Rick Barnes won't blame officials as foul disparity looms large in Tennessee's loss to Purdue
Rick Barnes took the high road after Tennessee’s tough loss to Purdue that ended the Volunteers’ NCAA Tournament run in the Elite 8.
On Sunday, it was Tennessee’s turn to experience the challenge of defending Zach Edey. The 7-4, 300-pound Purdue big man is difficult to defend with his size and style of play.
Edey got favorable whistles in the Elite 8 game, leading to 22 free-throw attempts. In a 6-point game, the free throw disparity was 33 attempts for Purdue, just 11 for Tennessee.
Those who watched the game had a lot to say about Edey and fouls.
If officials haven’t come up with a way to referee Zach Edey, that’s on them.
They’ve only had a few years. That conversation has gotten old, quick.
— Trey Wallace (@TreyWallace_) March 31, 2024
Zach Edey is bad for college basketball. It’s not his fault. I don’t blame him, the human.
But his coach, the officials, and even announcers have really cooked up a horrible product.
— Austin Stanley (@AustinStanley81) March 31, 2024
Maybe officials would stop calling all these fouls against anyone guarding Zach Edey on seemingly every play if everyone would stop fouling him on seemingly every play
— Pete Fiutak (@PeteFiutak) March 31, 2024
Shoutout to Zach Edey. It takes a generational player to be the most physical player in the sport, draw 15 fouls, and only get called for 1 (and no travels, moving screens, or 3-second violations).
Masterclass performance.
— Jake (@JakeAndBall) March 31, 2024
Tennessee basketball deserved better than this.
Make sure and pass the officials a pair of scissors when Zach Edey cuts down the nets.
— Victoria Kline (@VictoriaDKline) March 31, 2024
Barnes, however, declined to call out the officials, at least before watching the game film.
“I’m not blaming anything on the officials, I’m not,” Barnes said answering the final question in his postgame press conference. “I don’t want you to think or anybody to think that because I wouldn’t ever do that until I’ve watched the tape myself and saw what I wanted to see.”
Earlier in the press conference, Barnes was asked about the strategy for defending Edey. The coach of the Vols, a team that plays physical defense night in, night out, knew about the challenge of officiating how Edey is defended.
“You’ve got a very unique player in Zach Edey, very unique. It’s a hard game to officiate,” Barnes acknowledged.
The long-time UT coach was ready to dive into what makes Edey so unique to defend.
“Space on the court is so important, and depending on how a guy gets there and you try to keep him from getting there and the effort that goes into that often times can get one guy in particular there out of position to where he can maybe help on some other different things.,” Barnes assessed.
“He’s an extremely physical player, does a great job wedging with his body. I thought all along his misses are the hardest thing to defend because he does lead strong. He’ll bounce you off and try to create a crack and step through it. That’s where he’s improved so much with his footwork.”
Edey’s size and physicality stand out immediately when watching the Boilermakers.
“I think it’s hard for officials because there’s not many guys like that,” Barnes continued on the officiating of defending Edey. “The game has changed so much through the years. Whether you stay in the lane three seconds or you don’t, if you don’t ever get out, it really distorts everything. I’m not saying he did or he didn’t, but watching tape, he’s a difficult guy to officiate, I can tell you that.
“He’s an extremely difficult guy to guard because, again, knowing where he wants the ball. And he’s got a group of guys around it that know how to get it to him at the right time. As much as you try to scheme to get guys down there to try to take some space away, all you can do is go down and dig at it and try to help — hope you can come up with some deflections.”
For many Vols fans, it will be hard not to move on from “what if” the officials had called a 6-point game differently.
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Coach Barnes was his usual classy self but if you digest what he said, even before watching the film, the guy was parked in the lane all day. And these officials where in way over their heads. As a former referee, this game was too big for these referees. They failed to do the basics that as a referee that you should always do. You see 2 colors – in this case, white and orange. You never pay attention to the pedigree or reputation of the players when making a call. Lastly, you rely on simple things — you call traveling and 3 seconds no matter who is guilty of it. They failed in their duties and after the tape is reviewed by their supervisors hopefully none of them will move on to officiate any games in the final four of this tournament.
I also officiated for a number of years. Traveling and lane violations are rarely called anymore at any level. And, of course, carrying the ball is just normal dribbling these days. I’m told calling the game as it was “back in the day” would slow the game down too much and decrease the excitement.
