The Big Maple versus Cling Kong

After semifinal victories by Purdue and UConn, it will be a meeting of special big men in Monday's throwback national final.

MY COUCH, Ind. – OK, so it’s not Houston’s Elvin Hayes against UCLA’s Lew Alcindor (now Kareem Abdul-Jabbar) in January of 1968 at the Astrodome. Those men are Hall of Famers. Not making the direct comparison.

But Purdue’s Zach Edey vs. UConn’s Donovan Clingan…that’s appointment viewing.

The Big Maple vs. Cling Kong.

Stuff writes itself.

Well, that’s not entirely true. If this wrote itself, I could run out, play 18 holes, stop at the 19^th hole for a frosty libation or two and not be sitting here at my computer. But you get the idea.

For years, we’ve been told, and properly so, that guard play is key to NCAA Tournament success. We’ve been told that because, well, it’s accurate.  

Monday, college basketball will stage a throwback night to an era when the biggest players were the most dominant. Clingan, the small-by-comparison 7-footer, may ultimately be a better NBA fit than Edey, a true dinosaur with his muscular, back-to-the-basket game. But Monday night’s meeting at the summit will not be an NBA tryout; it will be a matchup between two of the best and most impactful big men to come along in several years.

“A battle of the giants,” UConn coach Dan Hurley told TBS after the Huskies’ 86-72 victory over Alabama – a tighter, tougher game than the final score would suggest. “This is just great for college basketball. Us and Purdue have clearly been the best two teams in the country the last two years.”