How Dan Hurley, UConn beat Zach Edey, Purdue to win second straight national championship

Why a 13-point margin? Because that’s the closest any team has come to the Huskies in their last 11 NCAA Tournament games. The word a lot of us keep using for Dan Hurley’s juggernaut is “inevitable,” and that’s really it. No matter how well you play for a half, or two-thirds of a game, the Huskies’ hammer is eventually going to drop on your skull. Clingan neutralizes Edey, and then UConn is just better at every other position. Put away the champagne, 2007 Florida. You’ve got company.

UConn 77, Purdue 64

Purdue has won three of four all-time meetings with Connecticut — but all three of those wins came between 1986 and 1992.

This is the first meeting between the teams since the 2009 NCAA Tournament. The Huskies, a No. 1 seed, prevailed over the fifth-seeded Boilermakers 72-60 that day behind 17 points from Craig Austrie and 15 apiece from Hasheem Thabeet and A.J. Price.

NCAA president Charlie Baker last month asked for a ban on prop bets involving college athletes, saying the national body wanted to protect both athletes and the integrity of the game.

But prop (or proposition) bets — which typically are on an individual’s performance, such as how many 3s one player makes — are really only the tip of the iceberg.

As more and more states legalize sports betting (38 plus the District of Columbia), the walls that long separated college athletics from gambling continue to tumble down. The NCAA now hosts events in Las Vegas (the 2028 Final Four will be held there) and just last week housed two teams in casinos in Detroit. Athletes and departmental staff members still cannot bet on any sport in which the NCAA sponsors a championship, but plenty of people are betting on them.

It’s upped the scrutiny on teams — Temple last month was investigated for betting irregularities involving its team — and the vitriol directed at players. That vitriol, of course, can be directly delivered thanks to social media. The NCAA has tried to hit that head-on, partnering with a group called Signify, to monitor and, when necessary, even shut down, online threats.

But conversations with basketball players, from starters to scrubs, throughout this NCAA Tournament reveal that plenty are getting through. “Oh, yeah, it happens all the time,’’ Purdue center Zach Edey said. “Like after every game, probably.’’

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As of this writing, the line I’m seeing between KenPom’s No. 1 and No. 2 teams is minus-6.5, in favor of the reigning national champs. So, a three-possession game … despite Purdue having the No. 3 offense in the country, led by a generational talent and two-time Wooden Award winner. That kind of sums up just how much of a woodchipper UConn has become. Edey may have 30 and 20, but what UConn’s guards will do to Purdue’s, I’m afraid, will border on NSFW. Give me the Huskies, college basketball’s budding dynasty, and consider it a sign of respect for the Boilermakers that this is even a single-digit game — especially considering Connecticut’s first five NCAA Tournament wins have been by an average of 25 points.

UConn 82, Purdue 73

I picked the Huskies to repeat at the outset of the NCAA Tournament. I would be willing to switch it up if I had evidence to suggest I should … but I don’t. In fact, the backcourt play — particularly on the defensive end — makes me wonder if this will be close. We’ve all seen Final Four games tilted by an early foul call or two on big men. We know that’s probably fatal for Purdue and certainly problematic for UConn, should it happen Monday. But Tristen Newton and Stephon Castle have locked down better guards and wings than Purdue can offer. UConn has size and depth and multiple paths to victory. The Boilermakers need to play damn near perfect. That’s a tough ask.

UConn 76, Purdue 66

Why? For starters, I’ve picked the Boilermakers at the beginning of the season and in the middle of the season, and I don’t plan to change now. This isn’t merely a push for a title; this is an all-out quest, and has been since that loss to Fairleigh Dickinson. Things have to happen to make this right; namely, the Boilermakers can’t play as sloppily as they did against NC State, and they have to hit their 3s. But presuming that happens — and the law of averages says Purdue can’t cough it up like that again (right?) — the Zach Edey experience is the differentiator. I get Donovan Clingan. He’s an incredibly talented big man. He’s not Edey.

Purdue 76, UConn 72

Love the matchup. Love the battle of big men. Love the Purdue redemption tour. But UConn is too strong. Tristen Newton controls the game. Donovan Clingan matches Zach Edey. And the Huskies pull away in the second half, winning every game by double digits for the second year in a row.

UConn 75, Purdue 64

When Connecticut and Purdue tip off the national championship later today, it will be broadcast on TBS — not CBS, the traditional home of the men's NCAA Tournament.

That's because of the latest television contract for the tournament. That deal, which runs through 2032, calls for CBS and TBS to alternate as the network of the Final Four. TBS has the even years — so, 2024, 2026, 2028, 2030 and 2032 moving forward — and CBS has the odds.

As college basketball players head to NCAA Tournament arenas on their team buses, many will slip on headphones, zone out to a song and absorb the vibes. Coaches also sometimes take a small moment from poring over last-minute scouting reports to escape to a melody filtering through their airpods.

These soundtracks, perhaps subconsciously, serve an objective, too. Music can settle our nerves — or pump us up. A specific banger can provide a dose of confidence. A sentimental song might remind us of our grand purpose. “Music is the shorthand of emotion,” Leo Tolstoy once wrote.

So as March Madness gets underway, The Athletic wondered what these tournament-bound stars will be listening to before they compete in some of the most important games in their lives. We asked women’s and men’s tournament players and coaches to share their pre-game playlists. Players’ tastes ranged from Nicki Minaj to Veeze to even Elvis Presley. Coaches ranged from Gospel to AC/DC.

