Purdue's Zach Edey vs. UConn's Donovan Clingan is an epic matchup worthy of the NCAA championship stage

GLENDALE, Ariz. — Zach Edey still seethes as he tells the story of how little he was recruited during high school. He was an afterthought even though he played for one of the nation’s most high-profile prep school programs.

Edey didn’t make IMG Academy’s top-tier team until his senior year and even then he barely played behind two more highly regarded big men. Only a few college coaches showed interest in Edey before former Purdue assistant Steve Lutz stumbled across him in 2019 and urged head coach Matt Painter to take a closer look.

“I was the 436th-ranked person in my recruiting class,” Edey said. “I had coaches coming in and out the doors every day and none of them gave me a look. [Painter] was the one who said we need to look at this guy when so many other coaches passed me by.”

The raw, unpolished 7-foot-4 giant who went overlooked in high school now has a chance to leave Purdue as one of the most accomplished college basketball players in recent history. Edey, the first player to repeat as consensus national player of the year in four decades, can add a national title to his stacked résumé on Monday night if the Boilermakers can take down mighty UConn.

Standing in Edey’s path is a fitting final boss, another 7-foot monster who alters games with his ability to run the floor, defend in space and erase scoring opportunities at the rim. UConn sophomore Donovan Clingan is already the next-best center in college basketball to Edey and is considered the better pro prospect of the two of them.

The clash between UConn and Purdue is the rare national title game that actually pits college basketball’s two best teams. Either UConn or Purdue was atop the AP poll for more than half the regular season. They’ve remained on a collision course the past three weeks, the Huskies winning their five NCAA tournament games by an average of 25 points and the Boilermakers by a mere 19.6.

The matchup of 7-footers only adds to the intrigue. Clingan and Edey spent most of their 30-minute sessions with reporters on Sunday fielding questions about what it will be like facing one-another.

Said Clingan: “I came to UConn to compete against the best of the best and challenge myself. I’m very excited for the matchup. He’s a really good player. I have a lot of respect for him. I just have to lock in.”

Said Edey: “He runs the floor and protects the rim really well. He presents some unique challenges that we’re going to have to game plan for.”

For the first time since a mid-December matchup with then-No. 1 Arizona, Purdue will enter a game as an underdog. UConn has an entire rotation of future pros, a system that maximizes their individual talents and a maniacal hunger to become men’s college basketball’s first back-to-back national champions since Florida in 2006 and 2007.

Purdue is the only top-two seed that UConn has faced in the past two NCAA tournaments, but even the Boilermakers face some difficult matchups against the Huskies. The ability of Purdue’s backcourt to handle UConn’s defensive pressure is a real concern, as is whether either Braden Smith or Fletcher Loyer can guard the likes of Tristen Newton or Stephon Castle.

It’s Edey who could be the great equalizer for Purdue — who could tilt this game in favor of the Boilermakers. Can he exceed his season-long averages of 25 points and 12 rebounds against a defender as daunting as Clingan? Might he be able to get Clingan in foul trouble and force UConn to go to smaller backup Samson Johnson for extended minutes? Could Edey impose his will in the paint and on the offensive glass during those minutes when Clingan’s not on the floor?

"We know how dominant Edey's been all year but we believe in DC,” Castle said. “He's going to have a great game. I feel like they match up pretty well and if they can cancel each other out, then we'll win the battles on the perimeter.”

Clingan is likely to get plenty of help from other UConn players doubling Edey or digging and recovering. In the past, teams have been able to force turnovers that way when Edey isn’t decisive and brings the ball down too low.

It’s unusual for the national title game to feature two centers the caliber of Edey and Clingan, but it may not be long before it happens again.

For years, the NBA has devalued throwback centers who don’t space the floor by shooting 3s and don’t move laterally well enough to defend in space. Those low-post players have more incentive than ever to return to school with the loosening of NIL rules making it possible to earn more money in college than overseas or in the G League.

Many of the most accomplished returning players in college basketball this year were 6-foot-11 or taller, from Edey and Clingan, to Hunter Dickinson (Kansas), to Armando Bacot (North Carolina), to Kyle Filipowski (Duke), to Ryan Kalkbrenner (Creighton). Some of those guys have said they would have turned pro sooner were NIL opportunities not available in college.

It’s Edey and Clingan who are still standing on the last night of the college season.

UConn versus Purdue.

Cling Cong versus the Big Maple.

Said Edey: “I wouldn’t want it any other way.”