Props to Zach Edey

[Lynyrd]

Wish him nothing but the best. If I wasn’t a UCONN fan I would have been rooting for Purdue.

 

[WhereistheDove?]

There were a couple hard bumps into Karaban that were borderline offensive fouls by Edey.

When he dropped his shoulder and sent Karaban reeling back several feet, there was nothing borderline about that. But by and large I thought the officials did a very good job with a very tough assignment and Clingan did an exceptional job of being disciplined and avoiding foul trouble (relative to what Edey normally does to guys).

 

[Fishy]

I'm not sure what else Painter could have done. Uconn overplayed the 3 point line. Painter said that sure you can force bad 3s but they Uconn will kill you in transition off the misses.

So what is left? Penetrate and drive? They tried that too, but they are not quite built like Alabama to do it as effectively. They can't full court press, as they have no bench, nor is that their style. I think Painter did the best he could.

What Purdue did was stick to what Purdue was good at - it just didn’t work. If something doesn’t work, you can adjust which generally means that you’re going to try something you’re not quite as proficient at against the team that is taking away your plan A.

If Purdue had done that, there’s like a 10% chance that they lose by less than they did and a 90% chance that they’re looking at a historic margin of defeat.

At the end of the day, UConn was better. Painter really was not going to coach that away.

 

[3rdbass]

I didn't think he was too hot after the first 5 or so minutes when clingan adjusted to him and made him shoot over him. He was 8 for 17 into the early part of the 2nd half. When he got everyone in foul trouble he went 7-8 the rest of the game. He can't cover picks and rolls and that is huge in the NBA. He also doesn't have any outside shot at this time of his career. I just don't see Edey fitting at all in the NBA and he will be facing alot of big men with height who are more athletic than him. Great college player but just don't see a great NBA career.

 

[Mandoo]

There were a couple hard bumps into Karaban that were borderline offensive fouls by Edey.

They were NOT borderline offensive fouls. Open your eyes, UConn players got hammered by Edey. Very blatant O fouls, c'mon.

 

[noeynox]

There were a couple hard bumps into Karaban that were borderline offensive fouls by Edey.

Not even borderline. I watched them against Illinois this year and he abused Hawkins with Elbows and shoulder charges all game.

 

[UC0NN]

I think the game plan for Uconn was for Clingan first 6 or 7 minute stint to have 0 or 1 foul before Samson comes in. So the goal for Clingan is to play incredibly soft after Edey got inside position that first stint.

It was the perfect strategy as long as the game was reasonably close. As the game went on you saw Clingan play aggressive and pick up fouls while slowing Edey down. Staying out of foul trouble early was so key to Clingan playing 30+ minutes.

 

[REB1094]

The guy scored 37 in the championship game. POY. He's great.

I think this less a knock on him and more a critique of Painter, but shouldn't they have used Edey to set up more 3-pointers? I know our goal was to guard him straight up in order to minimize his ability to find open guys, but why didn't he ever try to draw a second defender and then kick? Where were the screens?

Why didn't Painter follow Wright's halftime advice and try to get his guys to create more 3s? I understand that's easier said than done given our huge size advantage, but where were the screens? Where were the shot fakes? They were content to trade 2s all night long even as our lead continued to grow. Painter's a great coach and UConn was the clearly better team but only 7 three-point attempts?

Nobody on Purdue could beat UConn’s matchups 1v1 from PG-PF. Braden Smith is their other shot creator and he had the Castle/Diarra matchup. Jones and Loyer are their shooters and Hurley had our guys just stick to them. The gameplan was to let Edey shred Clingan for 60, and then win 61-60

Purdue’s offense works because Edey can win a game himself, and if you try to stop him then the other guys will get good shots and drives. Clingan is probably the best defender Edey faced, so trying to win the game himself tired him out enough for UConn to slowly pull away

Hurley coached circles around Painter tbh. Had a great gameplan

 

[tzznandrew]

I'm not sure what else Painter could have done. Uconn overplayed the 3 point line. Painter said that sure you can force bad 3s but they Uconn will kill you in transition off the misses.

So what is left? Penetrate and drive? They tried that too, but they are not quite built like Alabama to do it as effectively. They can't full court press, as they have no bench, nor is that their style. I think Painter did the best he could.

They needed to run different actions and use Edey in different ways to generate some looks for others. They certainly couldn't generate looks the way their offense was running, so they needed to try a few different things, but they had nothing else.

Painter was respectful the whole weekend, and I really liked him. He seemed absolutely horrified after looking at some tape. You could hear it by Sunday in his interviews.

 

[tzznandrew]

On defense, the same story. Our coaches develop some brilliant overall defensive strategies.

Cam is a pesky defender and a net positive on Defense, but clearly not as good on ball as Newton or Castle. Some might say sub par. But our defensive schemes are so good we essentially so highlight his many strengths and hide his few weaknesses that he was a huge positive for us.

Clingan really helps on this (we saw a huge dip in defensive efficiency when he was out), but the coaching staff deserves a great deal of credit.

 

[gmc1055]

In the Big 10 he did get beat up. No one could handle him so they would slap at the ball. In his interviews look at the scratches all over his shoulders. Down low he is unstoppable. Against UConn he was gassed in the second half.

 

[UC0NN]

Edey got so many easy baskets early on due to Clingan purposely staying out of foul trouble. Once Clingan started playing defense, yeah Painter could have used Edey to create open looks for others. Clingan defends that pretty well too. Painter chose to go to the well that was working early on.

I don't fault Painter, Uconn is a bad match up for them. Basically have to hope for foul trouble on Clingan or Uconn missing open 3s to beat us.

 

[UC0NN]

Painter was a good listen all weak, he praised Uconn leading up to the game. Only dumb thing he said all week was he didn't want players that bored him at an airport for 3 hours waiting for a plane. If he scores 30 and 10, sign me up.

 

[yungdowork]

Similar to Sanogo, most of Edey's most developed skills don't directly translate to the NBA. But, also similar to Sanogo, I feel like his offensive upside could make him a decent bench piece. Uphill battle though since most backup bigs in the NBA are used primarily defensively, except for a few Luka Garza type guys.

 

[Fishy]

Samson exposed a bit of what problems he will have in the NBA. Guys will roll on him for easy lobs all day. Just too slow footed on defense for that wide open above the rim game.

He’ll learn that - just needs experience.

 

[superjohn]

I didn't think he was too hot after the first 5 or so minutes when clingan adjusted to him and made him shoot over him. He was 8 for 17 into the early part of the 2nd half. When he got everyone in foul trouble he went 7-8 the rest of the game. He can't cover picks and rolls and that is huge in the NBA. He also doesn't have any outside shot at this time of his career. I just don't see Edey fitting at all in the NBA and he will be facing alot of big men with height who are more athletic than him. Great college player but just don't see a great NBA career.

He's Boban without the funny personality.

 

[Fishy]

Edey gets a good whistle, but like Clingan, you can basically foul him at will.

Bigs are generally guilty until proven innocent as far as officials go.

 

[noeynox]

He’ll learn that - just needs experience.

I don't know. Seems a little flat footed laterally. Rim runners will always give him trouble.