A No. 1 seed. Big Ten titles sweep. Yet, Purdue still getting dissed. Here's why.
Purdue keeps winning games. Until they stop doing that, everything else is just noise. Doesn’t matter what they’re saying on social media, on television, in the newspaper. This is survive-and-advance season, and the Boilermakers just survived three games in three days to win the program’s second Big Ten tournament title — and wrap up an NCAA tournament No. 1 seed.
The confetti at the United Center hadn’t grown cold on Purdue’s 67-65 victory Sunday against Penn State when the NCAA tournament selection committee revealed the four No. 1 seeds in the 2023 NCAA tournament. Up popped Purdue, and here it came. On CBS, Wally Szczerbiak was saying the Boilers didn’t deserve a No. 1 seed (that’s debatable), that they hadn’t beaten anybody (that’s stupid). And that’s just the tip of the iceberg, I promise you. Go to your favorite social media site and search for “Purdue.”
Don’t let the kids see. Language, and all that.
The reasons to believe in Purdue are dwindling, but the biggest reason is still there — his name is Zach Edey, and he’s 7-4 and 305 pounds — and nobody has figured out how to stop him yet. Edey doesn’t get into foul trouble, either, which seems to be the tradeoff officials have made as they try to be fair to the country’s most difficult player to officiate:
They can’t possibly call every foul committed against Edey, so they’re giving him more latitude than in past seasons. He doesn’t spend the game at the foul line — or on the bench, in foul trouble. Fair enough, when you think about it.
The online reaction to Edey is unintentionally hilarious, with Purdue fans convinced referees are letting him get beaten up while opposing fans are convinced referees are protecting him.
Both could be right.
We seem to be spending a lot of time on Zach Edey here, don’t we? Seeing how the Boilermakers just made all kinds of history, winning the Big Ten regular-season and tourney for the first time, and then getting that No. 1 NCAA seed, aren’t there more things to discuss? That could be your question.
Here comes my answer.
Purdue in NCAA: Zach Edey or bust
Yes, there are more things to discuss about the Boilermakers as they enter the 2023 NCAA tournament, but let’s do like Purdue does, and like Purdue’s opponents do, and put our focus where it must go: on the big man in the middle.
Also, let’s tell the truth: Purdue will go as far as Edey can carry them. We could devote all kinds of space to other players, even redshirting freshmen — because the temptation to write about Edey every single game is as enormous as he is — but Purdue is powered almost entirely by his greatness.
He’s the Player of the Year in the Big Ten, the Most Outstanding Player in the Big Ten tournament, and soon to be announced as the consensus, surely unanimous, National Player of the Year. Edey will sweep every award, and given his unprecedented numbers and the way he’s carried Purdue this far, he deserves it all.
Edey averaged 26 points and 12.7 rebounds in the Big Ten tourney, and scored 32 and 30 in the past two games. And Purdue needed it to beat double-digit seeds Ohio State and Penn State.
Ohio State was the 13th seed, missing its best two players and defending Edey with shooting guards, and the Buckeyes were within six points in the final five minutes. Penn State was the 10th seed, and despite trailing by 17 points with six minutes left, had the ball with three seconds left and a chance to force overtime or win.
People don’t like it when we write something negative after wins, so let’s stay positive:
It’s impressive how Purdue beat Penn State despite getting 2-for-20 shooting from its three-man starting backcourt.
It’s impressive how Purdue won three games in three days against teams that exposed, then exploited their weakness against full-court pressure.
Most of all, it’s impressive that Purdue responded to its late-season wobble — the Boilers were 22-1, then lost four of six — by winning five games in a row entering the NCAA tournament.
Trendy: Memphis over Purdue in Round of 32
Let’s elevate the discourse to a level where Matt Painter would approve.
Say what you want about Painter — and if you’re going to say something negative, say it somewhere else; I can’t hear nonsense — but he keeps it real at all times. It’s his most endearing quality, and why I wish he was my next-door neighbor. He’d be great at a barbeque. I’d even trust him for a weekend with my beautiful dog, Cap. He’s just a real dude. A real dude who makes way too much money to live in my neighborhood, but the point remains: He’s real.
And Painter believes in discussing all facets of his team, the good and the bad, and doing it publicly. Can you imagine what he’ll say to his guys this week, behind closed doors, after they damn near blew that 17-point lead Sunday? Because this is what he said on national television, when CBS sideline reporter Tracy Wolfson mentioned the p-word:
Press.
“It’s getting to be like Keystone Kops,” Painter said of his team’s issues there, which were evident in the quarterfinals and semifinals against Rutgers and Ohio State, then nearly cost the Boilermakers the title Sunday. Penn State pressed four times in the final three minutes and forced two turnovers, leading to five points as they cut a 60-43 deficit to 66-65 with six seconds left.
“We’ve got to have guys with a little more savvy,” Painter told millions of CBS viewers, moments after the second Big Ten tournament title in school history. “It’s really not that hard. Kind of bewilders you at times.”
He’s real, that guy, which is why Painter benched Fletcher Loyer at halftime. Look, the older I get, the less I want to single out a college kid, especially a freshman. But Painter did it first, replacing Loyer with fifth-year senior David Jenkins Jr. to start the second half. It made sense for every reason, between Loyer’s shooting struggles this tournament (2-for-20 from the floor) and Jenkins’ red-hot performance (14.3 ppg, 8-for-12 on 3-pointers) in the same three games.
Loyer played 11 minutes in the second half, and bless his heart, he’s struggling. He was 0-for-4 from the floor in those 11 minutes. Hell, he was 1-for-4 on free throws, all in the final 75 seconds, and he came into the game shooting 81.3% at the line. His missed free throw with six seconds left gave Penn State a chance to win it, but the Nittany Lions turned it over on the inbounds play.
That’s an issue for Purdue to fix. So is the shooting of its entire backcourt, and it’s not just the freshmen, Loyer and Braden Smith, who were a combined 1-for-14 Sunday. Junior Brandon Newman was 1-for-6. That total matches Loyer’s past five games: 2-for-20.
The Boilermakers have become so top-heavy, so unreliable down their rotation, that Edey, Jenkins and Mason Gillis combined for 51 points Sunday — while nobody else scored more than four, or made more than one field goal. Purdue has been playing with fire for weeks, and while I realize I’m not supposed to write about that, this is one of those jobs where you better write what you see, and here’s what I see:
Purdue is still a shell of itself after that 22-1 start to the season. It won the Big Ten tournament by beating the No. 9, No. 13 and No. 10 seeds, and while the Boilers looked tough and gritty against Rutgers, they looked vulnerable — they looked unimpressive — against Ohio State and Penn State.
What happens next? The Boilermakers are the No. 1 seed in the East Region, meaning a geographically-friendly start Friday in Columbus, Ohio. The Boilers open with the winner of one play-in game, Texas Southern vs. Fairleigh Dickinson, then gets the winner of the No. 8 vs. No. 9 game, Memphis or Florida Atlantic.
Already Memphis is the trendy pick to become the first team to knock off a No. 1 seed, which means two things: One, a lot of people are sleeping on an FAU team coached by Dusty May, a former Bob Knight student-manager at IU. And, two, a lot of people don’t expect much from this Purdue basketball team.
Noise, all of it.
At this point Matt Painter can tune it out, or do the opposite: Turn what’s happening out there — and right here, in this story — into bulletin-board material. I suggest the latter. The supply will be endless, and deafening.
Find IndyStar columnist Gregg Doyel on Twitter at @GreggDoyelStar or at www.facebook.com/greggdoyelstar.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Purdue enters March Madness as Big Ten champ, No. 1 seed, and dissed
