Purdue loses its 6-foot-8 All-American double-double machine, so in comes a 6-8 forward who, according to Purdue’s media guide, is “widely considered one of the top-five junior college players in America.”
But, while Purdue is opening against several opponents clearly destined to be 20- to 60-point victims, the proven athletic juco, instead of finding his way with the regulars, gets stuck at the end of the bench alongside Tommy Luce and can only watch as a slow, undersized, unathletic legacy is given the major minutes at backup forward.
Meanwhile the returning swingman, a pro hopeful, is forced to play out of position as a senior, just as he was as a freshman, taking his slender frame inside, negating his strengths and further undermining his career-long foul-prone play.
And the 6-10 perennial medical redshirt finally sheds his boots and returns to active duty, only to find himself playing back into shape as the third member of a two-man rotation at center -- two 7-footers used only one a time, taking turns becoming a lonely island in swarming seas.
And the 6-9 freshman is given jersey No. 1, but it’s merely a redshirt.
So, we maybe shouldn’t wonder why a defending Big Ten champion with four returning starters barely makes the preseason Top Twenty. The national pundits know what many of us just can’t or won’t see. Not only do they remember a team unable to stay within 30 points of Kansas in the NCAA, but they recall a program that always force-feeds three-guard lineups generally lacking in size and/or speed and sometimes boasting a few regulars destined for the Sunday Church Chuckers B League.
Place Taylor, Ewing and Wheeler with two decent guards from the Co-Rec, have them wear orange at Atlantis, and Painter’s preferred backups would have their hands full.
But, while Purdue is opening against several opponents clearly destined to be 20- to 60-point victims, the proven athletic juco, instead of finding his way with the regulars, gets stuck at the end of the bench alongside Tommy Luce and can only watch as a slow, undersized, unathletic legacy is given the major minutes at backup forward.
Meanwhile the returning swingman, a pro hopeful, is forced to play out of position as a senior, just as he was as a freshman, taking his slender frame inside, negating his strengths and further undermining his career-long foul-prone play.
And the 6-10 perennial medical redshirt finally sheds his boots and returns to active duty, only to find himself playing back into shape as the third member of a two-man rotation at center -- two 7-footers used only one a time, taking turns becoming a lonely island in swarming seas.
And the 6-9 freshman is given jersey No. 1, but it’s merely a redshirt.
So, we maybe shouldn’t wonder why a defending Big Ten champion with four returning starters barely makes the preseason Top Twenty. The national pundits know what many of us just can’t or won’t see. Not only do they remember a team unable to stay within 30 points of Kansas in the NCAA, but they recall a program that always force-feeds three-guard lineups generally lacking in size and/or speed and sometimes boasting a few regulars destined for the Sunday Church Chuckers B League.
Place Taylor, Ewing and Wheeler with two decent guards from the Co-Rec, have them wear orange at Atlantis, and Painter’s preferred backups would have their hands full.
