Old-school game on tap first
GLENDALE, Ariz. — The opener at the Final Four on Saturday might feel like a trip through a time machine.
Yes, those are Purdue and North Carolina State — one program here for the first time since 1980, the other trying to write a 21st-century version of college basketball’s greatest story ever told.
And yes, those are 7-foot-4inch Zach Edey and 6-9 DJ Burns Jr. — a touch less than 600 pounds of big men patrolling the paint and dictating a style that has been out of fashion for a decade or more.
Whoever wins will face either UConn or Alabama for the title Monday. Win or lose, both programs already know this will go down as one of their best seasons ever.
In a matchup filled with fascinating subplots, the most tantalizing is the Wolfpack.
A team on a four-game losing streak and going nowhere heading into this year’s ACC Tournament has gone undefeated in a string of nine straight win-or-your-season-isdone games.
“We’re probably a little different from everyone else that’s here at the Final Four,” coach Kevin Keatts said.
Part of what makes NC
State so different is its smiling big man, Burns. He is a big man who can carve out space inside, but can also spin and move and make plays under the basket.
Purdue coach Matt Painter said he sees Burns more as a forward, but “you see guys like him play at [center] a lot because coaches are trying to get their best players on the floor.”
It’s likely he’ll find himself paired up plenty against Edey in what’s shaping up as a titanic matchup — one in which staying out of foul trouble will be a key goal.
Can Burns, who’s listed at 275 pounds, hold up against a player who still has seven inches and 20-30 pounds on him?
“Hey, underestimate me all you want,” said Burns, who went for 29 points in the Elite Eight win over Duke. “You’ve been seeing what’s happening.”
Edey is an old-school, classic post player, and Purdue likes to play inside-out, the way a team might have in, say,
1990, before analytics and the 3-pointer took over the game.
If teams sag down, Edey can kick it out to Braden Smith or Lance Jones on a team that is second in the country in 3point shooting at 40.6 percent. If they play single coverage, Edey can go to work in the paint. He’s the nation’s leading scorer with 25 points a game and the second-leading rebounder at 12.2.
Alabama knows task
Alabama coach Nate Oats had to rebuild his roster and replace three assistant coaches. The pieces ended up fitting perfectly.
The fast-and-furious Crimson Tide were among one of the nation’s best offenses all season and rolled into the program’s first Final Four.
The run has taken Alabama to the desert, where the Tide face a daunting task: trying to stop the juggernaut that is reigning national champion UConn.
“We’re going to show our guys success other teams have had,” Oats said. “The success that other teams have had, we also do those things very well. We just can’t give them these big runs that everybody gives up. It’s a lot easier said than done.”
UConn (35-3) dominated the 2023 bracket, winning every game by at least 13 points for its fifth national title.
Coach Dan Hurley had to replace five of his top seven scorers from that team, yet the Huskies have been even more dominant in their bid to become the first repeat national champions since Florida in 2006-07. UConn won its first four NCAA Tournament games by an average of 27.8 points and has won 10 straight tournament games over two seasons by double digits. The Huskies have trailed all of 28 seconds in this year’s bracket and pulled off one of the greatest March Madness runs in history against Illinois in the Elite Eight, reeling off 30 straight points in a 25-point win.
Travel delays kept UConn from arriving in Arizona until after 3 a.m. Thursday, yet failed to dent the Huskies’ favored status.