It’s obvious which posters on this board have connections to the program and which posters have no clue.
Every team has a culture. And every fan of team thinks their culture is superior and unique to most other schools.
Purdue isn't a paragon of which only a handful of kids can play. It's also not a cesspool like some schools are for sure.
Each team needs to find players who will accept roles and fit team chemistry. That's not unique to Purdue. I'm sure Painter would do his best to find those players. I'm also sure those players are as likely to exist in the portal as they are out of high school.
I'm also sure that Painter isn't perfect in figuring that out. Catchings didn't come from the portal and yet turned out he wasn't a culture fit. It happens. No blame to Painter because again it's impossible to be perfect in assessing that.
I just think folks here have hyper moralized the portal as being filled with potential cancers because some don't like the very concept of the portal.
It's simply another source of talent. The same risks and benefits exist there as in high school recruiting. If a high school recruit appeared in the radar for next season that had a lot of talent people wouldn't be asking whose minutes they might take and maybe we shouldn't take them because we are "loaded."
Jones last season could have gone other places and he didn't come here guaranteed a starting role. He fit in just fine and yeah Heide or Colvin didn't start likely because of it. And turned out ok. If someone in the portal can make this team better and someone here plays less minutes the problem is what exactly?
