Final Four: Will N.C. State's DJ Burns Jr. — or UConn's Donovan Clingan — neutralize Purdue star Zach Edey?

Two years ago in New Orleans, the Final Four was for blue bloods only: Duke, North Carolina, Villanova and eventual champion Kansas.

Last year in Houston, it was nearly the opposite of that and — particularly in regard to ticket sales at 70,000-plus-seat NRG Stadium — kind of a big, fat disaster. You had a 9 seed, Florida Atlantic, and a pair of 5s, San Diego State and Miami, none of which had much to offer in the way of traveling fans or television allure. And you had surging 4 seed UConn, a top-shelf program that hadn’t had a top-shelf regular season. By the end, though, the Huskies seemed unbeatable as they cut down the nets for the fifth time in men’s program history.

Saturday in Glendale, Arizona, the semifinalists will represent a different kind of group.

No. 1 overall seed UConn (35-3), now a wire-to-wire monster, will continue its drive at an expected repeat against fourth-seeded Alabama (25-11), which is in the Final Four for the first time. In the earlier game, No. 1 seed Purdue (34-4) — seeking its first NCAA Tournament championship, not to mention the Big Ten’s first since 2000 — will meet out-of-nowhere 11 seed North Carolina State (27-14).

There are massive favorites to root for or against, depending on your interests. There’s a Cinderella for the ages in N.C. State, which had no shot to even make the field if it didn’t win the ACC tournament, sparking a March run reminiscent of 1983. There’s the polarizing presence of Purdue’s 7-4 superstar, Zach Edey, whose enormous size and strength puts him at a constant advantage and leads millions of whiners to caterwaul about the refs. And these are four big-league schools, each of which will do its part to pack State Farm Stadium from bottom to top, or close to it.

All told, this Final Four checks plenty of boxes. Here are 10 things to think about while you watch.

1. Edey and the stripes

Edey lives at the foul line and has yet to foul out all season, which doesn’t keep coach Matt Painter from worrying constantly about how the nation’s most dominant player will be officiated. Painter asks each ref before tipoff, “The rules are the same for everybody, right?”

“When he starts to [draw] those fouls, starts to get those things, it’s because they can’t handle his strength and his size,” Painter said. “I don’t think we need to apologize for that.”

2. Enter Donovan Clingan — potentially — on Monday

In UConn’s game, keep an eye on 7-2 center Clingan. Or, if you watched Illinois go 0-for-19 on shots contested by Clingan in the Elite Eight, maybe you don’t have to. But there’s a growing sentiment that Clingan, almost as tall as Edey and more athletic — and a projected NBA lottery pick — is the one player in the country capable of neutralizing him. See if you agree.

3. The Lance Jones story

The Purdue guard reached the final four of the state playoffs twice at Evanston Township before an excellent four years at Southern Illinois. Only 6-1 but ruggedly built, Jones, a graduate transfer, has injected needed toughness and emotion into the Boilermakers’ starting lineup. Underneath his beaming smile has been the pain of losing his dad, who died at the start of the school year. “I love you! Until we meet again,” his pinned tweet has read since then.

4. Hey, Mr. (Other) DJ

N.C. State’s pleasantly portly post man, DJ Burns Jr., has been the darling of the tournament, but the team’s best player — and the one with the best chance to go off — is guard DJ Horne. After two seasons as a starter at Illinois State, Horne played two at Arizona State; the Final Four is a homecoming. Not only that, but he was born in Raleigh, North Carolina, home of the Wolfpack.

5. That 1983 squad

A really nice thing has been the relationships between these Wolfpack players and those from Jim Valvano’s team from 41 years ago that — against all odds — went all the way, toppling Houston’s “Phi Slamma Jamma” crew in the final.

“Big brothers, godfathers,” coach Kevin Keatts calls the old dudes. “They’ve been great for our team.”

6. Billy Donovan’s influence

One of the first people UConn coach Danny Hurley reached out to after winning the title last year was the Bulls’ coach. Hurley had hit what he calls an “emotional crash” — unable to truly enjoy it, already worrying about what was next — and sought the wisdom of Donovan, the last college coach to go back-to-back, with Florida in 2006 and 2007. It helped a lot.

7. Nick Saban’s influence

Alabama coach Nate Oats turned to the greatest football coach of ’em all after watching UConn’s spectacular run of 30 straight points against Illinois. What would the Nicktator do to stem an all-out avalanche? His advice in five simple words: “On to the next play.” If Alabama bows up when the Illini couldn’t, you’ll know Saban was, at least in part, behind it.

8. Oats and the Hurleys

Danny’s brother Bobby was coach at Buffalo when he plucked Oats from the high school ranks to join his staff in 2013. After Bobby left for Arizona State in 2015, Oats succeeded him as head coach. Now, Oats is going against Danny — also a close friend — amid a whirlwind of conflicting emotions.

“Somebody that I really care about is going to play for a national championship,” Danny said, “preferably me.”

OK, not that conflicting.

9. The pick, Part 1

Purdue, 86-71. And print it.

10. The pick, Part 2

UConn, 92-79. Fine, go ahead and print that, too. By the way, my bracket in the Sun-Times had a Purdue-UConn final. I’d tell you all about it, but that would be bragging, wouldn’t it?