Zach Edey calls out Rick Barnes for passing on him during recruiting
Zach Edey isn’t known for fiery, showy displays of emotion on the floor. He often lets his talent do the talking.
Controlling games is nothing new for Edey. College basketball fans who don’t watch Purdue until March have been in awe of the Boilermaker big man’s dominance in the NCAA Tournament.
After making some Elite 8 history in leading Purdue past Tennessee, Edey offered a peek into what fuels him. He may not always show it, but Edey plays with a burning fire to silence doubters.
Edey dropped an f-bomb in his CBS Sports postgame interview recalling Purdue’s doubters.
“They thought they knew us. They thought they knew what we had in our hearts,” Edey said to Evan Washburn. “I’ll promise you they didn’t. We’re f—– winners. This is what we do.”
“They thought they knew what we had in our hearts. I’ll promise you they didn’t. We’re f—— winners. This what we do.”
Zach Edey was FIRED UP with @EvanWashburn ? pic.twitter.com/JbwCF1dJAQ
— CBS Sports (@CBSSports) March 31, 2024
In his postgame press conference, Edey talked of being motivated by payback.
“There are so many coaches that looked over me,” Edey said. “Like you can name a program, I can name a coach that looked over me.
“At Tennessee, Rick Barnes is a great coach, but he was in a bunch of our practices, looked over me. Like, it’s kind of been the story of my life. People have doubted me. People have looked past me, and can’t do that anymore.”
“There are so many coaches that looked over me… At Tennessee, Rick Barnes is a great coach… but looked over me”
Zach Edey on his journey to the #MFinalFour pic.twitter.com/RqOAqwIwUb
— NCAA March Madness (@MarchMadnessMBB) March 31, 2024
RELATED: The Vols are out of the NCAA Tournament, but SEC baseball action is heating up in April! Be sure to track the latest odds and get in on the action with SDS’s legal sports betting apps in Tennessee.
Edey has a point about being looked over. His 247Sports recruiting profile shows that even at 7-3, 290 pounds, he was a 3-star prospect rated the No. 75 center and No. 33 player in the state of Florida out of the IMG Academy.
Just 3 programs offered scholarships to Edey: Purdue, Baylor and Western Kentucky.
As Barnes returns to Knoxville with his 9th season at Tennessee in the books without a trip to the Final Four, he probably wishes he had recruited Edey.
For Matt Painter and Purdue, everything worked out just right.
“calls out Rick Barnes”
you guys have to try to sensationalize everything. Ok he called him out for overlooking him when he was in high school and probably didnt show much. As he said, so did many others… How many overlooked Dalton Knecht? Barnes may have when he was in high school too but not last season. Good players get overlooked all the time by lots of coaches. Win some, lose some… Edey still a kid and comments are heat of the moment after a huge win. Nothing wrong with that. The writers trying to make it into something by making it sound like he called him out for disparaging remarks is just so typical of todays media, everywhere on everything. Desperation.
Barnes knew an Asian would not be acceptable at Tennessee with the fan base
What a completely ignorant comment but then again, I expect that from Kentucky inbred.
YOUR LIVING PROOF KENTUCKY IS FULL OF INBREDS
Yeah we want a Iowa girls type team
Give him credit-he showed up. Aidoo didn’t and needs to be shown the door (if UNC and Kansas are still interested after seeing his garbage performance after the round of 64). I’d much rather develop Estrella and recruit someone who isn’t scared of the big stage at post. If Awaka doesn’t learn to stop getting dumb reach-in fouls then he needs to accept Pitino’s offer. You’ve got a great PG time to fill in some pieces around him that are consistent and finally have a complete team at UTjr
Oskie, I couldn’t disagree more. Aidoo was a bad match-up physically with Edey, for sure, but TN wouldn’t have been playing in the elite 8 if not for him. He developed a ton between last year and this. He gave up 60 pounds to Edey and was simply a bad match up.
I agree it was a terrible matchup but Aidoo looked consistently bad in every tournament game except the first round and got outplayed yesterday by a true freshman with much less experience and conditioning. Aidoo during much of the regular season was part of our three main scorers but I can’t think of an instance where he faced a physical 5 and was dominant. He lost to Edey twice, MSst twice, SC once, and performed poorly against Broome at Auburn, Texas, and the Creighton guy. He got benched vs the latter two. Did he development this year over last year, probably. Did his soft nature and lack of consistency when the game got physical cost us a one seed? Probably so. If you want to keep momentum, you need better play, physicality, and consistency at that position and I think Aidoo is too soft, injury prone, and inconsistent. The one critique i have on Barnes is that his over reliance on Aidoo and lack of recruiting at post put a huge limitation on the season to where you couldn’t beat teams with a dominant big man. That being said, Barnes evolved his coaching a lot and made the right call in going all in on Knecht. He had a great year.
Even the referees overlooked him…
Crazy how the refs are out to hose Tennessee in every sport.
I’m not happy with the officiating where Edey is concerned.
In spite of that, if Tennessee hits a few more of their shots, then we’re in Phoenix. Heck, they only trailed by a bucket with about 3 to go. That’s when Purdue hit only their 3rd (of 15 attempts) 3-point shot which was YUUGE.
These guys gave their all for Tennessee and I can’t ask for more.
Oh snap! UT passed on him, and he vowed to never let them beat him…. He has finished his deed.
Anyone who watches basketball said these refs were a joke I do wish DJ Burns would’ve stayed at TN or Uros or O Nkomou or Huntley Hatfield Aidoo soft as toilet paper and Awaka can’t score
Why does it seem, at least to me anyways, UT can’t get an elite big man for nothing. If this team had a half @$$ big, they would still be in it.
Edey is perfect for that classless purdoo program. GO PACK GO! Anyways, if purdoo gets by NCST, UCONN awaits. Bye by Edey.
YOUR LIVING PROOF KENTUCKY IS FULL OF INBREDS