Coach's Show Tonight

[Russ Ford]

Watched Coach Gearlds show tonight. She didn't really have a lot to say about the IU game. She was just disappointed in how they really didn't compete after about the first 15 minutes. She had a lot of positive things to say about Chloe Moore-McNeil of IU. Coach called her a great leader and player. I have to say I agree.

She talked a little about each of the Freshmen coming in next year. She said Jordyn Poole has good skill and a flair for the game that fans are going to love. She said Kendall Puryear has good size and is mean, a junkyard dog. A very good rebounder that rebounds out of her area. She kept calling her mean and mentioned she is a black belt. She called Lana McCarthy a skilled post that can finish with either hand and has legit size. She said she is a legit 6'4". She said she expects all three to play early next year. Then her and Tim Newton went on to say that the best Freshman next year may already be on the team. (Amiyah Reynolds)

Coach also talked about the Portal a little. Those of you wanting them to go hard at recruiting the Portal this off season. You may be a little disappointed. She is more interested in stacking good high school recruiting classes one on top of another. Then using the Portal more selectively. She mentioned following the model that Coach Painter uses.

Just a small tidbit I read from Mike Carmin. I guess the coaching staff was thinking of redshirting Sophie Swanson this year because of her knee injury. Sophie nixed that idea....SHE wanted to play this year for the experience. I guess her knee is only 80% right now. They are not expecting it to be 100% until next year. So hopefully those positive flashes we see from her will become the norm once she is 100%.

 

[JeffBoiler]

Thanks for the nice summary here. Good info on Swanson and her knee recovery status. Hopeful for next season as the roster pretty much sheds the remaining Versyp players and becomes CKG’s in toto.

That said, I will really miss Abbey and JT. And the elder Harper who I think played fairly consistent and tough these last 2 years. Those 3 really seemed to embrace CKG’s approach and style and thrived for the first couple years Abbey and JT were the energy-bringers that I hope will be continued by MA and Jones. Maybe this season is the proverbial (ugly) transition from caterpillar to butterfly.

(Man it’s late and I’m not sure where that last sentence came from…😊)

 

[MichaelRR]

I agree with coaches approach, we may not make the NCAA's next season and take our lumps with a team of all underclassmen, but in 2 and 3 years the rest of the league will feel like they are playing a team that has been together for 5 years and we should make enough noise to get ranked and a high NCAA seed.

BTW thank you very much Russ for posting this.

 

[tomgloe]

Thanks for the summary Russ, I watched it last night too and it was nice reassurance to hear CKG talk about stacking classes and then filling a portal player here or there like painter does(lance Jones was mentioned specifically by CKG). She wants girls that love purdue first. I still believe she goes after a portal post this offseason but it obviously has to be someone who fits the culture she's building.

Their strength coach also came on and pointed out Ellis, Jones, and C.Harper as standouts when it comes to strength and conditioning.