[Cactus Jack]

Frank Martin
@coachFMartin
·
5h
So let me see:
-UConn plays thru their center
-Alabama attacks the rim with their centers
-Purdue plays thru their center
-Duke plays thru their center
-NC State plays thru their center
Hmmmmmmm

No doubt UK needs to go get a great center in the offseason.

Not picking on you, but don't know that this is the best take from Frank Martin.


Purdue runs almost everything that they do through Edey, so that's fair. Probably also fair to say that they had to take last year's loss and adapt too though. The Boilermakers can win ugly because they hit free throws at a higher clip than most teams who are so reliant on their bigs.


For UConn, here's a breakdown on average points, rebounds, and assists:
Newton (G): 15.0, 6.7, 6.1
Spencer (G): 14.4, 4.7, 3.7
Karaban (F): 13.5, 4.9, 1.4
Clingan ©: 12.9, 7.5, 1.5
Castle (G): 10.7, 4.7, 2.9

The Huskies run a lot through Clingan and they go as he goes, but they also have five players who average double figures and defend and rebound extremely well overall.


Loved NC State beating Duke and seeing Burns shine, but his defense is worse than this season's Kentucky and he isn't a very good rebounder either. He played 27 minutes (the least of any starter) against Marquette and finished with 4 points, 4 rebounds, 7 assists, and 4 turnovers. On the year, he averages a shade under 25 minutes per game. He's a big man with soft hands, nimble feet, a likeable personality and lots of media attention, but he's hardly what I'd consider to be the type of guy you "play through". NC State's guards do a lot and they have guys like Diara and Middlebrooks who may not score a lot, but snag tons of rebounds, defend & take charges, and other little things to help you win.


Alabama's Grant Nelson is the team's third leading scorer and averages .1 more rebound per than one of their starting guards and 1.5 per more than the other. The other starting big, Pringle averages 7 & 5 and hasn't taken a three this season. They bring a couple more bigs off the bench who can knock down shots. Fair to say that their offense is predicated on spacing and stretching the defense, which you need non-traditional bigs to do.

I'm all for them, but the Crimson Tide's system hasn't equated to them defending well, even when adjusted for pace. A large part of that probably comes from their inability to rebound.

Also, you can only beat the teams placed in front of you, but they've beaten #13 College of Charleston, #12 Grand Canyon, #1 North Carolina, and #6 Clemson.

Finally, the stat that Alabama is 18-1 when scoring 89 or more is cherry-picked. Entering the tournament, they'd lost two straight to Florida despite scoring 87 & 88; their only other March win was a 92-88 overtime decision against Arkansas.



Bottom Line:
Unless Alabama really makes it rain from deep or is able to replicate the parts of Illinois' strategy that was probably the most effective we've seen from the field against the Huskies so far, we're on a collision course for a UConn-Purdue final that's going to be focused on the play of their bigs.

Teams will definitely try to emulate whatever the champion does, especially if UConn repeats. Still, investing in and developing around a big is tough because: they're usually the hardest recruits to project, they take time to reach their ceiling, you have to build everything else around them, and they're most prone to injuries or problems with healing/recovery.

7'4, 300 pounders who can average 2+ blocks and assists & are career 70%+ free throw shooters like Edey don't grow on trees. He was an ESPN 3* and had an overall grade of 76 coming out of IMG, who has some of the best coaching/development and facilities that you'll find but still needed two-plus years of college to develop.

Clingan isn't as skilled as Edey but could have more upside as a prospect. He was just outside the Top 50 in his recruiting class and ESPN rated him as a 4* with an 85 grade. The sophomore has already had injuries (foot) that have caused him to miss at least five games this season and his numbers aren't hurt by the fact that he's played on really talented teams.


Teams will probably go back to recruiting more size; and you'll still need good bigs to win even if they don't. The transfer portal will allow a Kansas to pluck a Hunter Dickinson. But there'll also be plenty of whiffs and a casualty of coaches who know they aren't able to wait two more years for a promising big to (possibly) develop.