With so much having changed from a roster perspective in recent weeks, GoldandBlack.com is revisiting its postseason Mailbag feature to discuss more topics related to the 2015-16 season to come.
Question 1: How much better can returnees to the team get now?
Answer: Significantly.
Purdue's freshmen were pretty advanced last season in more ways than one, but experience almost always leads to improvement between Years 1 and 2 and each of those players has very distinct ways they can improve themselves, whether it's Dakota Mathias being healthy, Isaac Haas improving his conditioning, P.J. Thompson getting in better shape, Vince Edwards working on his quickness or whatever.
As for the team collectively, some things to note …
• Kendall Stephens: It was a disappointing season for the sophomore, but one that I think can be explained off by injury. The possibility is very real that it all comes together for him now and he gets back on that career arc he seemed to be on at this time a year ago.
Thing is, it turned out that Purdue didn't need him to be really, really good last season in order to be good as a team, and no one would have seen that coming prior to the season, if you ask me. And now, Purdue has shown it can win and win big without him operating at peak levels.
So if it all does come together for him that could be a game-changer of an "addition" that might also qualify as "gravy."
• Shooting: Purdue is a better shooting team than it shot last season. That seems dumb to say, because it was a season-long issue, but we'll stick to our guns in calling Purdue a good shooting team that just shot badly … all season.
If that evens out just a reasonable amount - if Purdue goes from 32 percent from three to a modest 35 or 36 - that can make a big difference.
The guess here is that it will.
Stephens, Mathias and Edwards are too skilled as shooters for Purdue to continue to be so pedestrian from long range and if they can find minutes for Ryan Cline, that's even more pop. Increased minutes for Thompson will mean more of a shooting threat at the point guard spot, too, and he too will shoot better on his wide-open looks than he did last season, I think.
• The big men at the line: If A.J. Hammons and Isaac Haas can make modest improvements at the line, it again might be a small step that could pay big dividends.
Hammons was a 67-percent shooter, which isn't horrific, but he seems like the type who when he's really dialed in can crack 75. In the last four games of last season, he was 20-of-25. A big part of Hammons' all-around turnaround as a player last season seemed to be related to focus and concentration. If those two things improve for him at the foul line, there's no reason he can't shoot very well. His form is sound.
Haas, though, has a long way to go and the greatest need to do it because of the sheer volume of fouls he's going to draw for the balance of his college career, including so many non-shooting fouls, opportunities where he can really make opponents pay for trying to mud wrestle with him in the post.
But if he remains a 55-percent shooter, that's going to remain a lot of points that get left on the floor and even more cut-throat tactics against him from defenders who may not be as afraid to foul. I don't think it'll ever get to the point in college where a player is fouled intentionally like in the NBA - and it's not like 55 percent is such a low number that it would justify it - but Haas is going to get fouled a lot and the knife is right there in his hands. All he has to do is twist it. If he can get to 65-percent or close to it, that would seem like a pretty big deal.
Again, you have to figure that if the centers can just make a five- or six-percent jump between them at the foul line, that makes a big difference. Doesn't seem like too much to ask.
Hammons and Haas shot a shade below 61 percent last season on an average of 14.6 fouls per 40 minutes, per KenPom's metrics. Sixty-five percent shooting would have meant 11 more points for Purdue over the course of the season and for a team whose season was ended by the slimmest of margins, you never know where a point or two here or there might have made a difference.
Question 1: How much better can returnees to the team get now?
Answer: Significantly.
Purdue's freshmen were pretty advanced last season in more ways than one, but experience almost always leads to improvement between Years 1 and 2 and each of those players has very distinct ways they can improve themselves, whether it's Dakota Mathias being healthy, Isaac Haas improving his conditioning, P.J. Thompson getting in better shape, Vince Edwards working on his quickness or whatever.
As for the team collectively, some things to note …
• Kendall Stephens: It was a disappointing season for the sophomore, but one that I think can be explained off by injury. The possibility is very real that it all comes together for him now and he gets back on that career arc he seemed to be on at this time a year ago.
Thing is, it turned out that Purdue didn't need him to be really, really good last season in order to be good as a team, and no one would have seen that coming prior to the season, if you ask me. And now, Purdue has shown it can win and win big without him operating at peak levels.
So if it all does come together for him that could be a game-changer of an "addition" that might also qualify as "gravy."
• Shooting: Purdue is a better shooting team than it shot last season. That seems dumb to say, because it was a season-long issue, but we'll stick to our guns in calling Purdue a good shooting team that just shot badly … all season.
If that evens out just a reasonable amount - if Purdue goes from 32 percent from three to a modest 35 or 36 - that can make a big difference.
The guess here is that it will.
Stephens, Mathias and Edwards are too skilled as shooters for Purdue to continue to be so pedestrian from long range and if they can find minutes for Ryan Cline, that's even more pop. Increased minutes for Thompson will mean more of a shooting threat at the point guard spot, too, and he too will shoot better on his wide-open looks than he did last season, I think.
• The big men at the line: If A.J. Hammons and Isaac Haas can make modest improvements at the line, it again might be a small step that could pay big dividends.
Hammons was a 67-percent shooter, which isn't horrific, but he seems like the type who when he's really dialed in can crack 75. In the last four games of last season, he was 20-of-25. A big part of Hammons' all-around turnaround as a player last season seemed to be related to focus and concentration. If those two things improve for him at the foul line, there's no reason he can't shoot very well. His form is sound.
Haas, though, has a long way to go and the greatest need to do it because of the sheer volume of fouls he's going to draw for the balance of his college career, including so many non-shooting fouls, opportunities where he can really make opponents pay for trying to mud wrestle with him in the post.
But if he remains a 55-percent shooter, that's going to remain a lot of points that get left on the floor and even more cut-throat tactics against him from defenders who may not be as afraid to foul. I don't think it'll ever get to the point in college where a player is fouled intentionally like in the NBA - and it's not like 55 percent is such a low number that it would justify it - but Haas is going to get fouled a lot and the knife is right there in his hands. All he has to do is twist it. If he can get to 65-percent or close to it, that would seem like a pretty big deal.
Again, you have to figure that if the centers can just make a five- or six-percent jump between them at the foul line, that makes a big difference. Doesn't seem like too much to ask.
Hammons and Haas shot a shade below 61 percent last season on an average of 14.6 fouls per 40 minutes, per KenPom's metrics. Sixty-five percent shooting would have meant 11 more points for Purdue over the course of the season and for a team whose season was ended by the slimmest of margins, you never know where a point or two here or there might have made a difference.
