Purdue's season has officially started. Europe was traveled. Summer is gone. Now, Purdue and Matt Painter enter the final preparations for a season with unprecedented expectations. Purdue is ranked no worse than the #4 team in the country off the heels of a first round upset in the NCAA Tournament.
As Painter said after practice today, that's a story, a real one, and one he expects to be brought up a lot this season. Part of getting over that loss is accepting it happened.
But before games can be won or lost, there's practice. While Purdue has already played in Europe and practiced most the summer and start of semester, this is the official start when it comes to practice and we were allowed to watch the entire two hours of action.
Here's a couple thoughts and observations from today's practice, and most importantly, some more great Matt Painter Quotes:
- Matt Painter is as dedicated to details as ever. In the first drill he had his team run, he was seen walking from group to group, yelling instructions, imploring his guys to sprint through cuts to get to their spots in time so when the ball got to them in the corner they were stepping into the shot instead of backing up into the shot. (His emphasis about his team at the end of last season was their loss of confidence, particularly on offense, with their shooting, and little details like this early are some of the things he wants to ingrain into his guys from day one.)
- Another early point of emphasis is getting rebounds and getting them into guards hands - particularly Jones and Smith - and not standing around waiting for the ball if you're not a guard. In Europe Painter was not pleased with the amount of wings and bigs looking back, waiting for the ball or watching as rebounds were grabbed and then taken up the floor. Instead, he wants those guys sprinting right away to get into position for transition and early offense.
- Defensively, though Furst and TKR would later practice dropping on pick and rolls, it was Berg alone that was allowed to drop. With TKR and Furst, Painter wanted his two athletic bigs to hedge hard and recover.
- Lance Jones has some juice. His ability to put his foot on the ground, lower his head, and burst around a defender is something Purdue didn't have outside of Smith last season. It has the potential to entirely change the dynamic on the floor for Purdue. He also looked great against the press, something Purdue again focuses on in every practice. He was dynamic with the ball, comfortably switching directions, and keeping the ball in the middle of the court.
- Injuries, Injuries, Injuries - First Edey was out with another concussion, something he had early in last year's first practice. Then Myles Colvin appeared to tweak a hip or his side causing him to wince visibly, limp a little, and not be able to go through the final parts of the practice. Then Camden Heide stepped on TKR's foot causing what appeared to be a twist or sprain. TKR did return a few plays later though.
Now to the best part of practice, Painter's ability to inflict quotes to his team. Here are some of the best quotes without context (happy to provide afterwards if you're curious):
"Move the effing basketball."
"Have some fight to you."
"It's easy against you guys."
"Your guys' personality can't be your competitive personalities."
"I don't know why the f- you guys are casual."
"You guys get in trouble when you get off your rules."
"It's hard to help other people when you're thinking about yourself."
Videos and more to come tomorrow morning.
As Painter said after practice today, that's a story, a real one, and one he expects to be brought up a lot this season. Part of getting over that loss is accepting it happened.
But before games can be won or lost, there's practice. While Purdue has already played in Europe and practiced most the summer and start of semester, this is the official start when it comes to practice and we were allowed to watch the entire two hours of action.
Here's a couple thoughts and observations from today's practice, and most importantly, some more great Matt Painter Quotes:
- Matt Painter is as dedicated to details as ever. In the first drill he had his team run, he was seen walking from group to group, yelling instructions, imploring his guys to sprint through cuts to get to their spots in time so when the ball got to them in the corner they were stepping into the shot instead of backing up into the shot. (His emphasis about his team at the end of last season was their loss of confidence, particularly on offense, with their shooting, and little details like this early are some of the things he wants to ingrain into his guys from day one.)
- Another early point of emphasis is getting rebounds and getting them into guards hands - particularly Jones and Smith - and not standing around waiting for the ball if you're not a guard. In Europe Painter was not pleased with the amount of wings and bigs looking back, waiting for the ball or watching as rebounds were grabbed and then taken up the floor. Instead, he wants those guys sprinting right away to get into position for transition and early offense.
- Defensively, though Furst and TKR would later practice dropping on pick and rolls, it was Berg alone that was allowed to drop. With TKR and Furst, Painter wanted his two athletic bigs to hedge hard and recover.
- Lance Jones has some juice. His ability to put his foot on the ground, lower his head, and burst around a defender is something Purdue didn't have outside of Smith last season. It has the potential to entirely change the dynamic on the floor for Purdue. He also looked great against the press, something Purdue again focuses on in every practice. He was dynamic with the ball, comfortably switching directions, and keeping the ball in the middle of the court.
- Injuries, Injuries, Injuries - First Edey was out with another concussion, something he had early in last year's first practice. Then Myles Colvin appeared to tweak a hip or his side causing him to wince visibly, limp a little, and not be able to go through the final parts of the practice. Then Camden Heide stepped on TKR's foot causing what appeared to be a twist or sprain. TKR did return a few plays later though.
Now to the best part of practice, Painter's ability to inflict quotes to his team. Here are some of the best quotes without context (happy to provide afterwards if you're curious):
"Move the effing basketball."
"Have some fight to you."
"It's easy against you guys."
"Your guys' personality can't be your competitive personalities."
"I don't know why the f- you guys are casual."
"You guys get in trouble when you get off your rules."
"It's hard to help other people when you're thinking about yourself."
Videos and more to come tomorrow morning.
