NCAA Championship: The Clash of Zach Edey and Donovan Clingan We’ve All Been Waiting For

In the national championship game on Monday, Purdue’s Zach Edey will take on UConn’s Donovan Clingan in elite center matchup.

As the NCAA Tournament comes to an end on Monday night, the Purdue Boilermakers will take on the UConn Huskies in the championship game. 

This is set to be a heavyweight match between two No. 1 seeds, especially as it relates to each team’s starting center. Purdue has a back-to-back AP Player of the Year award winner in Zach Edey, while UConn boasts a projected lottery pick in Donovan Clingan. 

Clingan stands at 7-foot-2, but for once won’t be the tallest player on the floor given Edey is 7-foot-4. Both of these players are projected to go in the first-round of the 2024 NBA Draft, although Clingan appears to be the better prospect at this point. With that in mind, this is an opportunity for Edey to prove he should also be getting real lottery consideration, just as Clingan is. 

It’s not often we get a college matchup with two bigs as dominant as these two, especially at their respective heights. These are teams that get incredible production on both ends of the floor as efficient scorers offensively but also elite rim protectors defensively. 

For both of these players, this will be their toughest individual matchup of the year. It also comes in the biggest game of the year. In all likelihood, whoever has the better game of the two centers will be hoisting a championship trophy by the end of the night.

Regardless of the outcome, both Edey and Clingan will set their sights on June’s draft and making the leap to the NBA. 

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