Three seconds and shuffling the feet inside as Edey was guilty of and did most of the night give a decided advantage to a player. Officials failing to enforce the rules are doing a disservice to game. Allowing a large lane player to park in the lane or take an extra step is no better than allowing a guard to take an extra step or carry the ball — both of which were called numerous times doing the SEC season. Again, fifteen proud years of doing it when we only had 2 man crews and I (we) never hesitated to put a stop to guys trying to bend the rules. The minute you made a lane call it would magically stop for the most part. Lastly, when someone tells you that you get two steps in basketball that tells you they don’t have a clue. You do not get 2 steps you get 1 and 1/2 steps….if don’t release the ball before that “2nd” step foot lands, you have travelled. You do have to throw out the NBA because that game has become a farce.
Euro step?? Don’t even go there.
Euro? He’s way not tall enough to be reffed the same way Edey is. Gotta be a least 7’3 or 4 and above. It’s at this point where they don’t need to jump and put the ball in. Riox is 7 foot 7 and will be a Freshman at UF next season. This means he’s tall enough to lay the ball in the rim flat footed. This means he’s a stationary player and there is no defense against that. This mean any attempt to prevent it, foul, no matter what a player does. Edey has to jump what, maybe 4 inches? But any attempted to play a player that tall straight up, is a no win. To make it more fair, raise the goals or re-define what a foul should be on a guy with this kind of advantage. But this is about cheating to sell a product of something that isn’t real or fair and it won’t work in the NBA for Edey the way it’s worked here.
Watching one player shoot 22 free throws in a game is the very definition of “excitement”.
Article was written in October.
Barnes classy as always. Great effort against Purdue and another solid season for the Vols.
Did you see where Edey called out Barnes for not recruiting him?
No I didn’t see that. I imagine that snub list was long for Zach, he was a late developing talent. Look at him now…
There is a new article on it now.
Tennessee fans blaming “the refs”. It is as constant as the North Star
OK Then. We don’t wanta hear it when UCONN kicks that butt.
Reason #159 that basketball is not a respectable sport. The most pointless regular season in all of sports, and inherently subjective rules enforced even more subjectively. It’s a joke of a sport.
If you had won bet you’d be singing a different tune. Of course you didn’t though.
Barnes coaches a physical style of defense. They hold, hand-check, push, body, slap, and slide under shooters. Sometimes you get a set of refs that call that. Probably part of why he has struggled in the tournament.
As I said previously, officials changing the landscape of any sport year after year after year through interpretation and new emphasis on this rule or play philosophy has become absurd and producing a weaker product. It was only a couple decades ago that officials vowed to curb what had become a slow brute force game during the NCAA tournament and return to the “finesse” rules that govern such play. Wow how things have changed! I can’t imagine a young Shaq or Malone up against college players under what was allowed last night.
Edey goes to the NBA he’s going to foul in game one the quickest anyone ever has in the NBA. Literally teaching this guy that what he is doing isn’t a foul by not calling it. He will get frustrated the second someone has the audacity to call fouls on him. lol. A bad look for basketball. And sets a bad example. So, what are other teams doing? Going out looking for super tall centers. Rioux just committed to UF. He’s 7 foot 7 and 17 years old. He’s nearly 4 inches taller than Zack Edey. If the refs are calling games this way with super tall guys, teams are going to go all the way to Europe to get guys 7’3 and over. That’s about the height were almost no jumping is required. Riox can lay the ball in the rim flat footed. By how the refs have called games with Edey, Rioux will never be called for a foul at UF.
All the money in the world say’s Zack Edey will only be told again to commit a push out of bounds foul for his open and only foul he will get against NC State and whomever else they play. This guy with both feet and his drop foot syndrome is the best basketball player ever to play and plays the cleanest game in history. This guy was overlooked by everyone at IMG including Barnes. Why? He fouled, was slow, only 7’3 at the time and had one shot, he did well. Now he has two, a layup and his hook. Edey committed at least 10 fouls, and 3 hooks. And anyone that even looked at him wrong was called for a foul. We’ve never seen this with big men before Edey and how his games are called in his favor, may never see it again but the noise is only going to get louder on Saturday and NC State experiences what TN and other teams have all season. It’s a sham.