"He's a great player," Edey said of Knecht. "I never fought Dalton. Purdue vs. Tennessee. Both of us were needed throughout the game. We both came. We won."
As they prepared for the rematch, Volunteers coach Rick Barnes and his players suggested the refereeing had made Edey impossible to control. Tennessee committed 30 fouls and Purdue attempted 48 free throws in the opening game.
Six fouls in the first seven minutes of Sunday's game, largely as players tried to throw a body on Edey, looked familiar to the Vols. Tennessee had 18 fouls with eight minutes left Sunday and 25 total.
While celebrating, Edey lifted the security rope around the squad and went to the stands, where he found a fan's "Happy Edey-Ster," a play on "Happy Easter." To sign the placard, the 7-foot-4 star requested a pen.
He cut the net without a ladder. Then he gave a piece of the net to former Purdue coach Gene Keady, who won 512 games and coached Painter from 1989 to 1993. "You've always got to pay respect to those that came first," Edey. "He built it. We understand. His aid set this up. Paying him back and giving him a piece of the net is the least I can do."
Last season, Painter's team traveled 3½ hours from Columbus, Ohio, to West Lafayette, Indiana, and he took six pages of notes on the mistakes that led to their first-round loss.
“The whole evolution of a coach beating himself up,” Painter added. "When others criticize you, you don't like living with yourself. That's bad. Just a game. You feel it. Really how you feel." But Painter has made his first Final Four appearance, and last season is behind him.
He held his palm high and gazed around Little Caesars Arena for a moment or two after the game while on that ladder, knowing his team's next flight is to Glendale, Arizona, for the Final Four. "You feel a lot of different people coming at you," Painter said of the program's year. "Be steadfast in your beliefs. We had strong opinions about how we played and did things. Just thrilled for our squad."
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