Matt Painter has had some great three point shooting teams, but I am thinking that this might be the best collection of shooters that he has had. Of course, they haven’t proven anything and until they replicate what Carsen and Cline did in the 2019 NCAA run, this is only about depth and potential, but Painter has shooters everywhere. Of course, some of the guys with the best reputations as shooters have yet to play in a Purdue uniform, including Loyer, who I understand is one of the best shooters coming out of high school that Painter ever recruited.
Should be fun to watch, as I am expecting that Edey will have plenty of space to operate. It could be reminiscent of 2018 when Purdue really made opponents pay for doubling Haas.
2017-18 had 5 players over 40% on near 3 or more attempts per game
Dakota - 47% on 5.6 attempts per game
Cline - 40% on 2.7 attempts per game
Vince - 40% on 3.7 attempts per game
PJ - 44% on 3.7 attempts per game
Carsen - 41% on 6.5 attempts per game
as a team they shot 42% which was 2nd in the nation and made 9.5 per game which was 33rd. Ask, the players listed were all juniors/seniors except for Carsen who won the award for best shooting guard in the country that year.
Now this years group has Furst, Morton, Gillis, and Jenkins who’ve shot 40% or better to go along with Loyer, Smith, and Newman who are all capable of hitting that mark as well but it’s a young group with the majority not having shot the volume that that they’ll shoot this season.
I don’t mind saying that I think all the players mentioned could shoot 35% or better this season and Kaufman will also hit some too. Combining that with a force down low like Edey can make for a very dangerous team but it won’t be as consistent as that veteran 2017-18 group.
I think they’ll compare more to last years team from behind the arc. Maybe slightly lower than the 39% as a team but they’ll make more than the 8.5 per game that last years team did because they’ll have to rely on the 3 ball more.
