A respected former coach addressed the Edey foul situation quite simply. Go back and look at all four year’s Edey has played. That’s 133 games and even when he was a a non starter and a raw freshman he was never called for excessive fouls. no matter where you look, Big Ten games him or away, out of conference games away, neutral site games, NCAA games. It makes no difference. They just interviewed five officials from all over. They all came to pretty much the same conclusion. He does no foul very much. He has an extraordinary knowledge of the game and the rules and he gets fouled much more than is ever called. As for Gonzaga, CMP respects every opponent and Gonzaga is always good. If they are fortunate enough to play Gonzaga it will be a challenge. If you were a betting man you would have to consider these facts. Purdue has played Gonzaga four times and once was at home and three times on a neutral court. Purdue has never lost to Gonzaga. Coach Keady was 2-0 against Gonzaga with 1 win, 83-68 over Dan Manson and another, 75-66 over Mark Few in his first game. Coach Painter is 2-0 vs Coach Few, winning 84-68 in Portland, Oregon last year and 73-63 in Maui this year. Purdue trailed the Zags 35-30 at the half back in November and won 73-63. The Boilermakers won the three day classic beating Gonzaga in game 1, topping Tennessee 71-67 in game 2 and beating Marquette 78-75. Three games in three days against teams who are all currently still alive in the NCAAT and are seeded # 4, # 2, and # 2.
There are no guarantees in sports and there has seldom been as much parity in college basketball than exists today. But, I still recall from my college days how the who beat who mantra could make a case for DePauw being the national champs. We beat Butler and Jeff Blue by 17, Butler defeated Bradley with Chet Walker, Bradley downed National Champion Cincinnati with Yates, Thacker and Hogue. Our lineup was Jim Zerface and Larry Samela at guards, Dale Anderson and Larry Leas at forward and Herb Spier at center and Wally Foltz and Ron Zawleski off the bench. Have a good day.