Big Ten Daily (Feb. 27): Painter Says 'No Window' for Edey to Return to Purdue Next Season

Because of the additional year of eligibility due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Zach Edey technically could return to Purdue for the 2024-25 college basketball season. Boilermakers coach Matt Painter put any ideas of that thought to bed this week.

Zach Edey's career at Purdue will not extend past this season. Boilermakers coach Matt Painter provided the update in a podcast interview with college basketball insider Jon Rothstein, saying there's "no window" for the 7-foot-4 center to return to West Lafayette.

I'll let you go ahead and catch your breath. I'm sure you're stunned by the news.

Yes, Edey has been at Purdue for four years but technically has one season of eligibility remaining because of the Covid-19 pandemic. The NCAA granted all student-athletes one additional year of eligibility for that year.

Painter was quick to shut down the idea of Edey returning to West Lafayette for the 2024-25 season.

"No, this is his last year at Purdue," Painter said. "No window. No window. This is it."

Edey is on his way to winning back-to-back National Player of the Year honors, claiming the award last season. He would become the first player since Virginia's Ralph Sampson (1981-83) to win the award in consecutive years.

This season, Edey is averaging 23.7 points, 11.8 rebounds, and 2.2 blocks per game. The Boilermakers currently own a 25-3 record with a 14-3 mark in the Big Ten. 

After last season, Edey tested the NBA waters but ultimately decided to return to Purdue. As good as the big man was a year ago, Painter believes the reigning National Player of the Year has gotten even better.

"It's been great, just because he's really disputed the stereotypical things they say about guys that size," Painter said. "He can move, he can rebound out of his area, he can defend in pick-and-roll. He actually can shoot on the perimeter ... he just causes such a problem for college basketball.

"He puts in the work. He's very unselfish, he's competitive, he goes after every rebound ... He does a good job of knowing what's going on."

Very few people believed there was a chance Edey would return for the 2024-25 season. But Painter completely closed that window pretty tight, then locked it for good measure.

Wright denies interest in Ohio State job

Jay Wright will not be coming out of retirement to take the job at Ohio State. The former Villanova coach said he has no aspirations of returning to the sideline at any point.

Since the Buckeyes moved on from Chris Holtmann, a number of candidates have surfaced as potential replacements in Columbus. Wright, who led Villanova to four Final Fours and two national championships, told Adam Jardy of The Columbus Dispatch that he doesn't have interest in the job.

“[Ohio State] has an outstanding athletic department, great tradition and fertile recruiting ground,” Wright said. “It would be a great job, but I’m definitely done coaching.”

Other names mentioned include Sean Miller (Xavier), Dusty May (Florida Atlantic), Lamont Paris (South Carolina) and Mick Cronin (UCLA).

Wright posted a career 642-282 record between stops at Hofstra (1994-2001) and Villanova (2002-22).

Since moving on from Holtmann, interim coach Jake Diebler has led the Buckeyes to a 2-1 mark with wins over No. 2 Purdue and Michigan State.

Bilas' wild court-storming 'solution'

The controversy surrounding court storms has been a major topic of conversation this season. It started with Matt Painter saying Big Ten schools needed better plans in place to get teams off the court after a Purdue loss to Nebraska, in which fans rushed the floor.

More was made of court storming after Iowa superstar Caitlin Clark collided with an Ohio State fan following a Buckeyes' win over the Hawkeyes in Columbus. Clark was fine, but said the wind was knocked out of her.

Things came to a boiling point last weekend, when Duke's Kyle Filipowski was injured after the Blue Devils' loss to Wake Forest, in which students stormed the floor. 

ESPN analyst Jay Bilas has been against fans coming onto the floor after games. He's entitled to his opinion, but his solution regarding the situation feels a bit extreme.

“Security experts tell (schools) it’s not a good idea to stop the court-storming, that that could cause more problems than it solves. You don’t have to stop the court storming. One time, all you have to do is once they’re on the court, don’t let them off,” Bilas said on ESPN. “Just say, ‘You’re all detained’ and give them all citations or arrest them if you want to. And then court stormings will stop the next day.”

Should better protocol be in place? Absolutely. Do we need to ban court stormings and detain or arrest anyone who rushed the floor? Probably not.

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