The 2023-24 men's college basketball season ended Monday night in the national title game with a highly anticipated matchup between two possible lottery picks. UConn's Donovan Clingan and Purdue's Zach Edey, the top two bigs in college, faced off in a game where Edey had the better individual performance but Clingan's Huskies won the contest to secure back-to-back national championships.
Both centers helped their draft stock on college basketball's biggest stage. The next battle between the two will occur in the NBA as Clingan declared for the 2024 draft Friday, joining Edey, who announced his decision in February.
ESPN NBA draft experts Jonathan Givony and Jeremy Woo unpack Clingan vs. Edey, provide the latest on the prospects as the No. 1 pick and examine where the other Huskies stand following a dominant run in March.
Unpacking Donovan Clingan vs. Zach Edey
NBA teams couldn't have asked for a better ending to the NCAA tournament than seeing 7-foot-2 Donovan Clingan match up with 7-4 Zach Edey -- a clash many around the league were hoping to see. Edey filled up the box score as usual, with 37 points and 15 rebounds while playing nearly all 40 minutes, but UConn wore Purdue down and made his life difficult throughout. Clingan battled foul trouble but used his length and size to limit Edey's easy looks and finished with 11 points and five rebounds in helping the Huskies repeat.
Clingan put his stamp on March, shifting the conversation around him as a prospect and making him a lock for the lottery. He looked healthier and more mobile, which took his individual defensive play to a different level and helped reframe how NBA teams discuss his upside. UConn allowed Clingan to play Edey straight up for much of the game, trusting him to tackle college basketball's toughest assignment while his teammates worked to take away Purdue's supporting cast. As Givony laid out, Clingan's recent strides will make him a consideration for teams at the top of the draft, and the intangibles he's displayed help his case as a potential defensive anchor in the frontcourt.