MILWAUKEE — As the NCAA Tournament tips off, Purdue literally stands out among the field, as this is the time of year when its unique advantages on the interior matter even more, for better and sometimes maybe even worse.

When Yale coach James Jones was asked about preparing for 7-foot-4, 300-some-pound Zach Edey with mostly 6-7 forwards to throw at him, he was quick with a joke.

"It was genius," Jones said of his plan to simulate Edey's size. "I went out and got a dump truck and brought it to practice, and put it in the middle of the floor and tried to get the guys to move it while I had it in park."

Suffice to say, Yale has not faced size like Purdue's tandem of centers, who'll be the Boilermakers' starting point offensively Friday afternoon when the two teams meet here in Milwaukee in Round 1 of the NCAA Tournament.

"Their size isn't hidden," said Yale guard Azar Swain, who won't be guarding either of those players this weekend. "For us, we're looking inwards and making sure the little things like toughness and physicality aren't going to be lacking, and that we'll be ready to compete regardless of size."

Yale's starting "center" is 6-7, 215-pound Isaiah Kelly, who Jones said is more of "a 3."

That would seem like a problem for Yale, but it may not necessarily simplify things for Edey and Williams either, as they've both encountered some complications during non-conference play, facing smaller people and various help-defense mechanisms smaller frontcourts need to employ.

"Honestly, it's a little tougher because you've kind of got to worry about guys flopping," Williams said, "and ... I don't really know how to explain it, but it just teaches you to be physical with everybody. I would say with the smaller guys, it's different.

"You've got to worry about us being so big, and those little guys kind of get under us. They try to get into us, take our ball. I would say it's tougher with the little guy, whereas with a big dude, you can kind of bang a little bit and be as physical as you want. But that's just how things are with smaller guys. They send doubles a lot, so it just prepares you for whatever they throw at you."

The challenges might apply more to Edey, whose massive-ness can make him vulnerable to squashing smaller post players and susceptible to offensive fouls. The lower a defender's presence, the closer to the ball their hands are when a post player dribbles.

"It's definitely a lot different," Edey said. "Obviously when you have smaller guys on you, they know that, so they'll send double teams at you. They'll tell their guys to try to set up some fouls, so you have to really watch what you're doing with your arms. And even when you do nothing wrong, they just fall over, and you get the foul anyways just because they're smaller. And they're allowed to do a lot of different stuff to you. It's just a different game. Obviously, it's easier to get to the post position. It's easier to back them down. But you just have to worry about a completely different game when you're playing a small guy."

Matt Painter is hopeful his big men will be closely officiated in the NCAA Tournament, one of his frustrations during Big Ten play. His hope lies in his belief that officials who are seeking advancement themselves within this event will enforce the rules to the letter of the law.

It remains to be seen, though.

What's indisputable is that matchups in the post will matter more than any other against virtually anyone the Boilermakers face.

Yale may not necessarily have the frontcourt skill to expose Purdue's size on offense, the way North Texas did last season. The Bulldogs are just a 32.2-percent three-point shooting team and Isaiah Kelly attempted just six all season, making two.

But small ball can be Purdue's vulnerability defensively, and one that the Boilermakers just have to outscore and outrebound at the other end, leveraging their size to the fullest.

In some ways, Edey and Williams will be challenged by different matchup dynamics around the basket.

But in some other ways, there's excitement to get away from the quagmire Big Ten.

"In the Big Ten, most teams have been playing the same style of basketball for like 30 years now, so everyone knows exactly how each other plays," Edey said. "Everyone knows that's what they run. So getting out of that and teams have to play us on like a two- or three-day scout, it's going to be a lot different.

"There's going to be a lot more things to help because people don't have all that time to prepare for us. It's tough. It's hard to simulate some of the things that we have on this team. I'm looking forward to getting that fresh feel that we had at the beginning of the season before we started the Big Ten play."

That's Yale's challenge on Friday.

"You can talk about it as much as you want, but you can't simulate it," Jones said. "What you can do is talk to your guys about focusing on what their jobs are.

"We've talked a lot about squeezing the floor and making ot tougher, holding your ground and and doing your work early, understanding they run a lot of misdirection plays to get the ball inside to Edey and everything he does Is about trying to get deep position at the basket."

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