Here's an important public service announcement for college basketball fans who are just now noticing that Purdue, currently on a 14-game winning streak and ranked No. 3 in the nation, is a really, really good team, and a team that absolutely ought to be considered a national title contender:
Their top two scorers are not brothers.
In fact, the bulldog sophomore combo guard Carsen Edwards and the versatile senior wing Vincent Edwards are not related in any way. At least not any way that they know of.
"People always think we're brothers – brothers, cousins, something," said Carsen Edwards.
"But honestly, we have family in Houston," Vincent Edwards said, "so when he told me he's from Houston, I was like, 'Somewhere down that line, we crossed.' "
Vincent Edwards, the pride of Middletown, Ohio, remembers the first time he met Carsen Edwards, the pride of Atascocita, Texas. It was when Purdue was recruiting the younger, shorter Carsen Edwards. "When he pulled up and came in the gym when he was getting recruited, I was like, 'What's up, fam?' " The relationship only became ever-so-slightly fraught when Vincent Edwards realized he was going to need a "V" on the back of his jersey now.
You can be forgiven for thinking Purdue's two Edwardses were related, even though they look or play nothing alike. Because this entire Purdue squad – pardon the cliché – feels like a family. That's what happens when four of your top five scorers have been playing together for four collegiate seasons, and the fifth player in that group, Carsen Edwards, is the type of mature leader who can adjust to whichever team he's put on.
"It's family – really, this team is like family," Vincent Edwards said. "Having someone like Carsen has shaped and changed so much about how we play. College basketball, the game is evolving. Carsen, in high school he got up and down, pressed all game. He really changed who we are as a team. Instead of him adapting to us, I think we needed to adapt to him. And we did. It ended up making us better."
The numbers on this Purdue team are remarkable, and lend credence to the connected nature of this group. The Boilermakers are the only team in college basketball ranked in the top 10 in both offensive and defensive efficiency (sixth in offensive efficiency, fifth in defensive efficiency, per KenPom.com). Since Carsen Edwards came a year ago, Purdue has been among the best 3-point shooting teams in the nation. This season they are hitting 3-pointers at a 42.6 percent rate, third in the nation. Their connected defense funnels ball-handlers toward their two seven-footers, senior Isaac Haas and freshman Matt Haarms, making scoring against Purdue close to the hoop one of the more difficult tasks in college basketball. Purdue is one of the nation's best shot-blocking and shot-altering teams; opponents only shoot 40.5 percent from 2-point range against Purdue, the fourth-best rate in the nation. And the defense excels at defending without fouling; only five teams nationally have a lower defensive free-throw rate.
The familial nature of this Purdue team – the fact that these players have literally grown up together in West Lafayette, Indiana – is a good story, and is likely the key to this team's success. But great teams need star players, and Purdue has two of them in the Edwards brothe- … er, in Vincent Edwards and Carsen Edwards, the two unrelated guys with the same last name.
Carsen Edwards, who is averaging a team-high 17 points per game, is one of the most relentless players in all of college basketball. It may not surprise you that in his first sport, football, he was a running back and linebacker. He plays with the energy you'd expect from a guy who has found enormous collegiate success despite not being even a top-75 recruit; he led a star-studded USA team in assists and was one of six players scoring in double digits during the FIBA Under 19 tournament in Egypt last summer.
"I like to prove people wrong, and there's a lot of people I want to prove wrong," Carsen Edwards said. "Growing up, there was a lot of things said, a lot of things said coming out of high school. Not tall enough. My size. The level I'm playing at – they don't believe I can play at this level. So it's trying to prove people wrong."
Vincent Edwards, who is second on the team in points (14.7 per game) and first in rebounds (8.1 per game), is considered a versatile NBA wing prospect. He nearly put his name in the NBA Draft a year ago; it wasn't until the very last day when he decided to stay for a senior season. He wanted to make his parents proud by getting his degree, and he decided his game needed some refining before jumping to the next level. Thinking about the NBA is easier this year than it was a year before; when he was a junior, there was a choice to make, but this season he knows will be his final go-round in college. And he wants to leave the biggest legacy possible at Purdue: Make a Final Four, not gobble up the stats in pursuit of brightening his NBA profile.
"I just know I need to step up and help the team win in any way that may be, whether it's rebounding or making an extra pass, or playing defense, talking to the team, or trying to push them, trying to give them advice," Vincent Edwards said. "I don't think of this as my team. That's not really how I am. I'm all about my teammates."
That's one reason why I have believed in Purdue since before the season as a potential Final Four team: You don't frequently see elite high-major teams with this much experience together. And you don't always see teams with this much experience together who truly seem to enjoy being around each other. I know it's a cliché, but this Purdue team really does have the feeling of being a family.
Even if they're not actually related.
