It’s Edey vs. greedy.
Gold vs. old.
Wall-to-wall vs. “booty ball.”
We’ve got Purdue (28-5) against Penn State (22-12) for the Big Ten championship on Sunday at the United Center, and what a game it isn’t. It would have been more exciting to see Northwestern or Illinois in the title game. It would have been more compelling to see Indiana — which swept the mighty Boilermakers twice during the regular season — try to make it three-for-three.
But so what? March isn’t for complainers. It’s for winners. And the 10th-seeded Nittany Lions have earned the heck out of their shot at the title.
So, yes, indeed, it’ll be Purdue star Zach Edey, a stone-cold lock for national player of the year, trying to dominate PSU as he already has in a pair of lopsided victories this season, averaging 24 points and 13 rebounds. The 7-4 center was at his unstoppable best Saturday in an 80-66 semifinal win against Ohio State, going off for 32 and 14 in his seventh 30-and-10 game of the season. Over the past 25 years, all other Purdue players have combined for just five of those.
“[Opponents] have to give everything and anything to deal with his big ass,” Boilers coach Matt Painter said. “Sorry, that was kind of ‘locker room.’ I shouldn’t have said that. But it’s true.”
As if the Lions, who beat Indiana 77-73 in the other semi, are going to be scared. NCAA Tournament-bound for certain now, they’ve already upset Illinois, Northwestern and Indiana over three attention-getting days. Add a chance to become the lowest-seeded team ever to win this Big Ten event — they would supplant No. 8 Michigan in 2017 — and the motivational speech writes itself.
“It’s a championship game,” said Jalen Pickett, their best player. “Nobody’s tired. Nobody’s fatigued. It feels like day one coming up.”
Against Ohio State, the Boilers looked like the squad that spent much of the season ranked No. 1 in the country and topped the conference standings by three games — no team had done that since Michigan in 2013-14 — and kept themselves alive for a No. 1 seed in the Big Dance. The Buckeyes mostly allowed Edey to operate one-on-one, which prompted a Boilers assistant coach to tell him early on it was one of those games in which he had to score 30.
“Just got to score the ball every time I touch it,” Edey said.
But for all its advantages — beginning with Edey, of course — Purdue can’t quite match Penn State in age and experience. No team in the country can; the Lions are the very oldest of them all. Pickett, 23, is in his fifth college season. Same for shooters Andrew Funk and Myles Dread, both also 23. Seth Lundy, who has been clutch all tournament and was again Saturday, is 22 and in his fourth year.
Pickett played three seasons at Siena. Funk played four at Bucknell. Lots of teams are more talented than the Lions — ask Illinois, which went 0-3 against them — but few are as poised and together.
And if Purdue has been, wall-to-wall, the best in the Big Ten, that by itself won’t solve the “booty” problem. As Illini coach Brad Underwood noted, Pickett, only 6-4 but powerful, uses his rear end to back down defenders in such a throwback fashion, there might not be another college player of note who’s doing the same thing. Pickett torched the Illini for 61 points in two games playing this way.
He backed up the truck for 28 points against Indiana, his two straight post-up buckets that pushed his team’s lead to 58-49 among the most frustrating from the Hoosiers’ point of view. Somehow, Indiana still managed to cut a 72-57 deficit to 74-73 with 33 seconds left to play, but the Lions held up as they continue to do whether or not most fans around the conference want to be watching them day after day.
Purdue is just 1-4 in Big Ten championship games, but it’s 4-0 in the tournament against PSU and has won six straight regular-season games head-to-head. Painter is 4-0 against former assistant Micah Shrewsberry since Shrewsberry took over in State College.
“It’s never fun because they’ve beat our brains in every time we’ve played them,” Shrewsberry said, “but it’s like the friendliest of rivalries.”
Shrewsberry has done wonderful work in his two seasons, putting himself in the conversation for numerous jobs. Georgetown is said to be very interested. Notre Dame, Georgia Tech and others likely are, too.
“Nobody wanted me a few years ago,” he said. “I’m happy to be here. I love our guys. We’re going to prepare to play a championship.”
Why not? Greed is good.
