QUESTION (paraphrased): Why hasn't Purdue been able to recruit a point guard capable of securing that position?
ANSWER: Yeah, that's been a sore spot for Purdue, kind of the way quarterback has been for football, and those are positions where experience and continuity would seem to matter.
Purdue is in its third consecutive spring looking for fifth-year help at the position, even though P.J. Thompson comes in as a junior and Carsen Edwards comes in as a freshman. In a perfect world, I think, you'd have another experienced player at that position to go along with Thompson in addition to something a little different, in addition to the ability to not have to throw Edwards into the fire too quickly. He is going to be making some challenging adjustments at the college level, as any guard would.
In the short term, the single biggest thing Purdue needs is for someone to develop into that player who wants the ball at the end of games to make plays that mean the difference between winning and losing. As solid as Thompson was this season in so many ways, there's room for growth there, and Purdue needs that growth, not just from the point guard, but from everyone who may have a say in such things. But it always starts at point guard, generally viewed as the position that sets the tone from poise and leadership perspectives.
Purdue's been relying on new players for too much of it of late and will do so again next year with whoever it gets, whereas some stability in those ranks might have mattered. Purdue recruiting talented point guards post-Lewis Jackson, but none stuck.
It really starts with Kyle Molock, the point guard Purdue took an early commitment from years ago for the 2012 class, forsaking a shot at Yogi Ferrell and some other point guards in that class to take. People sometimes forget that Kelsey Barlow factors in here, as well.
Two things happened: Barlow got suspended for the 2011 NCAA Tournament for undisclosed reasons, formalizing him as an absolute wild card for his final two seasons at Purdue, when he was going to be the guy to stabilize that job post-Jackson. Not that there was ever anything stable about that particular individual.
Then Molock blew out his knee, the start of a plague that would ruin his playing career.
So Purdue faced the prospect of going into 2012 with a freshman point guard coming off an ACL tear and a junior upperclassman hanging on by a thread from a conduct perspective.
Result: Matt Painter had to take another point guard in the 2012 freshman class, and need met opportunity just as Ronnie Johnson was emerging into a clear high-major sort of prospect, though it still wasn't ideal to be turning the team over to a freshman right away, but that was Purdue's reality after Barlow predictably imploded midway through the 2011-12 season.
Johnson committed and Molock decommitted after being recruited over.
Johnson didn't work out. He wanted to play a certain way that didn't jibe with the way Purdue needed him to play, and the results then vs. since kind of speak for themselves. Purdue brought in another really talented recruit behind him in Bryson Scott, taking another really early commitment from him even though there were some red flags from a temperament perspective and some style/fit questions to be answered.
Johnson was a really talented recruit, so nobody would have even thought to question that take at the time, but the situation kind of was what it was. Purdue had to take somebody, because of Molock's injury and Barlow's situation.
With Scott, that was probably an early-commitment situation - a game that wasn't very kind to Purdue, Rapheal Davis aside - biting Purdue.
That left Purdue scrambling. It took Thompson as a spring signee just as Johnson was leaving, but I think Purdue would have taken Thompson with or without Johnson, but I may be wrong there.
And Johnson and Scott not working out has just left Purdue filling spots late, from Jon Octeus, to Johnny Hill, to whoever it gets this year.
It's not an ideal situation, obviously, but one brought about by a bunch of different circumstances, and probably not all that unprecedented a situation in today's college basketball - or college sports - climate, as the stigma of the transfer has been lifted.
I don't think Matt Painter's criteria for point guards is anything particularly specific. He's won at Purdue with a big guard who was a spot-up shooter in Keaton Grant and a little guard who was good in the open floor, but couldn't really shoot, in Lewis Jackson.
The only non-negotiables are decision-making and defensive effort and that wouldn't seem too much to ask, nor are those things most every college basketball coach would ask for. It's just that two talented recruits in back-to-back classes came and went because they weren't great decision-makers and didn't seem to get that fact and that left Purdue in a pickle.
You can add the decommitted C.J. Walker to the list here in terms of instability, but there were some red flags there, too, and I'm not sure that was going to be a fit either in the long run. And Purdue replaced him with an equally regarded prospect in Edwards.
But the 2015 class may resonate also. Purdue walked away from true point guards to take Grant Weatherford last summer, and that obviously didn't work. Then it didn't get Jalen Brunson, not that anyone should ever have expected it to. Purdue had targeted Hyron Edwards very early in that recruiting cycle and could have gotten him to commit, but he didn't develop much as a complete point guard over the years and wound up in junior college due to academic shortcomings. He's playing on a great JUCO team right now, so maybe that is a consideration if point guard is somehow again a need in 2017, if he's developed into a more well-rounded player at Tyler J.C. in Texas.
Beyond point guard, I think you've seen Purdue lately pull back some on the early-offer game, which again, wasn't kind to it over the years.
But point guard is an issue. The Little Rock underscored that, though so much went into that game that it's really hard to put it on any one player, coach or position.
