“Do you think Purdue can win?” my father asked me Sunday night. To which I bumbled around a response somewhere between “it’s certainly possible” and “but not realistically”. A text to Elliot on Monday during the 2^nd half: “Why does Purdue look like they planned for 15 minutes of basketball?”, Elliot: “Looking lost”. Indeed, after a great first 15 minutes for Zach Edey that saw the big man skipping down the court and full of energy going for 16 of Purdue’s 26 points the wheels came off. Uconn forced Edey to score one-on-one vs Clingan for the 30 minutes he was on the floor. Which to his credit, he scored on seven post-ups after Clingan allowed only five the entire season. Defenders cut off passing lanes when Edey tried to pass out of the post and the Boilermakers struggled from the perimeter.

Purdue was 2^nd this season in 3-point efficiency but was 1/7 in the Natty, the fewest number of attempts in the Championship game since 2005 and the lowest 3-point rate for Purdue since 2015. Braden Smith hit the only three and finished with 12 points, 8 assists, 2 steals. Edey finished with 37 points, 10 rebounds, and 2 blocks. The rest of the team had 11 points combined on 5/17 shooting. It was maddening that Matt Painter couldn’t find a way to free up his shooters on the perimeter. With 8:40 remaining UConn held a 17 point lead that seems insurmountable. Purdue attempted three three’s with under six minutes left and missed all of them. Zach Edey was showing signs of exhaustion in the first half when he went for a twelve minute stretch without scoring that extended into the 2^nd half. Outside of his efforts it just seemed like the Boilermakers gave up.

UConn shockingly shot only 30% from three during the NCAA tournament and 6/22 (27.3%) against Purdue. The Huskies had a whopping 14 offensive rebounds, by seven different players, on 30/62 shooting which is a 42% rebound rate on their misses. They’ve now won twelve straight NCAA tourney games by double-digits, twice as long as the previous streak. Purdue seemed to have a decent game plan with Edey playing drop coverage in the paint but he was stuck out of position several times. UConn had several open looks from three even if they didn’t go down, overall poor execution by the Boilermakers. UConn really won the tourney without performing up to potential the entire way. Tristen Newton lead the team with 20 points and 7 rebounds. Freshman Stephon Castle had 15 points and 5 rebounds. Cam Spencer had 11 points, 8 rebounds,2 assists, 2 steals and a block. Donovan Clingan finished with a modest 11 points, 5 rebounds, 1 assist, and 1 block. Hassan Diarra played good defense off the bench in place of Clingan and scored 9 points.

With the strength of the 2024 NBA draft in doubt, Edey and all five UConn starters have flown up draft boards. UConn’s class for 2024 only has two four stars so far to reboot but will definitely see more high caliber transfers and recruits pile in. Purdue has six signees including another 7’3 tree and two 4-stars. Purdue will have talent next season but not Edey talent; did they miss a big window? Can Uconn repeat?