I wore a Purdue pullover while I was on vacation, and for any Purdue alums looking to make a quick friend, I insist you do the same. My wife was annoyed by the end of the day with our gleeful "Boiler Up!" greetings to otherwise complete strangers. It was a lot of fun.
Also, on the deck of a cruise ship, it's really tough to get any updates from the mainland. There was a network of Purdue fans, though, and one gentleman pulled me aside just to tell me about the overtime affair with Northwestern. That is how I heard that the Wildcats were frustrated with the number of foul calls that went against Northwestern vs those called on Purdue.
Me and this random other tourist completely understood what was going on, even if Northwestern coach Chris Collins didn't want to acknowledge it. Zach Edey fundamentally changes the way opponents approach a game. There are always good players that you have to pay attention to, adjust your defense around or try to find secondary scoring on offense against lock up defenders, but Edey's presence does more.
Opponents aren't willing to go inside against Edey, while on offense, the ball often goes through him for Purdue. This can work with the modern game, where players are more willing to shoot from outside, but also, most fouls are called on drives to the basket, or during low post play. If Purdue is always in the low post, particularly with Edey, they are going to get calls. If their opponent isn't getting the ball inside, Purdue isn't going to foul them as often.
It's probably not an intentional strategy for Matt Painter's team, especially with shooters like Lance Jones, Braden Smith and Fletcher Loyer willing to bomb from outside, but it is a common sense consequence of having such a presence inside. I mean, a couple of strangers figured it out on a cruise deck, surely it should make sense in Evanston, too. Right?
No comments:
Post a Comment