Like with quarterback, Purdue needs stability there, something it's really been hard-pressed to find.
ANSWER: Yeah, that's been a sore spot for Purdue, kind of the way quarterback has been for football, and those are positions where experience and continuity would seem to matter.
Purdue is in its third consecutive spring looking for fifth-year help at the position, even though P.J. Thompson comes in as a junior and Carsen Edwards comes in as a freshman. In a perfect world, I think, you'd have another experienced player at that position to go along with Thompson in addition to something a little different, in addition to the ability to not have to throw Edwards into the fire too quickly. He is going to be making some challenging adjustments at the college level, as any guard would.
In the short term, the single biggest thing Purdue needs is for someone to develop into that player who wants the ball at the end of games to make plays that mean the difference between winning and losing. As solid as Thompson was this season in so many ways, there's room for growth there, and Purdue needs that growth, not just from the point guard, but from everyone who may have a say in such things. But it always starts at point guard, generally viewed as the position that sets the tone from poise and leadership perspectives.
Purdue's been relying on new players for too much of it of late and will do so again next year with whoever it gets, whereas some stability in those ranks might have mattered. Purdue recruiting talented point guards post-Lewis Jackson, but none stuck.
It really starts with Kyle Molock, the point guard Purdue took an early commitment from years ago for the 2012 class, forsaking a shot at Yogi Ferrell and some other point guards in that class to take. People sometimes forget that Kelsey Barlow factors in here, as well.
Two things happened: Barlow got suspended for the 2011 NCAA Tournament for undisclosed reasons, formalizing him as an absolute wild card for his final two seasons at Purdue, when he was going to be the guy to stabilize that job post-Jackson. Not that there was ever anything stable about that particular individual.
Then Molock blew out his knee, the start of a plague that would ruin his playing career.
So Purdue faced the prospect of going into 2012 with a freshman point guard coming off an ACL tear and a junior upperclassman hanging on by a thread from a conduct perspective.
Result: Matt Painter had to take another point guard in the 2012 freshman class, and need met opportunity just as Ronnie Johnson was emerging into a clear high-major sort of prospect, though it still wasn't ideal to be turning the team over to a freshman right away, but that was Purdue's reality after Barlow predictably imploded midway through the 2011-12 season.
Johnson committed and Molock decommitted after being recruited over.
Johnson didn't work out. He wanted to play a certain way that didn't jibe with the way Purdue needed him to play, and the results then vs. since kind of speak for themselves. Purdue brought in another really talented recruit behind him in Bryson Scott, taking another really early commitment from him even though there were some red flags from a temperament perspective and some style/fit questions to be answered.
Johnson was a really talented recruit, so nobody would have even thought to question that take at the time, but the situation kind of was what it was. Purdue had to take somebody, because of Molock's injury and Barlow's situation.
With Scott, that was probably an early-commitment situation - a game that wasn't very kind to Purdue, Rapheal Davis aside - biting Purdue.
That left Purdue scrambling. It took Thompson as a spring signee just as Johnson was leaving, but I think Purdue would have taken Thompson with or without Johnson, but I may be wrong there.
And Johnson and Scott not working out has just left Purdue filling spots late, from Jon Octeus, to Johnny Hill, to whoever it gets this year.
It's not an ideal situation, obviously, but one brought about by a bunch of different circumstances, and probably not all that unprecedented a situation in today's college basketball - or college sports - climate, as the stigma of the transfer has been lifted.
I don't think Matt Painter's criteria for point guards is anything particularly specific. He's won at Purdue with a big guard who was a spot-up shooter in Keaton Grant and a little guard who was good in the open floor, but couldn't really shoot, in Lewis Jackson.
The only non-negotiables are decision-making and defensive effort and that wouldn't seem too much to ask, nor are those things most every college basketball coach would ask for. It's just that two talented recruits in back-to-back classes came and went because they weren't great decision-makers and didn't seem to get that fact and that left Purdue in a pickle.
You can add the decommitted C.J. Walker to the list here in terms of instability, but there were some red flags there, too, and I'm not sure that was going to be a fit either in the long run. And Purdue replaced him with an equally regarded prospect in Edwards.
But the 2015 class may resonate also. Purdue walked away from true point guards to take Grant Weatherford last summer, and that obviously didn't work. Then it didn't get Jalen Brunson, not that anyone should ever have expected it to. Purdue had targeted Hyron Edwards very early in that recruiting cycle and could have gotten him to commit, but he didn't develop much as a complete point guard over the years and wound up in junior college due to academic shortcomings. He's playing on a great JUCO team right now, so maybe that is a consideration if point guard is somehow again a need in 2017, if he's developed into a more well-rounded player at Tyler J.C. in Texas.
Beyond point guard, I think you've seen Purdue lately pull back some on the early-offer game, which again, wasn't kind to it over the years.
But point guard is an issue. The Little Rock underscored that, though so much went into that game that it's really hard to put it on any one player, coach or position.
Like with quarterback, Purdue needs stability there, something it's really been hard-pressed to find.
