I've gotten so caught up in the recruiting momentum that I spent some time today looking at Painter's history. Some notes:
- I don't know if anybody puts much stock in the recruiting class rankings, but man are there a lot of issues with them! Painter has pulled in only 2 classes ranked in the top 25. These were 2007 (ranked 6th - Hummel et al) and 2012 (ranked 16th - Hammons et al).
- Funnily enough, every single player from Painter's 3rd highest rated class in 2013 (Scott, Stephens, and Smotherman) ended up elsewhere.
- It's really frustrating looking at the players Purdue brought in to reload after the baby boilers years. Shouldn't it have been easy to get someone to fill in Moore and Johnson's spots? Instead, we brought in Hale and Lawson. I think this was the height of the restrictive budget, so we'll chalk it up to that.
- I think it's frankly impressive that Painter was able to keep his job with all the recruiting misses we weathered circa 2011. In the 5 year stretch from the 2009 class to the 2013 class, 11 of the 16 players Purdue signed did not make it to their senior year. It's amazing you can stay afloat with that much attrition and averaging only 1 player per year that sticks around for his entire eligibility. Granted, we did finish last during the end of that run, but somehow Painter was able to turn the ship around. That's one reason I love the 2014 class. They injected so much life into the program.
- I know they haven't even played a college game yet, but I truly feel that everyone in the 2019 class is criminally underrated. Not that it matters, but when do they post the final rankings?
- Who is the one player you'd want to do over and let him have an entire career? Mine is either Stephens or Simpson. I think Williams is a more skilled Simpson, so I might have my wish.
- I don't know if anybody puts much stock in the recruiting class rankings, but man are there a lot of issues with them! Painter has pulled in only 2 classes ranked in the top 25. These were 2007 (ranked 6th - Hummel et al) and 2012 (ranked 16th - Hammons et al).
- Funnily enough, every single player from Painter's 3rd highest rated class in 2013 (Scott, Stephens, and Smotherman) ended up elsewhere.
- It's really frustrating looking at the players Purdue brought in to reload after the baby boilers years. Shouldn't it have been easy to get someone to fill in Moore and Johnson's spots? Instead, we brought in Hale and Lawson. I think this was the height of the restrictive budget, so we'll chalk it up to that.
- I think it's frankly impressive that Painter was able to keep his job with all the recruiting misses we weathered circa 2011. In the 5 year stretch from the 2009 class to the 2013 class, 11 of the 16 players Purdue signed did not make it to their senior year. It's amazing you can stay afloat with that much attrition and averaging only 1 player per year that sticks around for his entire eligibility. Granted, we did finish last during the end of that run, but somehow Painter was able to turn the ship around. That's one reason I love the 2014 class. They injected so much life into the program.
- I know they haven't even played a college game yet, but I truly feel that everyone in the 2019 class is criminally underrated. Not that it matters, but when do they post the final rankings?
- Who is the one player you'd want to do over and let him have an entire career? Mine is either Stephens or Simpson. I think Williams is a more skilled Simpson, so I might have my wish.
