It is Final Four weekend and March Madness is taking over the Valley.
Two huge matchups will be showcased at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Ariz. No.1 seed Purdue facing No. 11 NC State and another No. 1 seed UConn going against No. 4 Alabama.
Before the men’s final four happens Saturday night, the NCAA throws a Final Four fan fest at the Phoenix Convention Center where all the fans can gather for final four merchandise and compete in all sorts of sports activities.
Northeast Valley News went to downtown Phoenix to find out how each fanbase was feeling going into Saturday’s games.
Every year there is a Cinderella story in the tournament, this year it happens to be #11 NC State, led by DJ Burns jr. Despite their toughest matchup on the horizon, especially size wise, as Burns is 6’9” compared to Purdue’s 7’4” Zach Edey, long time NC State fan Ricky Issler still believes his guys can get the job done.
“It’s going to be tough, but weirder things have happened,” Issler said.
On the other side of the Wolfpack is the No. 1 seed from the Midwest side of the bracket, the Purdue Boilermakers. Led by solid guard play and 7’4” monster Zach Edey. The Boilermakers were able to run through this year’s tournament due to their big man play as Edey exploded for 40 pts and 16 rebounds in the elite eight to beat the Tennessee Volunteers.
As they approach a scorching hot NC state team die hard Purdue fan Alex Monnin gave his thoughts on how they can put out the fire.
“Hopefully they can cool off a bit, obviously they get a nice week break, they have kind of been riding this for a long time, you don’t know if they are able to maintain that. Honestly, they have been playing like this like 10 games in a row with the ACC tournament and this, eventually you kind of hope that spark ends up dying,” Monnin said.
History is also on the Boilermaker’s side as no seed below the No. 8 seed has ever made the championship game.
“I think Purdue takes care of business, but as we found out last year, Purdue has been on the wrong side of history before. So hopefully, we aren’t on the wrong side of history again,” Monnin said.
On the other side of the bracket are the defending champion UConn Huskies. The Huskies are led out by their two future NBA guards Tristen Newton and Cam Spencer, but they also have a 7-footer of their own in Donovan Clingan. They have beaten every opponent by 25+ points.
As they get ready for Alabama tomorrow, lifetime Huskies fan Nicolas Deramo doesn’t seem to be worried at all.
“Very confident, I think we are walking through this thing easy,” Deramo said.
He believes it will be in huge part of the contribution from Donavan Clingan, a player he had very high praise for.
“Clingan is a family friend, and he is absolutely a force to be reckoned with,” Deramo said.
Taking on the huskies are the Alabama Crimson Tide. A team led, by first team all SEC guard Mark Sears. Through four games in the tournament, Sears has averaged 24.3 points per game and is lighting it up from beyond the arc at 44.7%.
Alabama has a very distinct size disadvantage, but lifelong Alabama fan Aaron Kotick believes that the perimeter shooting is the key to success Saturday night.
“It’s going to be all about the perimeter because we are not going to win on the inside, so it’s going to be a game that is won on the outside shot,” Kotick said.
Alabama became the first school to ever make the college football playoffs and the Final Four in the same year.
“Alabama is a great sport state, we love our college sports, and I think this year we are going to show that this is the greatest college sports state in all of America”, Kotick said.
The first game at State Farm Stadium pits NC State against Purdue followed by UConn vs Alabama.
Both games will be televised on TBS.
