The real complaints should be on how the team was constructed. This whole team was predicated on Edey being dominant in the post and kicking out to open shooters when teams doubled. There was no plan B and no other real option since the guards and wings were not good enough to generate good shots on their own. Edey and the rest of the team with him were exposed when he couldn't simply elbow his defender out of the way every time and score at will. Painter's inability to recruit a talented guard or wing scorer to take some pressure off Edey doomed this team. They were fortunate to get a good draw in the tournament that didn't expose them earlier. They were also extremely fortunate that Edey avoided foul trouble and injuries all season.
IMO, there wasn't much Painter was going to do in the game that would have made any real difference. UCONN was a much better team and Purdue really couldn't stop them consistently, thanks in large part to Edey's inability to guard anyone in space. Of course it didn't help that Purdue's guards couldn't stop or even slow the drives that carved them up. UCONN missed a lot of open shots as well which made the game seem far closer than it really was.
