in reading the above posts, I believe we can all agree that Painter gets maximum production from the players he signs. and if you look at previous years offers, Painter is a keen judge of talent long before other coaches recognize it. but based on his success, is it too much to ask/wonder why he is not able to sign more elite players? is it because he'd rather coach unselfish 3 stars who are more interested in playing team ball for 4 years? or is it that the elite players realize they won't become instant stars in Painter's system?
I remember both Dan Palombizio and Kyle Macy. Why did they leave? the y wanted to be a star, and neither player was going to be a featured star at Purdue. Could this be the mentality of today's elite athletes? they know coming in, they won't be an immediate featured player. Looking at our current roster, I was obvious Tyger was going to be a back-up for probably two years. Okoro probably saw the same big picture. He wasn't going to start over Haarms or Evan. and he would have competition for playing time from Dow and Williams. I don't blame him for picking Oregon.
I'm not bad mouthing Painter, but don't most elite players currently want immediate playing time if not also being a starter? And if that path is blocked, if yo u were an elite player, wouldn't you sign with a school that would promise you would be a starter? isn't that what Zo did to land Porter?
I'll end with a question. if Porter or JJJ signed with Purdue, do you believe either player would have been our featured player? Would either player even start? What type of production do you believe they would have had in our team oriented motion offense? how many minutes would they have played? Would they have shared minutes with Vince and Haas? or would Vince have moved down to SF? with Dakota coming off the bench?
We complain about Painter not being able to sign JJJ. But in reality, if you were JJJ, would you have wanted to play for Purdue in its current no-star system? if JJJ had come to Purdue, would he have been fully utilized?