Edey sets a really high offensive floor. They had a top-10 offense with a bad 3pt shooting roster because of his offensive rebounding, foul drawing, and efficient shooting inside the arc without turning the ball over. He was their only efficient source of offense against FDU (though he was not good against St Peter’s). The common issue they’ve had in the last two NCAAT losses is that their lead guard has played horrible (Ivey against St Peter’s, Smith against FDU) and been a key factor in limiting their offensive effectiveness.
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Still think Edey is incredibly exploitable inside and smaller ball in the answer in the modern age. Of course UConn last season and the season before had Bacot and McCormack in the title game but I would argue Manek RJ Davis and Caleb Love as well as Jalen Wilson and Remy Martin were more important from the perimeter in those runs. And with UConn their guard play I thought was more important than Sanogo and Clingan inside (of course having them with all the spacing inside doesn’t hurt)
So did Tony have the cheese pizza at STAB today?
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Yeah. I mean, I get why you wouldn’t want your entire offense to flow through Edey, but I would 100% be happy to build a team around him. I guess he’s not as good a shot blocker as you’d expect from someone that big and mobile, but its like the only real flaw in his game.
Edey did his job against FDU, the issue was the rest of the team attempting a million 3s and only hitting 19% of them, plus turning the ball over a million times, none of which was Edey’s fault.
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If you look at mocks for next year’s NBA draft he is mostly back-half of the second round. That should tell you something about his shot blocking abilities and perceived ceiling by NBA scouts.
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Which is why I’d never bet against them in regular season or Big Ten tourney
Despite me taking shots at Edey, this is the real nub. I just think the guards from last year are not that good, or at the very least were not that good as frosh, and while losing to FDU speaks poorly of Painter, ultimately that team was pretty capped at what it could do. The Ivey thing makes me scratch my head. I did watch that game, but I was watching it with fam, and it ultimately turned into a bit of blur/grief session rather than me knowing WTF happened. It’s easy to blame it on Ivey, but Painter has a track record, too…
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Right. I mean, if the choice is to have:
A) Edey but a terrible backcourt
or
B) Overall really strong and versatile backcourt AND a borderline All-American front court
Then I’m gonna go with option B. But that feels like an unfair comparison. Edey’s good, but he’s not worth an entire team by himself.
Well, sure. But just because the NBA doesn’t really want him doesn’t mean he’s not utterly dominant at the NCAA level. He’s the best of the Bacot/Dickinson/etc old-school big centers.
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Talking out of my butt here a little bit, but what else is new, so here goes: I don’t think the Ewing theory is empirically true, but I think there’s an insight in there that resonates a bit. And you can apply to it Edey and Kaufmann, Furst a little, too. I think Edey is a very extreme type of player that causes his team to adapt to him and play a certain way, and that’s probably a better way on average than they would play without him, but I think playing without him might lead to a bit more resiliency / variability in playing that would help Purdue in “ohmigod, what’s happening” time in March.
Try to remember those few minutes in the late 1H / early 2H v. Gardner-Webb when you realized UVa was gonna figure it out this time. That’s what Purdue needs. Can they find it with Edey on the court? Did their int’l trip without him help? Stay tuned…
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The frosh guards that’s sank them last year are sophomore guards and will be better….maybe a lot better. And trey Kaufman-Renn took a giant step forward on their European tour.
I expect purdue to pull a Virginia this year (and I’m hoping for it).
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I’m hoping for it, too, because it would make my pops happy, but if it doesn’t happen and until it happens, I will continue to find my joy in making fun of Matt Painter.
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I don’t think he’ll make an impact this year, because I never put stock in frosh, but Miles Colvin may be a future star for them too.
He ran under the radar playing outside the major shoe circuits but recently made the team usa squad. Painter can id talent like Tony can (and they often target the same players).
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Yeah, same. Their squad last year had 1 senior and while he played 23 minutes in that game, he only averaged about 15mpg during the season. They were a top-10 team while also being very young. I’d be surprised if they aren’t serious contenders for a championship this year.
And the FDU game… I mean, Purdue’s non-Edey players were 12/42 with 14 TOs, and at the same time Edey’s utilization rate (25%) was considerably lower than his season average (32%. Edey had 21 points on 11 shots plus 15 boards, so he didn’t disappear entirely and his efficiency was good).
So, everyone else (except Furst, 2/2 FGs) was having a bad day, and somehow FDU managed to keep the ball away from Edey despite having not 1, but 2 Kihei-sized starters and no one over 6’6". With the benefit of hindsight, Purdue maybe should have figured out a way to get the ball to Edey more.
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Painter moving away from edey in the 2nd half of that game is something I’ll never understand.
I like painter a lot. He’s shown versatility in coaching offense (THAT elite 8 team was all 3 ball and he’s obviously played through the post other years when the sport moved away from it), is a great defensive coach, and is a great talent evaluator. And he’s a great guy.
But somehow when the tourney rolls around he forgets how to move to a plan b. It’s mind boggling.
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Liam McNeely to Indiana.
https://twitter.com/Andrew__Slater/status/1703863658684576235
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Uh, maybe I’m clueless, but that’s not how I’m reading that tweet. Rabjohns is just reporting that the IU staff is watching McNeeley and Queen. Or, what am I missing? That said, McNeeley to IU does seem likely.
No texas visit. And then Trilly tweeted “no coincidences in basketball” or something like that
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Larry Johnson aka Grandmama to Creighton. Him and Ty Davis will be a fun duo. Hokies miss out on yet another target
https://twitter.com/Larrygetbuckets/status/1703886921926107562
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The bystanders seem unfazed 