Purdue 77, Illinois 71 Postgame

#401      
I try really hard not to be biased towards my teams regarding officiating. I watched this in slow motion a bunch of times, and I was about to agree with the refs on this. The initial contact is with the ball and parts of Hawkins' hand that are touching the ball, which is legal. There's some subsequent contact with parts of Hawkins' hand that are not touching the ball after Edey's hand swipes across the ball, but that's typically allowed if not severe. There was no interference or goaltending (he didn't hit the rim in a way that it caused the ball to move since the ball never even touches the rim, and he is allowed to continue touching the ball when it enters the cylinder).

But Edey fouled Hawkins with tricep-to-head contact. Was it minimal (or something they were allowing throughout the game) and probably not what the officials were focusing on? Maybe. So I'll say this was an "incorrect" call rather than "bad" or "egregious".

That said, Hawkins needed to create more space with his body in order to make any fouls more obvious and/or prevent the block entirely.

IMO the "hand is touching ball so feel free to slap the !!!! out of it" rule makes no sense.
 
#402      
I try really hard not to be biased towards my teams regarding officiating. I watched this in slow motion a bunch of times, and I was about to agree with the refs on this. The initial contact is with the ball and parts of Hawkins' hand that are touching the ball, which is legal. There's some subsequent contact with parts of Hawkins' hand that are not touching the ball after Edey's hand swipes across the ball, but that's typically allowed if not severe. There was no interference or goaltending (he didn't hit the rim in a way that it caused the ball to move since the ball never even touches the rim, and he is allowed to continue touching the ball when it enters the cylinder).

But Edey fouled Hawkins with tricep-to-head contact. Was it minimal (or something they were allowing throughout the game) and probably not what the officials were focusing on? Maybe. So I'll say this was an "incorrect" call rather than "bad" or "egregious".

That said, Hawkins needed to create more space with his body in order to make any fouls more obvious and/or prevent the block entirely.
He also pushed him hard in the back when Hawkins got around him before any of the at the rim action even started. Part of why he went flying, he was already off balance.
 
#403      
Well, in retrospect, I thought we actually played a good game. What can you do when they just go nuts from three? We, altgeld88 and I, decided to double our fun at the bar and play trivia (they do it every Tuesday at WOB where we are) while watching the game. A couple of friends joined us to help out.

Although we were only a team of 4, while many others had 6 to 7 members, we finished 4th out of 22 teams...pretty respectable. The best part was the name I gave our team, which altgeld88 wholeheartedly endorsed (even though our two teammates had no idea what it meant)...we were...

The Pruman Experience
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#404      
I said this last night and thought it was a hot take at first, but this morning I went and looked back at the previous NPOY in college basketball and now think it might not be so crazy after all:

Edey is the least talented face of college basketball in the entire history of the sport.

Ref: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naismith_College_Player_of_the_Year

Naismith award only goes back to the 60s, but we're talking about modern ball anyway. He's going to win it twice too.
Honestly, Edey is really talented in my opinion. He has good touch, uses his body and size well, and moves well for a guy his size. And I think our fanbase probably knows this better than we realize but choose to forget it, because we did try this experiment once. It is safe to say that Nick "Chainsaw" Smith despite his height, was not Zach Edey...

Finding a player that height with the mobility and coordination of Zach is just a near impossible combination. So yes, size and mass matters for sure, but you also have to be able to use it. Zach can. He's skilled. Similarly, players like Sean May and Jared Sullinger weren't just mass. They had skill too. I think the biggest issue though is that all 3 of those guys for some reason also get called differently by the refs, and that's what kills you. Because when they have that size/mass and the refs also protect you, you just get away with murder. I'll still say that if they protected Kofi the way they protected those guys, Kofi would have fouled out entire teams by halftime and gone for over 60ppg.
 
#405      
Remember when Edey fouled the hell out of Coleman and then stood over him staring him down and no T? Think if Hawkins did that to Edey they'd let it go? F em all.
The fact that they commented on it on the broadcast was significant to me. It was a big enough moment that it was noticable and had to be commented on. If it was that significant, the refs should have at least issued a warning to knock that ish off.
 
#406      
Well easier said than done if they are quicker and more agile than our defenders. Which they are with who we had on them. Quincy switched and others n Smith shook em pretty easily. Smaller quicker guards and bigs have killed us with who we have tried to stop em with far too often.
When people say we need a legitimate, 30 minute per game PG, they don't necessarily mean offensively. Our bigger guards have really struggled staying in front of smaller, quicker guards. Staying in front has been an issue and chasing them off the three point line is an issue.

This is where Sencire not playing hurts. He's a lockdown guy. We're missing that.

This situation won't be rectified this year, but hopefully will be going forward.
 
#407      
Remember when Edey fouled the hell out of Coleman and then stood over him staring him down and no T? Think if Hawkins did that to Edey they'd let it go? F em all.
Considering that Coleman got a T for essentially staring down MSU student section, I think we all know the answer to that question...

Unfortunately, Coleman gets a bad rep (sometimes justified), while Edey gets away with this type of stuff virtually every game (think step over of player against MSU and now this).
 
