The Official #6 [2] Tennessee vs. #3 [1] Purdue Game Thread, 2:20 PM ET, ESPN

[etsuvol13]

Gonna miss ya'.


So we lost to a team that is worse than us?

heh

So much insight in your response. You have as much validity as the refs today.

 

[sami]

Apparently everyone else on the team thought so. I saw several players down the stretch pass up good looks just to try to get the ball in Knecht’s hands. I guess it absolves them of putting the loss on their shoulders.

No offense, but that's about as idiotic as anything I've seen here tonight, and it's pretty clear you've never played competitive sports before.

First thing is, no one is thinking of how they can avoid blame - you don't get to this level of sports with a loser mindset like that. When you have a generational player on a heater, the rest of the team is going to do what they can with screens and movement to get him open looks. You go to the player with the hot hand. It ain't rocket science.

 

[VolTull]

So much insight in your response. You have as much validity as the refs today.

Paid off. Yes? By whom? Help me.

 

[The Tall Gguy]

No offense, but that's about as idiotic as anything I've seen here tonight, and it's pretty clear you've never played competitive sports before.

First thing is, no one is thinking of how they can avoid blame - you don't get to this level of sports with a loser mindset like that. When you have a generational player on a heater, the rest of the team is going to do what they can with screens and movement to get him open looks. You go to the player with the hot hand. It ain't rocket science.

I wonder who that player will be next season.

 

[BowlBrother85]

We absolutely lost to a team that is not as good as us. Happens all the time.

That couldn't be based on anything tangible.

Purdue's strength (center scoring and rebounding) plays directly to Tennessee's weakness (low post defense and rebounding). Basketball isn't played on paper. It's a game of matchups.

 

[sami]

I wonder who that player will be next season.

Who knows? Did anyone think 12 months ago that we'd have a generational player pass through here like DK?

 

[BisonVol]

Word on the street is the Edey just shot two more free throws. Sources say Awaka breathed on the ogre too hard in the handshake line and that the refs have now decided to issue Tobe with an F1 foul.

 

[Orange.]

This is awesome. I wish I were near enough to be there.

 

[05_never_again]

What makes Zach Edey so hard to officiate

The play ended with Zach Edey and Nolan Winter back to back, Winter bent over at the waist and Edey splayed across his shoulder blades. They wound up there, in an awkward reverse piggyback while fighting for a rebound on the final day of the regular season, only after their forearms got wrapped...

theathletic.com

There is, of course, a flip side to this – when Edey is the defender. To the consternation of his detractors, Edey gets fouled a lot but rarely fouls opponents. He’s averaging just 1.9 whistles per game and has not fouled out since Purdue’s Sweet 16 matchup against Saint Peter’s on March 25, 2022. He’s played 67 games since then and been whistled for four fouls just six times.

To the naked eye that reads preposterous. How can one man possibly absorb such contact and yet never dish it out on his own? Officials don’t hide that they are keenly aware of how critical Edey is to a game. “You don’t want to put gray area fouls on him,’’ says a current coordinator of officials who asked not to be identified so that he could speak candidly. “You want to make sure the fouls he commits are more or less so obvious that everyone in the arena can say the ref had no choice.”

Is that favoritism? “Fans want to watch the best players play,” Boyages says. “As long as it’s balanced with the other great players on the other side. Every team has one or two players they need to have in the game for 30 minutes, and the refs are aware of it.”

The article basically concedes, and coordinator of officials who was interviewed admits that they put no gray area fouls on him, which is a form of special treatment. And that is a big deal because lots of fouls are gray area fouls. The key question is this: is that bolded part true a majority of the time? I'm not sure it is.

 

[BowlBrother85]

the best shot Barnes had at stopping edey is fixing to play against Duke in a few minutes.

I want to say that all of these references to DJ Burns are really comical. He never even played 1 minute here. He spent one season on the bench and that season was back in 2018-19. Lamenting him as a loss, when it has been 5 years since he transferred to Winthrop is ridiculous.

 

[BowlBrother85]

This is awesome. I wish I were near enough to be there.

Makes me proud to be a Vol fan. Those guys deserved it.

 

[Volintheswamp]

We need an 8’ gorilla to stand under the basket.

 

[DooleyOrangePants]

We need an 8’ gorilla to stand under the basket.

Which when we do get that guy, they will start calling 3 seconds and scream about him being too physical or a headhunter.

 

[LieutenantNeyland]

That couldn't be based on anything tangible.

Purdue's strength (center scoring and rebounding) plays directly to Tennessee's weakness (low post defense and rebounding). Basketball isn't played on paper. It's a game of matchups.

And if the game was called fairly you don’t think we win without their extra 40 free throws In both games? Edey’s soft AF self shot more FT than our entire team. He should’ve fouled out of the game with offensive fouls alone.

 

[Voltopia]

The article basically concedes, and coordinator of officials who was interviewed admits that they put no gray area fouls on him, which is a form of special treatment. And that is a big deal because lots of fouls are gray area fouls. The key question is this: is that bolded part true a majority of the time? I'm not sure it is.

It isn't true. It's not remotely true. They can't "balance it out," and the truth is they don't even TRY. They give him superstar treatment and expect everyone else to be good little boys and girls and take it.

There's a whole lot of three stars guys out there who could sit at the postgame press conference and pout about being overlooked, if the officials gave them the benefit of the doubt on every damn call.

 

[Stoerner Fumbles]

The article basically concedes, and coordinator of officials who was interviewed admits that they put no gray area fouls on him, which is a form of special treatment. And that is a big deal because lots of fouls are gray area fouls. The key question is this: is that bolded part true a majority of the time? I'm not sure it is.

