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.
FYI: We'll prolong this if you have any more comments/questions, so if you do email them to brianjneubert@yahoo.com or private message me.
Question 1: With Matt Painter mentioning that teams will often play zone against Purdue now that Biggie's in the picture, to what extent will Purdue change its practices and the amount of time it practices playing against a zone D? If the answer is 'significant', will Purdue play more zone D in games since it will be playing it so much in practice?
Answer: Painter seems committed to keeping at least some measure of zone in the playbook if for no other reason but to practice against. As you said, he expects Purdue to see a lot of zone this year, and I think it was probably a positive thing for Purdue to play some zone last season from an offensive preparation perspective. It might have been new personnel more than anything, but I thought Purdue looked better against zones than they did in years prior.
But in terms of Purdue playing zone on defense, it again does make sense looking at its personnel, but it made a lot of sense last season, then didn't work. Some guys were better in man-to-man than expected, Jon Octeus showed up and Purdue just was far better in man than zone, to the point zone was essentially scrapped.
That was one of the enduring lessons from this past season, that Purdue is a man-to-man team, but its personnel is different again and this roster does seem like one that could fit better into zone than man-to-man.
We'll see, but I'd expect Purdue to remain a primarily man team. Whether zone remains a component, that's the question.
Question 2: Do you believe that Biggie has room to become even slimmer and more athletic at Purdue? In other words, is he already near his ceiling due to the fact he's put in a lot of work in h.s., or is there still some room left for him to become slimmer, quicker, and play more vertical?
Answer: I personally think he's pretty close to where he needs to be from a size and strength perspective to be a really good college player, but tremendous emphasis for him will be put on maintaining it. Conditioning will be of paramount importance if he's going to be able to play the big, big minutes he'll be hoping to.
But Swanigan's upside physically lies in his ability to improve his leaping ability, his quickness, lateral movement, etc. Some of the biggest things that he can improve that can help him become a great player are his lift off the floor, which would make him even more of an efficient finisher around the basket and an even better rebounder, and his ability to guard people in space, which he'll have to do at Purdue as a 4 man and he would have to do at the next level as well.
Question 3: I've probably been under a rock over the years, but does CMP ever scrimmage with other teams? If not, will he entertain doing it this year in light of his mention of his expectation that teams will often play zone against PU?
Answer: Never has, no, but that's not outside the realm of possibility moving forward.
There might be some real benefit to Purdue playing in one of those closed scrimmages against another D-I team instead of playing two exhibition games. Thing is, though, the season ticket package usually requires both exhibitions.
We'll see if that's the case this year.
FYI: We'll prolong this if you have any more comments/questions, so if you do email them to brianjneubert@yahoo.com or private message me.
Question 1: With Matt Painter mentioning that teams will often play zone against Purdue now that Biggie's in the picture, to what extent will Purdue change its practices and the amount of time it practices playing against a zone D? If the answer is 'significant', will Purdue play more zone D in games since it will be playing it so much in practice?
Answer: Painter seems committed to keeping at least some measure of zone in the playbook if for no other reason but to practice against. As you said, he expects Purdue to see a lot of zone this year, and I think it was probably a positive thing for Purdue to play some zone last season from an offensive preparation perspective. It might have been new personnel more than anything, but I thought Purdue looked better against zones than they did in years prior.
But in terms of Purdue playing zone on defense, it again does make sense looking at its personnel, but it made a lot of sense last season, then didn't work. Some guys were better in man-to-man than expected, Jon Octeus showed up and Purdue just was far better in man than zone, to the point zone was essentially scrapped.
That was one of the enduring lessons from this past season, that Purdue is a man-to-man team, but its personnel is different again and this roster does seem like one that could fit better into zone than man-to-man.
We'll see, but I'd expect Purdue to remain a primarily man team. Whether zone remains a component, that's the question.
Question 2: Do you believe that Biggie has room to become even slimmer and more athletic at Purdue? In other words, is he already near his ceiling due to the fact he's put in a lot of work in h.s., or is there still some room left for him to become slimmer, quicker, and play more vertical?
Answer: I personally think he's pretty close to where he needs to be from a size and strength perspective to be a really good college player, but tremendous emphasis for him will be put on maintaining it. Conditioning will be of paramount importance if he's going to be able to play the big, big minutes he'll be hoping to.
But Swanigan's upside physically lies in his ability to improve his leaping ability, his quickness, lateral movement, etc. Some of the biggest things that he can improve that can help him become a great player are his lift off the floor, which would make him even more of an efficient finisher around the basket and an even better rebounder, and his ability to guard people in space, which he'll have to do at Purdue as a 4 man and he would have to do at the next level as well.
Question 3: I've probably been under a rock over the years, but does CMP ever scrimmage with other teams? If not, will he entertain doing it this year in light of his mention of his expectation that teams will often play zone against PU?
Answer: Never has, no, but that's not outside the realm of possibility moving forward.
There might be some real benefit to Purdue playing in one of those closed scrimmages against another D-I team instead of playing two exhibition games. Thing is, though, the season ticket package usually requires both exhibitions.
We'll see if that's the case this year.
