The National Championship for the men's NCAA Tournament is set for Monday Night. In a fairly surprising chalk of a tournament, arguably the two best teams in the country remain standing. The University of Connecticut looking to repeat as champions on one side. On the other side, Purdue University looking to finish their redemption story.
Let's look back to how UConn and Purdue made it to Monday Night.
UConn Huskies
The UConn Huskies are looking to repeat as champions for the first time in school history on the men's side. That says a lot considering the history of the UConn basketball program who has five championship banners which is tied for the 4th most all-time with Duke and Indiana. Nevertheless, UConn has been the most dominant team in basketball for just about two seasons.
Last season, the Huskies went 25-8 in the regular season and 13-7 in the Big East Conference in Dan Hurley's fifth season at UConn. They would receive a four-seed in the NCAA Tournament before running through the entire tournament enroute to the 2023 National Championship. They won every single tournament game by double-digits in dominant fashion in a tournament where chaos was bright and center. No one, two, nor three seed teams made the Final Four last season, UConn was the highest see at four with Miami and San Diego State being five-seeds, and surprising Florida Atlantic as a nine-seed. However, the other three teams didn't have a chance against UConn.
This season, UConn was the best team in the country for most of the season sharing the light with Purdue and Houston. The Huskies went 31-3 in the regular season and 18-2 in the Big East enroute to the Big East Tournament Championship in dominant fashion. They would receive the overall number one-seed in this season's NCAA Tournament and continue their dominance in the tournament. Just like last year's NCAA Tournament, this year's NCAA Tournament, UConn has won every game leading up to Monday Night by double-digits. That is 11 straight tournament games won by double-digits by the UConn Huskies.
The UConn Huskies look to repeat as champions, a feat that hasn't been done in men's college basketball since 2006-2007 Florida Gators under Billy Donovan.
Purdue Boilermakers
On the other side, it a more different and feel-good story with the Purdue Boilermakers. It is the redemption story for the school from West Lafayette, Indiana. A school that became the second-ever one-seed to fall to a 16th-seed in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
The Boilermakers came into last season's NCAA Tournament as the number one overall seed only to lose to 16th-seed Fairleigh Dickinson. That upset turned out to be the biggest upset in NACC Tournament as Purdue were a 23- & 1/2-point favorites in that game.
It was the third consecutive NACC Tournament where Purdue was ousted by a double-digit seeded team. Then Purdue started to become a joke to the basketball community as PurDon't instead of Purdue. So, going into the 2023-2024 season, the Boilermakers had immense pressure on them to redeem themselves.
And the Purdue Boilermakers have done just that.
Outside of UConn, you can make a case that Purdue is second best in the court this season and it's evidenced by the Boilermakers making the championship game. Purdue went 29-4 in the regular season and 17-3 in the Big Ten Conference but fell short of winning the Big Ten Tournament. Nevertheless, Purdue received the third one-seed in the NCAA Tournament out in the MIdwest Region. A region where Purdue was not the favorite to come out of. Some people pick Creighton to win the Midwest Region. Others picked Tennessee to come out.
However, Purdue made it out of the Midwest Region with thrilling win over Tennessee in the Elite Eight. Then in the Final Four in Phoenix, Purdue put a stop to the Cinderella run of the NC State Wolfpack by double-digits.
Now the Purdue Boilermakers are in the National Championship game. They have the opportunity to complete the redemption story just like Virginia did in 2019. Virginia was the first-ever one-seed to lose to a 16th-seed in the NCAA Tournament in 2018 and was cutting down the nets in 2019 as champions. Purdue can finish they story and bring home a national championship to West Lafayette for the first time ever in school history.