The history of Purdue basketball and its run through the NCAA Tournament could be traced back to the gym at IMG Academy several years ago.
It was there where Purdue basketball coach Matt Painter took a chance on a Canadian star, who would go on to win back-to-back national player of the year honors and lead the Boilermakers to tonight’s national title game against UConn.
It was there where Painter took a chance on Zach Edey, and, as they say, the rest is history.
“He’s someone who really believed in me before it was a popular thing to do. He saw me,” Edey said Sunday.
Edey said when he was at IMG, he was ranked in the Top 500 and college coaches would come down to Florida to check him out, but it was Painter that saw something others didn’t.
“I had coaches coming in the door every day and none of them gave me a look. I think it the fact that it was Paint that was like, “Yeah, we need to look at this guy,” when so many other coaches kind of passed me by, I can’t thank him enough,” Edey said.
Edey has improved with Purdue basketball
During his time with Purdue basketball, sure Edey has gotten the headlines, but that is because Big Maple has earned every accolade that has come his way.
“He’s great. I am proud of him. He’s a much better passer and much better defensive player. I did think he would be good. I just didn’t know when. He had good hands, good feet, but he needed reps,” Painter said.
Ask Painter what stands out about Edey through the years with Purdue basketball and he will smile and tell you it is how far Edey’s game has come from day one.
“When you see those clips and their first basket at Purdue, Zach Edey looks like a different person. The thing that jumps out to me about him is his competitive spirit. You get some big guys and they just get some bad calls. He plays hard, wants to win. The other thing is he didn’t get recruited very hard. He was a terrible passer when he got here and now he’s a great passer. When you have the ability to score and pass, you’ve raised the value to your team. He shows up. He’s had bad games, turned it over and some stinkers but it’s not from not competing. His legacy is through his development, his overall success and the success of our program. Most wins in Big Ten in last ten years,” Painter said.
Ahead of tonight’s national title game against UConn., Painter has said several times how “fabulous” it is to see what Edey has accomplished.
“It is fabulous. To be all time leading scorer and rebounder at a school like Purdue with great basketball tradition is unbelievable. For him to be able to do that and be humble — he is a good teammate, selfless, he’s competitive. He’s everything that you want in a player. I’ve never seen somebody so good get so much shit for no reason. It blows my mind. People his size are normally not good at basketball. He’s really good, so he gets a lot of attention but he stayed grounded. He keeps his composure. We’re proud of him for everything he has accomplished,” Painter said.
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