How UConn beat Alabama to reach second straight national championship game

The Final Four is set for the 2024 men’s NCAA Tournament and two favorites have emerged ahead of Saturday’s games. The UConn Huskies are the clear title favorites, but Purdue is also favored by several points in the other national semifinal that will take place on Saturday in Glendale, Ariz.

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Entering its second straight Final Four, No. 1 overall seed UConn rolls into Phoenix looking like an unstoppable force. The Huskies own 10 consecutive double-digit NCAA Tournament wins – including a 25-point Elite Eight drubbing of potent Illinois that included an unfathomable 30-0 run. Alabama, with its own outstanding offense, hopes to deliver enough perimeter points to stay close. The Crimson Tide won’t be fazed by UConn after already eliminating No. 1 seed North Carolina during the Sweet 16. Continuing its quest for potential back-to-back national titles, the Huskies enter Saturday’s second national semifinal as double-digit favorites.

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Quick, name the teams in last year’s men’s Final Four.

The diehards might be able to rattle them off — those with KenPom subscriptions and notifications for Jon Rothstein tweets — but most seasonal college hoops fans will need a moment, and probably a quick Google search.

That’s not meant as a slight to UConn, Purdue, Alabama or NC State, who will be traveling to Phoenix this weekend. Winning a national championship is obviously the pinnacle, but reaching the Final Four is a defining benchmark in college basketball. It means you’ve survived and advanced to the third weekend of March Madness, with all eyes on you. Programs hang Final Four banners, and rightfully so.

There’s also no guarantee it will be the kingmaking achievement that elevates a program moving forward, even though it might feel that way in the moment.

Miami, the team you probably forgot from last year’s semifinals, went 15-17 this season, losing its final 10 games and missing the NCAA Tournament. Michigan and Texas Tech are both on their second new head coach since reaching the championship game in 2018 and 2019, respectively. Loyola Chicago, Wichita State and George Mason all made Cinderella runs to the Final Four within the last two decades, none of which catapulted those schools to perennial powers. Butler’s back-to-back runner-up finishes in 2010 and 2011 absolutely propelled the Bulldogs from the Horizon League to the Big East, but they also haven’t played in an NCAA Tournament since 2018.

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Alabama is in the Final Four for the first time after defeating sixth-seeded Clemson 89-82 in the Elite Eight. Mark Sears, the West Region MVP, scored a team-high 23 points and buried seven 3-pointers. Nick Pringle tallied a double-double with 16 points and 11 rebounds. Alabama, which leads the nation in scoring offense, has generally imposed its will on teams in this tournament, which included an 89-87 victory against No. 1 seed North Carolina in the Sweet 16.

Seed: 4

Record: 25-11

Games:

No. 13 Charleston, 109-96

No. 12 Grand Canyon, 72-61

No. 1 North Carolina, 89-87

No. 6 Clemson, 89-82

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Here’s the thing: I can eat salads all week in Phoenix. I am physically capable of that. But it does not mean that I will. Because sometimes forces beyond our control, such as the desire to eat red meat and cheese-filled sides with friends, intervene. UConn is a force of nature, a perfect blend of talent and drive, that has bent 10 consecutive NCAA Tournament opponents to its will. Show me a hole in the Huskies roster, point out one obvious deficiency, and maybe you could change my mind. But right now, it really does feel like, as Dan Hurley says, this team is “bulletproof.” Some can beat Connecticut. Nobody left in this tournament will.

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They are obviously so analytically driven that they’re very disciplined in terms of their shot selection. Unless you play you play an up-tempo style too, you want to try to keep the possessions lower than they want. It’s easy to say, harder to do, because they’re really good at pushing the tempo and getting the possessions higher, because that’s really a big goal of theirs is higher possessions and pace of play. It’s not that they got this ultra-fast push point guard. They get it out of the net and they make simple spray passes up the sideline, and they just prey on teams not being great in their defensive transition. If they’re open and it’s early, they don’t care. That’s what they want.

If you don’t shoot it, Nate (Oats) is gonna be upset and potentially take you out of the game. It doesn’t even matter if you’re a 25-27 percent 3-point shooter. Jarin Stevenson hasn’t shot great all year but he took eight 3s against Clemson and made five. They want their possessions, and they believe in open 3s and rim shots and stay away from non-rim 2s. They’re eventually going to make it, and they’ve done their research and believe it, so they play with great confidence in that way.

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I’m not predicting it but, yes, it’s possible in a tournament where the best team does not always win. Alabama’s 3-point frequency allows for variance. The Crimson Tide shoot almost all 3-pointers and layups; the issue with the latter is that Clingan will be waiting at the rim, and we just saw how poorly that went for Illinois. That said, Illinois relied a lot on scoring in the paint off drives, and Alabama will work and work and work to set up good looks from deep. The blueprint to beat UConn is how Creighton won in late February. Clingan prefers to play in drop coverage, and Mark Sears is one of the best shooters off the bounce in the country. If Sears stays hot, it’s possible.

