UConn Basketball: 3 keys for National Championship matchup against Purdue

1. The Stephon Castle show must go on

No matter what happens, one thing is for certain, Stephon Castle is going to make a ton of money once he decides to enter the realm of pro football. The superstar freshman has had a phenomenal tournament run, maybe enough so that he will be a one-and-done player for the Huskies.

But when it comes to this game, he has a chance to be the driving force as to why the Huskies will lift the trophy when it is all said and done. He dealt with an injury earlier in the year and missed some big nonconference play unfortunately. But now, he is in the National Championship against the Purdue Boilermakers, and now he has to show up.

His athleticism has been off the charts, and his game against Alabama was one to remember. He finished with 21 points and five rebounds off 53.8 percent shooting from the field as he showed he could do just about everything on the floor.

Before the year, Castle was a player everybody knew was going to make an impact his freshman year, it was just unclear how big that would be. But as the season has gone along, his role has increased game after game, rightfully so. Now, the Huskies will need him to be the reason the guards of Purdue have trouble, and on offense, his ability to cut to the basket will be a great go-to bucket for this offense.

With all the talent other teams have to worry about, he has had free reign to take advantage of some great matchups, and he may get a good one in this game. This is where we find out if the freshman is made for big moments like this, but as of now, he has given no reason to doubt his potential for a great performance.