UConn-Purdue: 2009 Men's NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 Picks ATS, March 26

No. 1 Connecticut Huskies (29-4, 15-3 Big East) vs. No. 5 Purdue Boilermakers (27-9, 11-7 Big Ten)

NCAA Tournament Sweet 16—West Region
Thursday, March 26—7:07 PM ET on CBS

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Preview

The Huskies are looking to secure their first 30-win season since 2005-06, while Purdue is trying to prove that you don't have to be chalk to be successful in the NCAA Tournament.

The top-seeded Huskies have four losses on the season—all to ranked Big East opponents. In fact, their only loss to a non-top 10 team was the 6 OT ordeal against Syracuse in the quarterfinals of the Big East Tournament.

The Boilermakers haven't been as successful this season, although they have still had a good season by all means. They finished tied for second in the Big Ten, a conference many consider to be the third-best this season and won the Big Ten Tournament.

Purdue picked up two early-season losses, when they played Oklahoma and Duke back-to-back—two quality losses considering both those teams are two-seeds in the tournament. They also picked up five conference losses to unranked teams.

Riding their momentum from the conference tournament, Purdue has moved onto the Sweet 16 for the first time since 2000. The team has found success by revolving their game-plan around their three stellar sophomores—E'Twaun Moore, JuJuan Johnson, and Robbie Hummel.

Johnson and Hummel play in the frontcourt and account for 25 points and 12 rebounds on any given night. Moore plays in the backcourt as a shooting guard and accounts for a team-high 14.0 PPG.

The sophomore standouts were each named to an All-Big Ten Team this year (Johnson to the First, Moore to the Second, and Hummel to the Third), while point guard Lewis Jackson was named to the All-Freshman Team. Johnson and senior guard Chris Kramer were both named to the All-Defensive Team.

Hummel and Johnson are going to have their work cut out for them in the frontcourt, as they stack up against Hasheem Thabeet and Jeff Adrien, who are both averaging double-doubles in points and rebounds.

Thabeet was named as the co-Big East Player of the Year and as the Big East Defensive Player of the Year, in addition to being named on the All-Big East First Team, while Jeff Adrien was named on the All-Big East Third Team.

UConn's backcourt is nothing to scoff at either—after losing junior guard Jerome Dyson to a season-ending foot injury at the beginning of February, freshman Kemba Walker has stepped up nicely.

Senior point guard A.J. Price has had an outstanding season, as he lead the Huskies in points. He was named as a finalist for the Cousy Award (the annual award for the best point guard) and made it to the All-Big East Second Team. Walker was named on the Big East All-Freshman Team.

This looks to be a fantastic game, as two of the best programs from the top college hoops conferences face off. There should be some great individual matchups to follow in both the backcourt and frontcourt as the Boilermakers look to stop a repeat of last season's chalk Final Four.

By The Numbers

	Record	Conf	ATS	RPI	SOS	PF	PA
No. 5 Purdue	27-9	11-7	17-16	20	28	69.3	59.4
No. 1 Connecticut	29-4	15-3	14-14	8	29	78.5	63.5

	FG%	D. FG%	3P%	D. 3P%	FT%	RPG	SPG	APG	TPG	BPG
No. 5 Purdue	44.4	38.9	34.9	32.8	70.6	37.0	7.2	15.0	11.6	4.8
No. 1 Connecticut	47.5	37.4	34.5	30.6	67.7	45.7	5.9	15.9	12.5	7.8

Stats Leaders

	No. 5 Purdue	No. 1 Connecticut
PPG	E. Moore - 14.0	A. Price - 14.6
	J. Johnson - 13.4	J. Adrien - 13.9
	R. Hummel - 12.4	H. Thabeet - 13.7
RPG	R. Hummel - 7.0	H. Thabeet - 10.7
APG	L. Jackson - 3.3	A. Price - 4.8
SPG	C. Kramer - 2.1	K. Walker - 1.1
BPG	J. Johnson - 2.1	H. Thabeet - 4.4

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Prediction

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