March Madness preview: UConn-Purdue is a matchup between college basketball's best... with the Huskies looking to repeat as champions and the Boilermakers hoping for their first EVER title - so who comes out on top?

It's incredibly rare when the loser machine that is the NCAA Tournament spits out the two best teams in the country for the national championship game.

Yet, that's exactly what we have here. What a true blessing it is to watch the No. 1 and No. 2 teams in the country duking it out in Phoenix for a shot at glory.

All season long, Purdue and UConn have been flip-flopping back and forth for the title of top team in the country. Now, as it may have inevitably been, the Huskies of Connecticut and the Boilermakers of Purdue will face off for a national title.

For Connecticut, it's the chance to crown a dynasty of six titles in 25 years: possibly the closest anyone could come to UCLA's dominance of the 1960s and 1970s. But for Purdue, an annual Big Ten basketball powerhouse, Monday's title game sets up their first chance to taste national glory in school history. 

Here, Mail Sport takes a look at Monday night's national title game to see the teams' paths to the final four... and who is set to lift the trophy.

Phoenix hosts the national championship game between UConn and Purdue Monday night

Purdue's Road to the Final

The Boilermakers were hell-bent on making sure that their failures of years prior would not be repeated. Last season, they became the second men's one-seed to lose to a 16-seed in the tournament. A year before that, they were a two-seed and lost to St. Peters - who would go on to become the first 15-seed to reach the Elite Eight.

After clinching the Big Ten regular season title for the third time in five years, they couldn't repeat their conference tournament accomplishment after a loss to Wisconsin.

This year, there was no setback in the first round as Purdue handled Grambling with ease and then reached the Sweet 16 after dispatching Utah State.

What followed was a healthy victory over Gonzaga before an incredibly close 72-66 triumph over Tennessee to reach the Final Four.

Against the scrappy underdog eleven seed NC State, coach Matt Painter's Purdue team only shot 40 percent from the floor, but knocked down ten 3-pointers to win 63-50 and reach the title game.

Purdue head coach Matt Painter reacts to a play in the game between NC State and Purdue

Purdue Players to Watch

The offense begins (and often ends) with 7-foot-4 big man Zach Edey. While it's wrong to say that Edey constitutes his own one-man team, it is correct to say that the offense often flows through him more than anyone else.

He's an excellent facilitator on offense and has often used his size to generate more contact than normal and go to the free-throw line (though this wasn't seen on Saturday, where he only had two shots from the charity stripe).

This is going to be a game about supporting casts more than anything and Purdue has one of the better ones in the country with the guard trio of Braden Smith, Fletcher Loyer, and Lance Jones.

Jones shot 5-12 from the field and 4-9 from 3-point range on Saturday, putting up a solid 14 points.

Loyer also chipped in double-digit points figures with 11, as well as four rebounds and two assists.

Smith has been in a cold spot all tournament long and he'll need to step up for the title game. After playing 40 minutes, he was left with just a 1-9 shooting line with three points, eight rebounds, six assists, and three steals.

Purdue doesn't have many depth options that consistently get running time other than Mason Gillis, so expect them to run with essentially six men most of the night. 

Big man Zach Edey (15) is the main facilitator and offensive engine for the Boilermakers

L-R: Purdue will expect big things from guards Braden Smith, Fletcher Loyer, and Lance Jones

UConn's Road to the Final

After winning the national championship last year, the Huskies had their sights set on Florida in 2007, the last team to go back-to-back.

The Huskies won the Big East regular season title and the Big East Tournament championship to roll strong into March having won seven straight games to close out the season.

After breezing past Stetson in the opening round, the Huskies then dominated Northwestern to reach the Sweet 16 - a feat no defending champion accomplished since that '07 Florida Gators team.

A rematch of last year's national title awaited them - but Dan Hurley's Huskies swatted aside San Diego State to win by 30 points.

In speaking of 30, after a close first half in the Elite Eight against Illinois, UConn then went on an improbable 30-0 run in the second half to build up such a lead that they were essentially Final Four bound with 11 minutes left in the game.

That led to Saturday night, where Alabama became the first team to take more than 60 points off the Huskies in the tournament since Arkansas in last year's Sweet 16. Even still, Connecticut's foot stayed on the gas and they won 86-72 - the largest margin of victory in a Final Four in school history.

Connecticut Huskies head coach Dan Hurley reacts to a play against Alabama in the Final Four

UConn's Players to Watch

The greatest strength of this UConn team is how unselfish and well-prepared the team is - making it incredibly hard for coaches to scheme for specific players with the knowledge of just how massive the Huskies playbook is and how the offense can flow through any of the starting five.

Only 7-foot-2 big man Donovan Clingan has been the top scorer for individual games in this tournament more than once - doing so against Illinois and Stetson. He's an incredible physical and defensive presence with phenomenal post moves that could give Edey fits.

Guard Tristen Newton has been inconsistent shooting from the field, but his all-around playmaking is what makes him an All-American.

Transfer Cam Spencer is an elite shooter from both inside and outside the arc. Freshman guard Stephon Castle might be the best on-ball defender in the NBA Draft pool and dropped 21 points to lead Connecticut over Alabama.

Alex Karaban is an unsung hero on this team, more than capable of using his slender frame to slither to the rim and equally able to knock down shots beyond the arc.

UConn rolls with a much deeper bench - with guard Hassan Diarra a reliable sixth-man and Samson Johnson able to deputize for Clingan if he's ever in trouble. 

Add to them the minutes picked up by the likes of freshmen Jaylin Stewart and Solomon Ball and UConn is more than capable of rolling eight or nine guys in a single game. 

Edey's opposite in the paint will be the physical 7-foot-2 center Donovan Clingan

Forward Alex Karaban (L) and guard Cam Spencer (R) could have big games against Purdue

Freshman guard Stephon Castle (5) will be a lead defender for the Huskies against Purdue

So who's going to win it all?

These two teams match up incredibly well, so it makes this a hard game to predict - but the advantage should lean towards UConn.

If Clingan and Edey get locked in a paint battle, then both of them could be limited early by fouls and Purdue doesn't have someone that could take over for Edey's interior presence like Johnson can for Clingan.

Even if the referees allow the big men to battle it out, Edey hasn't played anyone as tall as Clingan this season while his UConn counterpart's closest rival in conference play was the 7-foot-1 Ryan Kalkbrenner of Creighton.

But beyond those two, Connecticut will have a size advantage over the rest of Purdue's starting four - which could give them a boost on the glass.

By metrics, UConn is the top team in the country on offense and the fourth-best on defense, according to analytics site KenPom. That's compared to Purdue's third-ranked offense and 12th ranked defense. They're 1-2 in KenPom's main metric, overall adjusted efficiency, but UConn is more than four points better than Purdue is.

Historically, the Huskies have lost only one Final Four game to a Draymond Green-led Michigan State team in Detroit in 2009. They've never lost a national championship game. Meanwhile, Purdue is here for the second time in their history - the first time since they lost the national title to the UCLA Bruins led by Lew Alcindor (later the great Kareem Abdul-Jabbar). 

This will be a much closer game than UConn has played at any point in the last two tournaments. Their streak of 11 wins by double-digits will likely end here, but the win streak itself will likely stay in tact as Connecticut is the pick to win back-to-back national titles.