Any word on Kendall Stephens...
- Thread starter Professor Emeritus
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If the AJ issue at the beginning of the season is any indication, we won't know any more on his status until we either see him suited up on the sideline or it is announced that he has left the team.
Life had to be a lot easier and privacy a lot less difficult to maintain for coaches and players before idiot Al Gore invented this internet thing.
Painter said he won't be in Minnesota and that he and Kendall would talk again on Thursday. He isn't being punished or off the team just something Kendall is still dealing with.
Thanks Heller for passing on the news...and for keeping it balanced and in-perspective. Best wishes KS
I'm just hoping that Kendall isn't thinking about leaving the program due to this incident and the lack of playing time / development he has had. He still is one of our best perimeter defenders, and one of the most talented players on our team. The only negative thing about him is that he has a very bad tendency to launch bad 3 pointers out of the flow of our offense. It kills the momentum and gives the opposing team easy transition buckets.
Nailed it! And, he seems to not learn and improve from that bad behavior. I sincerely hope he gets through whatever he's dealing with on a personal level as I don't wish anything bad on a Boiler Player or fan. A death in the family or inner circle of close folks is tough. But, that shot selection is my biggest point of frustration with him.
Dude's a gamer. We need gamers. I'll take a guy with a quick trigger of one who never looks at the rim any DAY.
If he stays, he stays and if he leaves, he leaves. Lets hope that the rumors are just that (ie rumors). As I always have, and always will with players that give so much for the team, I will blindly support any decision he makes and wish him the best. I hope he is healing and will be back with us soon but real life happens, some times in big ways, and should remind us that no matter how much we love the game, that is still just that, a game.
A quick trigger nor one who never looks at the rim is good for the team. Both are bad. IMO. Not buying "Dude's a gamer" either. He's streaky and mostly cold.
We have a lot that are mostly cold. Not afraid to shoot and pulls the defender out to guard him. Sagging off a guy who's afraid to shoot and not a threat is bad.
If they sag off? That's not a bad shot. A wide open, squared up, in the flow of the offense after a few passes is fine. I'm talking one pass and jack up a contested long range bomb. Or some off balance damn near sideways shot. I've grown tired of those sad looking shots you know aren't likely to hit the rim. Like the shot clock is nearing .00 thrown up shot. Unacceptable.
There's some of that for sure but the defense is respecting the shooter so it does spread the floor. KS has reigned in the circus stuff quite a bit but some won't acknowledge that. He is streaky and capable of making several in a row. A lot of his shots are 1/2 way down and his release and rotation look good. It's all about confidence and attitude. Some come in ready to go and confident they can make a shot. Others are timid and pass up a ton of good looks. Some can feed the post. Some can't. One thing we are for sure is inconsistent.
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Could we please not talk about his game right now?
One of the most talented for sure, but also one of our most inconsistent and too many times least productive.
My oldest daughter's best friend committed suicide during final s week of her sophomore year. She dropped out of Purdue the following year. (A few years later she did get her degree) It was a rough couple of years after that. I appreciate Painter giving him time cause that's what he needs. My thoughts and prayers are with Kendall, as I'm sure the loss of a close friend in the middle of the season both are weighing heavy on his mind.
No matter the results on the court I'm hopeful Boiler Nation shows him nothing but support. We all must remember he's still a young man facing a tough time.
No matter the results on the court I'm hopeful Boiler Nation shows him nothing but support. We all must remember he's still a young man facing a tough time.
I don't think it was necessary. I also thought it was hypocritical for them to write that in their article, and then proceed to remove a thread speculating the same stuff.
They know how people take information and run with it - putting that out there as some very general/vague statement did not provide anything useful, in my opinion.
I know this stuff hits really hard....I had it happen to me about 6 years back with a dear friend passing away in a freak car accident....but it made me sack up and work harder to more positively touch those in my life and strive harder to reach my goals in my short time here on earth.
I think the LAST thing this kid needs is time alone and the LAST thing this kid needs is to quit basketball and leave the normalcy of his daily, current life. Can't let one tragedy lead to another (in this case...not getting a degree or not finishing out a season or career to the best of his ability).
This kid needs some prodding in the right direction and support at this moment IMO. Suggesting he quits or even Painter letting him quit or continue to sit out is just leading this kid down the wrong path.
I think the LAST thing this kid needs is time alone and the LAST thing this kid needs is to quit basketball and leave the normalcy of his daily, current life. Can't let one tragedy lead to another (in this case...not getting a degree or not finishing out a season or career to the best of his ability).
This kid needs some prodding in the right direction and support at this moment IMO. Suggesting he quits or even Painter letting him quit or continue to sit out is just leading this kid down the wrong path.
I think he has very good and supportive parents. He's known as a gym rat - I don't think it's that he's being "steered" in any wrong direction by people around him.
That's kind of my point. They shouldn't let him be the one doing the steering at this point when he's so emotional.
But you don't know what they are doing or saying right now so why say this stuff?
