Purdue basketball vs. UConn Final Four predictions: Is anyone ...

Show Caption

Hide Caption

Purdue basketball: Braden Smith, Fletcher Loyer, Zach Edey on UConn

Purdue plays defending NCAA champion UConn in Monday’s national championship game.

Remember how Purdue basketball was everyone's choice to beat NC State in the national semifinals? The Boilermakers are on the other side of the equation for the national championship game.

Purdue is a 6.5-point underdog against Connecticut on Monday night. UConn has won all its NCAA Tournament games by double digits, while the Boilers have been challenged more along the way.

Here's why UConn gets nod in these picks.

Big Maple vs. Cling Kong: How Zach Edey, Donovan Clingan match up in Final Four

'Clearly the best teams': Purdue vs UConn scouting report, matchups in Final Four

Play like it did offensively against North Carolina State in the Final Four and Purdue will get run out of the building.

Braden Smith won't have a half as bad as he did Saturday night. Maybe ever again. It'll take a near flawless effort from Purdue. But this game was the one it eyed all year.

At this point, why not?

The Huskies are one game away from being considered one of the greatest teams with one of the most impressive runs in college basketball over the past 50 years. I'm siding with that. I'm riding with the team that has refused to find a close game in the past 11 NCAA Tournament matchups that it's been presented. On Saturday, its starters all scored 12+ points, the first time that had happened in a national semifinal since Duke in 1994. UConn keeps producing stats and putting on performances that reinforce just how absurdly abnormal all of this is. Zach Edey needs to get close to 30 points and 15+ rebounds, and that alone will not get it done. The line wasn't as high as it should have been. On Monday, for the 12th time in a row, UConn will win a tournament game by double digits (but Purdue will get it closer than the other 11).

A high-scoring affair seems like a given in this year's national championship. UConn has the top adjusted offensive efficiency in KenPom with Purdue holding the No. 3 adjusted offensive efficiency.

The Huskies and Boilermakers have arguably been the two best teams this season, and it's only fitting the two teams meet in the national championship.

The rebounding battle will be a focus, and it will be a team effort for the Huskies against the Boilermakers. That is their biggest question with Edey in the middle. For Purdue, it is about not letting UConn get on the game-changing runs that doomed Illinois and Alabama in the last two rounds. How will Edey alter the UConn offense? It might take the Huskies a little longer to settle in, but they will make the right adjustments at halftime.

It’ll be a terrific back-and-forth fight, but UConn will once again be sneaky. Just when everyone thinks its close – last year’s national title blowout over San Diego State got tighter than anyone remembers – that’s when the consistency kicks in.

Relentless. UConn will be just that one more time.