#408      
Honestly, Edey is really talented in my opinion. He has good touch, uses his body and size well, and moves well for a guy his size. And I think our fanbase probably knows this better than we realize but choose to forget it, because we did try this experiment once. It is safe to say that Nick "Chainsaw" Smith despite his height, was not Zach Edey...

Finding a player that height with the mobility and coordination of Zach is just a near impossible combination. So yes, size and mass matters for sure, but you also have to be able to use it. Zach can. He's skilled. Similarly, players like Sean May and Jared Sullinger weren't just mass. They had skill too. I think the biggest issue though is that all 3 of those guys for some reason also get called differently by the refs, and that's what kills you. Because when they have that size/mass and the refs also protect you, you just get away with murder. I'll still say that if they protected Kofi the way they protected those guys, Kofi would have fouled out entire teams by halftime and gone for over 60ppg.

So he's better than Nick Smith? Okay.

Nick was 2 inches shorter and weighed 60-70 less lbs. Edey is more talented than Nick, yes. That is also 100% true.

Compare him to the list of Naismith winners. I said initially it was a hot take. I'm starting to doubt that the more and more I look at that list.
 
#410      
For the record, I am a big Underwood fan and love ALL our players.

However...

Quincy was our leading scorer in the first half with 10 points in 15 minutes, but only played 9 minutes in the second half.

Ty didn't miss a shot and had 3 rebounds in only 8 second half minutes.

Goode and Harmon played 11 minutes each in the second half. Harmon had 1 rebound and 1 block. Goode had no stats.

Dain played 20 seconds in the second half.
Agreed on all the above. The substitution pattern in the second half wasn’t great. Putting in Hansberry over Dain didn’t make sense to me. I know he stepped out a few times but he was able to challenge Edey better.

Hansberry (who I really like) was totally overmatched and was not big enough to hang with Edey. Have up 4 fouls on what seemed like 2mins of play. It put Purdue in the bonus way fast than I would have preferred.
 
#414      
But again have to question Underwood's decision making. Really upset that he benched Shannon for last eight minutes of the first half, especially when Edey was out for some of that time and TSJ could've had easier time driving inside. I can see sitting him for 2-3 minutes, but we had lead during that time and could've enlarged it to 10-12 points by halftime. He's a veteran player and knows how to avoid foul trouble when he needs to. Note that he played entire second half without getting another foul.
This always bothers me. Why give up lots of minutes of a player so that you can avoid...possibly giving up some minutes of that player if they were to foul out? There are situations where it makes sense- like a specialist or someone who would be very diminished playing with foul trouble or someone who's overmatched or frustrated. But TSJ is/was none of those, plus he averages 2.4 fouls/40 minutes, so I'd wait to see if there's actually a problem first.
 
#416      
The contact to the head has been an auto-review every single game I've watched all year, whether it ends up an F1 or not.
Last night? Nope.
 
#419      
I think they should have pulled him after the 3rd. What's the plan there? To actually foul? That makes no sense to me at that stage of the game. Amani couldn't play without fouling so might as well get Dain in there because he can score
Fouling may have been the plan if you listen to Underwood's post game interview. They wanted to get to the 1 and 1 with Edey so if they needed to foul they could put him at the line and trade a possible 3 or 2 for a 1. Edey did miss twice on free throws. Who better to run up the fouls than Amani. He may have been told play him tight. If you foul, don't worry.
 
#421      
Honestly, Edey is really talented in my opinion. He has good touch, uses his body and size well, and moves well for a guy his size. And I think our fanbase probably knows this better than we realize but choose to forget it, because we did try this experiment once. It is safe to say that Nick "Chainsaw" Smith despite his height, was not Zach Edey...

Finding a player that height with the mobility and coordination of Zach is just a near impossible combination. So yes, size and mass matters for sure, but you also have to be able to use it. Zach can. He's skilled. Similarly, players like Sean May and Jared Sullinger weren't just mass. They had skill too. I think the biggest issue though is that all 3 of those guys for some reason also get called differently by the refs, and that's what kills you. Because when they have that size/mass and the refs also protect you, you just get away with murder. I'll still say that if they protected Kofi the way they protected those guys, Kofi would have fouled out entire teams by halftime and gone for over 60ppg.
Before the game started last night I was watching a preview of the Spurs featuring Victor Wembanyama. THAT guy is a talented and athletic big. Even Chet Holmgren is a far better athlete than Edey. Is Edey a good basketball player? Yes, but only hecause he is 7'4" and 300#. If he was 6'4" we would all sat not only no, but hell no. He's slow, can't jump, and has no range beyond 6' or so. As they say however, you can't coach height.
 
#424      
For the record, I am a big Underwood fan and love ALL our players.

However...

Quincy was our leading scorer in the first half with 10 points in 15 minutes, but only played 9 minutes in the second half.

Ty didn't miss a shot and had 3 rebounds in only 8 second half minutes.

Goode and Harmon played 11 minutes each in the second half. Harmon had 1 rebound and 1 block. Goode had no stats.

Dain played 20 seconds in the second half.
Exactly my friend.
 
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