot probably rests on who has the hot hand shooting that given night.

 

[connVA]

…sucks. Wait- we were supposed to complete the thread title, right?

In all seriousness, this matchup needs to happen. Both teams need to hold up their end of the bargain and get to the final.

 

[WestCoastHusky]

They have Edey and we have much better guards.

If Clingan and Johnson get into foul trouble, we might be in trouble since Edey will eat us alive inside.

I like our match up against them with our guards. I think we will make a ton of 3s against them, and prevent them in making 3s. Of course, if we don't make 3s, it could be a long day for us.

UConn is just a better team all around. We should win 8 out of 10 times against them.

 

[gtcam]

I’d generally think so too. I’d have no worries about Cam and Karaban on defense and feel like we can run our offense. But if that Clingan matchup is a minus that could wreck the entire game for us. This years Purdue team is essentially last year’s except now they shoot 40% from 3 instead of 32%. They don’t shoot at the volume we do but that’s a tough combo to deal with. Purdue is a good team and I feel like the universe will reward them for their upsets the past few years. I don’t see them getting bounced before the Final Four this time.

Really?

 

[prankster]

We can employ the same game plan as JC used against Shaq and LSU in the NCAA Tournament. He got his points and we won by 15 or 20.

Calhoun had Lyman DePriest

 

[UCTitleTown]

Calhoun had Lyman DePriest

6'5" against 7'2".

 

[AdamaNation]

Funny, regarding Ricky vs AI and depriest vs shaq, can we fill out our top 5 superstar shutdowns if all time? Soulamayne vs Brand?

 

[BGesus4]

Our championship odds just moved to a tie with Purdue, +650 at FD

 

[jibsey]

I don’t see Smith defended in Purdue’s games the way we would. Who do we put on him, Newton, Castle, both?

 

[BigTenFan]

Lance Jones is the x factor for Purdue - the only player they picked up in the portal.
Dynamic athlete who can drive the ball and excellent on ball defender.

 

[HooperScooper]

Just in case anyone needs a reminder, the NCAA Tournament is dominated by guards and not 7 foot centers.

Stock falling: Data doesn't favor 7-footers as championship centerpiece ​

Edey is the best college basketball player in the country. He should win the National Player of the Year award for the second consecutive season in the coming weeks. The biggest question is ... can he lead Purdue to a national championship?

The data says it's rare.

The only two 7-footers to win the Naismith Award and a national championship in the same season are Ewing and UCLA's Lew Alcindor (Kareem Abdul-Jabbar). Edey would be the third if Purdue runs the table.

The next three players on the list (Dickinson, Kalkbrenner and Filipowski) all play for Final Four contenders. All three could be potential All-Americans. The data doesn't favor that, either. The last national champion with an All-American center was Duke in 2015. That year, Jahlil Okafor averaged 17.3 points and 8.5 rebounds.

Could Edey, Dickinson, Kalkbrenner, Filipowski, or even North Carolina's Armando Bacot become the next All-American center to win the championship in the same season? Time will tell.

College basketball stock watch: Purdue's Zach Edey looks to break big-man drought, Michigan State misses out

This week's stock watch also examines Washington State's chances at winning the Pac-12

www.cbssports.com

 

[maxw]

Exactly 20 years ago, both UConn and Purdue ended up ranked 3 and 4 before the NCAAs.

UConn was led by Donyell, and Purdue by Glenn Robinson.

Neither made it to final four that year.

This year, I'd give UConn a much higher chance of reaching the championship game than Purdue. But of course, you need some good luck (or lack of bad luck) for that to happen.

 

[alexd]

Exactly 20 years ago, both UConn and Purdue ended up ranked 3 and 4 before the NCAAs.

UConn was led by Donyell, and Purdue by Glenn Robinson.

Neither made it to final four that year.

This year, I'd give UConn a much higher chance of reaching the championship game than Purdue. But of course, you need some good luck (or lack of bad luck) for that to happen.

It was 1994. It was 30 years ago. We're getting old.

 

[Slappy]

We shall find out.