You won’t achieve the same jump shot as these athletes by listening to their hype music, but these playlists will get you ready (from your couch) for tip-off.

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Purdue center Zach Edey spoke Sunday about being named Naismith Player of the Year for the second consecutive season.

Donovan Clingan is not what you’d picture in a playmaking center. But instead of just planting him in the post, which is where he would have played in past eras, Dan Hurley has made him the hub for UConn’s halfcourt offense. Clingan can’t really dribble or shoot, so defenders usually sag off him, but that’s a luxury for the Huskies. He’s always open for ball reversals, and he can execute handoffs and deliver the ball as UConn’s shooters are endlessly screening and cutting around him.

“I love passing,” Clingan says. “Just getting a great pass off and setting up a teammate for an easy basket, I love that.”

Hurley uses him this way because it works, but he also sees it as his responsibility to develop Clingan so he will eventually fit in the NBA.

“If they can’t play in five-out, if they can’t play away from the basket, they’re going to have a hard time getting to the NBA,” Hurley says. “So I think it’s a weapon for you, creates new opportunities offensively, but also the responsibility to the player in terms of their career and your player development and being able to recruit the next center that you can win with.”

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Connecticut center Donovan Clingan and Purdue center Zach Edey enter Monday's game as the favorites to be named the NCAA Tournament Most Outstanding Player, according to odds from BetMGM.

Clingan, a sophomore, is the favorite at +190. He is averaging 16.2 points, nine rebounds and 3.6 blocks per game in the tourney.

Full odds:

• Clingan: +190
• Edey: +225
• Stephon Castle, UConn: +375
• Tristen Newton, UConn: +650
• Cam Spencer, UConn: +1100
• Braden Smith, Purdue: +3500
• Alex Karaban, UConn: +4000
• Lance Jones, Purdue: +6000
• Fletcher Loyer, Purdue: +10000

GLENDALE, Ariz. — In so many ways, Stephon Castle is the Connecticut Conundrum. You already have to account for consensus All-America point guard Tristen Newton, honorable mention All-Americans Donovan Clingan and Cam Spencer and big-shot specialist Alex Karaban. Got all that covered? Oops, well, here comes the five-star freshman like a rattlesnake coiled in tall grass, selectively striking whenever anyone gets too distracted by the family of grizzly bears trying to eat them.

That sudden, searing pain in Alabama’s … attempt to pull an upset Saturday night at the Final Four? It was Castle. He represents the problem with playing UConn, because he’s about the fifth-biggest problem, until he isn’t. Until he drops a career-high 21 points in a national semifinal and helps deliver the Hydra Huskies to a second straight NCAA championship game, via an 11th consecutive tournament win by double digits.

What do you do when the fifth-leading scorer is a lottery pick who suddenly unleashes the full bag of tricks? You lose, despite your absolute best effort, as Alabama did, 86-72, on Saturday night. Castle, a McDonald’s All-American, could’ve gone plenty of other places and been the focal point in what is surely his only season of college basketball.

“That’s true,” Castle said, “but I never won anything in high school. I never won a state championship. So I wanted to come here and be coached by a winner. I wanted to be a winner.”

That winning coach, Dan Hurley, who is on the cusp of becoming the first back-to-back champ since Billy Donovan at Florida in 2006 and 2007, called Castle’s shot(s) Saturday. He told the kid who was a 26.1 percent 3-point shooter this year and who’d made just 1 of 12 3s in the postseason that Alabama would sag off him to start the game, and that he would make the Crimson Tide pay.

“He said this morning that Steph was going to do what Adama (Sanogo) did against Miami in last year’s semifinals,” assistant coach Luke Murray said. “Because Miami didn’t play on Adama at all on the first few possessions, and he went out and made two of them.”

So did Castle on Saturday night. He sank a pair of wide-open 3s, like fangs in an unsuspecting derriere, and scored eight points in the first three minutes of the biggest game of his life.

“Coach Hurley has taught me so much,” Castle said, “that I can go out and play in environments like this and be fine.”

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When Zach takes the court with Purdue in the national championship game, he'll stand out for her height — a natural advantage that can make the game look easy.

But the players who tower a few inches over their tall teammates and competitors, who are already well above average height, face a different challenge outside of the gym: finding clothes that fit their exceptional height or extraordinary wingspan.

Just ask Alec Puffenberger, an associate director of equipment at Purdue who is tasked with ordering team apparel for Edey, the 7-foot-4 center who is literally and figuratively a large reason why the top-seeded Boilermakers are one of the final two teams remaining.

With a Nike partnership that includes a $200,000 budget and a catalog of extended sizes that go beyond anything in a store, Puffenberger can mostly accommodate Edey by purchasing “extra large tall tall” sweats or travel suits in “4XLT” (extra extra extra extra large tall). But ordering Edey’s on-court shoes is complicated; options for size 20 feet are limited, even with a Nike deal.

For a while, Edey wore Zoom Rize 2s because they were the only style above a size 18 available in the team catalog. He tore through them quickly — he broke the soles to the point that the sneakers could be folded in half — and when Nike discontinued the shoe, Puffenberger had to get crafty.

“I bought three pairs off eBay,” he said. “Some of them were in straight red. One was aqua and white, so I had to send a couple out to get painted either black or white so it didn’t look too crazy. Especially the red part. We can’t do that around here.”

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