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UConn has been the most dominant team in the NCAA Tournament, winning its first four games by a combined 111 points. That’s the fourth-best mark for any team heading into the Final Four behind 1993 Kentucky, 1999 Duke and 1996 Kentucky. The latest blowout came in a 77-52 Elite Eight victory against Illinois. At one time, the score was tied at 23. Then came a preposterous 30-0 run that effectively ended the game. Donovan Clingan led five Huskies in double figures with 22 points and added 10 rebounds, five blocks and three steals. Cam Spencer recorded his first double-double with 11 points and a career-high 12 rebounds. UConn, the defending national champion, will take on Alabama.

Seed: 1

Record: 35-3

Games:

No. 16 Stetson, 91-52

No. 9 Northwestern, 75-58

No. 5 San Diego State, 82-52

No. 3 Illinois, 77-52

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GLENDALE, Ariz. — There’s a Japanese word for movies involving giant monsters: kaiju. Godzilla, King Kong, Mothra. You know, the kind of city-destroying mega-beasts entire armies struggle to contain. Audiences love the cartoonish carnage. And the only thing better than one kaiju is multiple kaiju, preferably fighting each other. “Godzilla x Kong” is the No. 1 movie at the box office right now.

If you like that one, you’ll love the sequel. But this new entry in the genre isn’t science fiction. These titans are all too real. The 2024 Final Four features three bracket-annihilating kaiju: Purdue’s 7-foot-4, 300-pound Zach Edey, aka “Big Maple;” Connecticut’s 7-foot-2, 280-pound Donovan Clingan, aka “Cling Kong;” and NC State’s 6-foot-9, 300-ish-pound DJ Burns Jr., aka “Beast Boy.”

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Purdue! Purdue can beat UConn! True story. It’s maybe a different question than “Will Purdue beat UConn,” should that matchup occur, but the Boilermakers’ adjusted efficiency margin is only four points less than the Huskies’. The rest is just strength on strength: Donovan Clingan versus Zach Edey, Purdue’s high-level 3-point shooting versus UConn’s high-level 3-point shooting defense, and so forth. Ask me to pick, and I don’t believe the Boilermakers can guard the Huskies and their endless trove of complex sets for 40 minutes. But a scenario in which Edey gets Clingan in foul trouble and Purdue’s shooters get hot is not far-fetched. And that would give the Boilermakers a chance.

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All season it has felt like we were trending toward an epic national championship showdown between Connecticut and Purdue. Each team is one win away from making that happen, but tricky matchups await them in Glendale, Ariz. There’s NC State and DJ Burns Jr. and the live-and-thrive by the 3 Alabama Crimson Tide.

To help break down the matchups, The Athletic reached out to coaches who have faced these teams, asking them to take a break from the transfer portal to provide some analysis, (One coach told me I was the only person who wasn’t a transfer he had and would talk to on Tuesday. I’m honored.) For each team, at least four coaches — a mix of assistants and head coaches — were interviewed to provide an in-depth scout. They were granted anonymity in exchange for their candor. For brevity, I’ve combined their thoughts.

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Final Four week is here. Alabama, UConn, Purdue and NC State will convene in Glendale, Ariz., this weekend to decide the national title. To help get you ready, we gathered four of The Athletic’s college basketball writers to answer a few burning questions.

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Our staff picks for No. 1 Connecticut versus No. 4 Alabama:

• Nicole Auerbach: UConn
• John Hollinger: UConn
• Brendan Marks: UConn
• Austin Mock: UConn
• Joe Rexrode: UConn

Carson Barrett tore his meniscus earlier this year. The injury required surgery, but this is the last run for the Purdue senior. Though he’s never seen a whole lot of playing time in his career, he wanted to at least have a shot at getting on the court this season. So Barrett delayed the repair work, gladly taking the exchange of some pretty painful nights with a throbbing knee in favor of even a few minutes of hooping.

This season he’s played a grand total of 21 minutes and scored six points. Three of them came in the NCAA Tournament. With 37 seconds left in a game long decided, Barrett drained a baseline 3 against Grambling State, putting himself in the box score of Purdue’s first-round victory. As the ball swished through the net, the bench erupted, Barrett’s teammates knowing full well what he’d sacrificed and endured. His bucket would be the last for the Boilermakers as Purdue cruised to a 78-50 win. Back in the locker room, Barrett picked up his phone and scrolled through the congratulatory texts from friends and started to search through his DMs on social media.

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