As a parent Kendall's situation reminds me a lot of one my son went through his first year in college. We lived in KY for 3 years and he became like a brother to a boy that lived about 2 miles away. We lived in the country so it was hunting, fishing, camping, 4 wheelers, girls, and beers stolen from one Dad or the other's fridge. They grew from boys to young men during those years. Unfortunately his friend had a genetic condition that caused problems with bone growth and was increasingly in pain. Life expectancy was about 40. We moved away and they still were able to stay in contact and spend a couple of weeks together each summer. My son went to ISU and his friend was taking classes at Murray State and they started to drift apart. We got a call from ISU and Scott needed to come home. His friend had been found in a rundown hotel in Nashville dead of an overdose. Apparently he had started down that road after pain meds weren't enough. After the funeral Scott was full of guilt. "If only I'd been there I could have saved him and helped him." He ended up dropping out of school and kind of wandered for a year or so trying to drink the memories away. Fortunately he met a girl with strong will who could see what could be instead of what was and he prospered and is a very successful father today. I don't know what happened to Kendall's friend but I do know that when you're in your early 20s a year is 5% of your life so if you were friends since elementary school that person has been a big part of over 50% of your life. I wish Kendall well and hope he can return and have great success in life. His life is more important to me at this time than what he can or cannot do for this team and if we all take stock of our own lives and losses we've had we may understand that a little bit better.
I'm not going to speculate about how anyone is feeling or what he is thinking. Just thought I would post this quote from yesterday's News-Sentinel article as it seems to indicate KS & MP had a basic outline of how this time off would work & things appear to be progressing according to that plan:
“We had a good talk (on Monday),” Painter said. “We looked at taking two to three days off and process it. We thought it would take a week. We’ll talk again on Thursday morning to see how he’s doing and how he’s able to handle things and how the time away has helped him.”
“We had a good talk (on Monday),” Painter said. “We looked at taking two to three days off and process it. We thought it would take a week. We’ll talk again on Thursday morning to see how he’s doing and how he’s able to handle things and how the time away has helped him.”
I have always been a big KS fan. I went to Purdue when his Dad played for us. I am hoping for the best for Kendall to get through this. He has the rest of this year and all summer to prepare for what could be a great senior year! He has had a tough road at Purdue with injuries, the pressure to perform and now this tragic loss of a friend, but I am hopeful he will persevere and make the best of the opportunities ahead of him.
I find Brian to have a pretty good read on things, and for the most part he seems cautious while at the same time giving pretty good hints. History tells us that any time a player leaves the team in the middle of the season for any reason....typically that player ends up leaving the team. This in no way means the pain of losing his friend is not real. That said, if KS was playing 25+ minutes a game with an integral role in the team....I'm not sure he would miss 2 games in the middle of the season. There are always exceptions, and perhaps this is the case.
But from a pure distant basketball perspective, it seems rational for KS to believe that he is not going to be a big part of Purdue's future plans. It's rare that a player who is more than half way through his Jr season with diminishing minutes ends up making a big impact going forward. It's not like he hasn't been given a big chance with plenty of time on the court. It's not unfair to say he is a one-dimensional player. That's not to say he's "bad" in other areas. He's become a better passer and defender, but not stellar in either one to have an impact. He hardly ever creates/makes a shot off the dribble. He's a spot-up, long ranges shooter....period. And that is a very valuable role IF YOU ARE REALLY GOOD AT IT. But if you are streaky and your percentage is no better than guys who are less one dimensional (Mathias)....well, at this point in your career you are no longer going to get the minutes to prove yourself. You already have proven yourself. This is the reality of college sports in a top 5 conference, and it's not unfair. It just is what it is.
It will certainly be interesting to see what he ends up doing. There's at least one kid on every high-level D1 team in his situation....many times 2 or 3. I sincerely wish him the best in what he's going through. And whatever he decides, I'm all for it. It's his life.
I don't think looking into it that much will really be useful for anyone outside of the people involved. You also cannot say we had a player who lost their best friend to an unexpected death. So to treat them as all the same is not helpful to anyone.
+1. Leaving your routine for a prolonged period of time is the exact wrong thing to do if that is indeed the sole reason he's gone.
Unless you have had a child who has gone through this, or are a professional child psychologist dealing with this kind of trauma, then you have no idea what is "best" for Kendall. It's why schools regularly bring in experts when a tragedy happens to a classmate.
I don't think any professional worth their salt would tell the kid to quit the team, quit school and deal with it by removing themselves from their comfort zone.
As I said, I personally have gone through this and its super tough and debilitating....but at some point you have to get up and continue working towards your goals.
I strongly assume Kendall will be back, but if something like this stops his career that would be a true shame for him. Letting one tragedy lead into another.
I dealt with it myself in my junior year at Purdue. Like I said in the thread that got zapped, my worst times in dealing with it was when I was alone with my thoughts.
And when you and TC were going through this a ton of people who didn't know you commented on a public message board about you and gave you unsolicited advice without knowing any details. That would have been beneficial? My kids went through this twice, one suicide, one kid murdered. They barely talked to us about it and still don't want to talk about either one of the situations. But I can say that this would not have been helpful to a grieving child immediately after it happened.
IMO, it is very unlikely he would transfer, sit out a year, and play his last remaining year of eligibility elsewhere.He can still have a major impact on this program.