It’s a fifty-five year old debate, but I absolutely agree with your conclusion on that point. . As I stated in my earlier thread, he absolutely gets special treatment. Chamberlain did, Russell and Kareem did, Shaq maybe most of all, and Edey for sure. It happens. My point is that there is no remedy and no recourse. A guy that big can use the basic principles of physics to wreck a game. Connecticut is the best team in the tournament. Full stop. Unfortunately (assuming they meet) they will begin the game with a 25-30 point Edeycap, as did we.

 

[BernardKingGOAT]

We had 2 players, they had 5. Overall, they were the better team.

Edey and Knecht both accounted for almost the same % of each team's points

 

[BernardKingGOAT]

No. Purdue was just as reliant on Edey and Loyer .... as Tennessee was on Knecht and Zeigler. Both teams were very much two man shows on offense today. The difference was, what a rebounding force Edey was, and how much he was able to get to the free throw line.

Also, the game was tied at 56 with 7 minutes to play. We were in a good spot, without even having to play our best game to be there.

Game was tied with 5 minutes to go

 

[CAVPUT]

This is awesome. I wish I were near enough to be there.

Great to see. Vol fans are the absolute best. Team deserves every moment. Hope it helps ease the pain of being officiated out of a game they should have won. I'll remember this years team with a lot of respect and great memories. One of my lifetime favorite years/rosters.

 

[Mightyvol]

Tampon or Kotex?

Did you play sports at a competitive level? Teams and coaches adjust to the way a game is being called, if they can. Purdue got the calls, so they won. No team can overcome the discrepancy in free throws Purdue was awarded. I don’t need your feminine products, I am sure you need then.

 

[Cartervol]

Which when we do get that guy, they will start calling 3 seconds and scream about him being too physical or a headhunter.

Exactly.. He'd be a better version of Uros or just slightly.

 

[DukeDaisySam]

Just say you don’t know ball and move on.

Please define "all time performance" for us neophytes.

 

[05_never_again]

It isn't true. It's not remotely true. They can't "balance it out," and the truth is they don't even TRY. They give him superstar treatment and expect everyone else to be good little boys and girls and take it.

There's a whole lot of three stars guys out there who could sit at the postgame press conference and pout about being overlooked, if the officials gave them the benefit of the doubt on every damn call.

They could attempt to balance it out somewhat when Edey is on the defensive end, but I agree they don't even try to. If you want to give him every call when he's the offensive player, OK, it's annoying but you can make that argument. Here's another quote from the article, which I will concede as being true:

Imagine a traffic cone trying to stop an avalanche. This is generally how things go. Defenders shove Edey in the back (that’s a foul) or put their leg between his legs and try to drive him with their lower body leverage (it’s called rooting; it’s also a foul). They put their knee in his derriere (that’s a foul) or put two hands on his back to get resistance (that’s a foul). Occasionally they use an arm bar — that’s actually not a foul — and try to absorb the force of him.

When he gets the ball in the post, he quite often is immediately fouled by the defender who is posting him up. I've also seen him draw foul calls when the defender uses an arm bar, which isn't really a foul, but overall I don't think he gets a huge amount of bogus whistles when he's the offensive player.

Where he does benefit is from the lack of whistles is when he's on defense. For one thing, he goes on the back all the damn time when rebounding and it is never called. It's like they think he's simply reaching for the ball over another guy's head, but you watch the replay and he's flopping his body onto the guy's back, moving him out of the way to get the rebound. He's very uncoordinated and just kind of flops his arms around on people, moving them out of the way, and it seems like it's never called. He has not fouled out of a game in over 2 years. He only made it to 4 fouls 4 times this year. For a player who is involved in that much contact, that is complete BS.

It's almost like they take a approach of "He's too big and can't help it, so it isn't a foul."

 

[VolsSportsFan]

They could attempt to balance it out somewhat when Edey is on the defensive end, but I agree they don't even try to. Here's another quote from the article, which I will concede as being true:

When he gets the ball in the post, he quite often is immediately fouled by the defender who is posting him up. I've also seen him draw foul calls when the defender uses an arm bar, which isn't really a foul, but overall I don't think he gets a huge amount of bogus whistles when he's the offensive player. Where he does benefit is from the lack of whistles when he's on defense. For one thing, he goes on the back all the damn time and it is never called. It's like they think he's simply reaching for the ball over another guy's head, but you watch the replay and he's flopping his body onto the guy's back, moving him out of the way to get the rebound. He's very uncoordinated and just kind of flops his arms around on people, moving them out of the way, and it seems like it's never called.

It's almost like they take a approach of "He's too big and can't help it, so it isn't a foul."

There is no way in hell he only had 1 foul yesterday. There were at least 3 that on the replay he fouled one of our players before they then turned around and called one on us. One even the announcers pointed out he threw an elbow.

If they are going to call defenders for being physical with him, then they need to do the same against him. But they give him the same treatment both ends and that's almost impossible to deal with.

 

[05_never_again]

There is no way in hell he only had 1 foul yesterday. There were at least 3 that on the replay he fouled one of our players before they then turned around and called one on us. One even the announcers pointed out he threw an elbow.

If they are going to call defenders for being physical with him, then they need to do the same against him. But they give him the same treatment both ends and that's almost impossible to deal with.

He had, at an absolute minimum, 3 fouls yesterday. The one that was called and then 2 under the basket fighting for a rebound, which were totally blatant and weren't called.

The reason the refs call no gray area fouls on him is because if they did he's foul out of every single game with several minutes left.