Why it's not completely accurate that Rick Barnes 'overlooked' Purdue's Zach Edey during the recruiting process
After Purdue's win against the Tennessee Vols on Sunday in the Elite Eight, Boilermakers center Zach Edey answered a question about cutting down the nets with a reference to his recruitment and UT head coach Rick Barnes. Edey suggested that he was overlooked by numerous college coaches during his recruitment, including Barnes. "There are so […]
After Purdue's win against the Tennessee Vols on Sunday in the Elite Eight, Boilermakers center Zach Edey answered a question about cutting down the nets with a reference to his recruitment and UT head coach Rick Barnes.
Edey suggested that he was overlooked by numerous college coaches during his recruitment, including Barnes.
"There are so many coaches that looked over me," said Edey. "You can name a program, I can name a coach that looked over me. At Tennessee, Rick Barnes is a great coach, he was in a bunch of our practices, he looked over me. It's kind of the been the story of my life. People have doubted me, people looked past me. Can't do that anymore."
It's true that Barnes was at several of Edey's high school practices. But that's because Edey played at IMG Academy alongside 2020 Vols signee Jaden Springer, a five-star recruit who spent one season at Tennessee before making the jump to the NBA. Brandon Huntley-Hatfield, a four-star recruit who signed with the Vols during the 2022 recruiting cycle, was also at IMG when Edey was there. Additionally, future Duke center Mark Williams (a first round NBA draft pick in 2022) and UNC forward Armando Bacot were at IMG when Edey was a recruit.
Barnes wasn't out on the road trying to find talented basketball players. That's not how recruiting works these days. Instead, Barnes was recruiting Springer, checking in on how his elite five-star commit was doing, and pursuing highly-rated players in future recruiting classes like Huntley-Hatfield. Basketball isn't like football where you can just take a flier on a three-star recruit who is tall, which is what Edey was at the time.
Edey didn't receive more attention because he didn't receive much playing time at IMG because he was raw and he was playing behind more talented recruits. That's why he was "overlooked", not because coaches like Barnes couldn't recognize his talent.
Plus, there's the fact that Tennessee had Uroš Plavšić on the roster when Edey signed with Purdue. Plavšić, who is 7-foot-1, was a former four-star recruit who played for the Vols from 2019 to 2023. In retrospect, Edey turned out to be the better player. But it's easy to see how Tennessee thought they were set at the center position for a few years.
There are only so many scholarships to offer in basketball. And you can't sign every talented player in the nation. Edey played at IMG and he landed at Purdue, a prominent program. He had opportunities most high school players can only dream of. If he has to use the idea that he was "overlooked" as motivation, then so be it. I get it. That's what elite competitors do — they find a way to make it personal. But his source of motivation isn't an accurate narrative when it comes to Rick Barnes and Tennessee.
