By Aidan Joly
The Final Four has arrived. This week, UConn, Purdue, Alabama and NC State will all head to Glendale, Arizona to decide the national title for the 2023-24 season.
There’s still questions to be answered about how the final games of the college basketball season will go. Let’s get into a few of them.
Can anyone beat UConn? Can Alabama keep up with the Huskies?
UConn has blown through the first four games of the tournament with ease. It has won its four games by 39 (Stetson), 17 (Northwestern), 30 (San Diego State) and 25 (Illinois) so far.
It is the most efficient offense in the country. It is worth noting that the Nos. 1, 2 and 3 most efficient KenPom offenses are all still alive. UConn will face Alabama, who is the No. 3 offense, in the national semifinal in the late game on Saturday.
Alabama has certainly not won its games by blowouts, its largest margin of victory in the tournament was a 13-point win against Charleston in the first round. It beat North Carolina by two in the Sweet 16 and Clemson by seven in the Elite Eight.
So, that being said, can Alabama beat UConn? It will need to hit threes in bunches in order to do so, as that seems to be the recipe in which a few teams have been able to overcome the Huskies this season. It will probably need to hit about 15 of them in order to do so. It can do that, since it is one of the best three-point shooting teams in the country. It has hit at least eight threes in every tournament game so far and has hit 11 or more in three of the four games. Creighton was the last team to beat UConn (Feb. 20) and did it on 14 threes.
It’s also worth noting that UConn has only given up 18 threes the entire tournament, so, yeah.
I can also see a scenario where in a hypothetical title matchup, Purdue gets a few UConn players in foul trouble and the offense gets going and Purdue is able to beat them.
However, just because this can happen, does it mean it will? It’s certainly not a guarantee. UConn does have this inevitable feel to it, but the best team doesn’t always win this tournament. So it’s possible.
Can NC State pull off another upset?
This has been the run of all runs for NC State, who was not even supposed to be in the tournament before winning five games in five days to win the ACC title, and now becomes the sixth 11-seed to ever reach the Final Four.
It’s an all-time magic and destiny team. DJ Burns is a big part of that while capturing the attention of America . However, Burns will be forced to guard Zach Edey in Saturday’s early game, and he has not faced the length and talent of a guy like Edey in this entire run so far. That will surely be a very real challenge for him.
Purdue will surely stick to the plan that has worked all season – get Edey the ball no matter what. The only thing that could work here is Burns being extremely physical with Edey and getting him out of his spots. If that can happen, we might end up seeing a different type of game.
While this run has been incredible for the Wolfpack, it is very tough to see them doing it another time. They have not faced a team this good or this potent on offense.
On just one quick note, it is awesome to see Matt Painter finally make a Final Four. He’s been grinding away at Purdue for nearly two decades now and has never gotten to this point. Painter and the entire Purdue team has caught so much grief in the past year after the stunning first round loss, and this redemption story is one of the best things that sports has to offer.
Who will be the Final Four’s star?
There’s certainly several candidates here. There is obviously the betting favorite in Edey, but it will likely come from the team that ends up winning the national title. Edey certainly has a chance though, just as Purdue has a great chance at winning the national title.
Purdue’s star put up one of the most dominant performances of the entire season in the Elite Eight game against Tennessee. In the win, he put up 40 points on 13-21 from the field and 14-22 from the free throw line and grabbed 16 rebounds, five of them on the offensive glass. He can surely put up another game like that on either Saturday or Monday.
Other guys to look at here include Cam Spencer and Donovan Clingan, who have been UConn’s stalwarts all season long. Clingan has been ascending all season and has claimed star status in college basketball as of late, but can maintain superstar status with a big game this weekend.
Of course, there is Burns, but it is tough to predict a guy as the star of the weekend when it is tough to see him playing two games in Glendale. In this situation, you kind of have to go with a guy who you are confident will play in the national title game.
AJ Hoops 