Why great Athletic Basketball players avoid Purdue

[LionBulldog83]

While I have not followed Purdue basketball for the last few decades like some of you, it is clear to me that the way to beat this team consistently in big national games is simple: go small ball, attack their slower players and expect attrition to kick in by the second half of games. While the Tennessee Volunteers are not nearly as talented as the 2017 Kansas tournament team, the Vols used the same strategy that seems to work most times against Purdue. Why isn't JT, Ewing (or even Wheeler who is stuck in "redshirt purgatory") not given the opportunity to play in these types of games? Why even recruit these kind of players if you are not going to find a way to get them into the mix? If I am a 18-20 year old high major recruit who is known for his athleticism, great IQ and is thinking about joining this program, watching games like this would give me pause. I like what Painter is doing with the 2018 recruiting class -- but he seems stuck in his ways. You have an opportunity to go "all in" now with this senior class, but I fear this moment will get wasted if Painter does not find the right mix of playing skilled guys sprinkled in with the more athletic types on this roster. I am not a rocket-scientist (as some of you might be), but it is clear that this team will underachieve again if Painter does not figure this out sooner than later.

 

[since1980]

While I have not followed Purdue basketball for the last few decades like some of you, it is clear to me that the way to beat this team consistently in big national games is simple: go small ball, attack their slower players and expect attrition to kick in by the second half of games. While the Tennessee Volunteers are not nearly as talented as the 2017 Kansas tournament team, the Vols used the same strategy that seems to work most times against Purdue. Why isn't JT, Ewing (or even Wheeler who is stuck in "redshirt purgatory") not given the opportunity to play in these types of games? Why even recruit these kind of players if you are not going to find a way to get them into the mix? If I am a 18-20 year old high major recruit who is known for his athleticism, great IQ and is thinking about joining this program, watching games like this would give me pause. I like what Painter is doing with the 2018 recruiting class -- but he seems stuck in his ways. You have an opportunity to go "all in" now with this senior class, but I fear this moment will get wasted if Painter does not find the right mix of playing skilled guys sprinkled in with the more athletic types on this roster. I am not a rocket-scientist (as some of you might be), but it is clear that this team will underachieve again if Painter does not figure this out sooner than later.

I totally agree. This team has a much higher ceiling if he gave Wheeler, Ewing and Eastern a chance to develop on the court throughout the season so they are primed for the tournament (like most big time coaches do with there talented newcomers). Let those guys play ball. I think he focuses to much on being primed early in the season versus peaking later in the season, so he's afraid to give young guys serious minutes and let them play through mistakes. If Painter isn't stubborn, he would use this game to realize just that and not redshirt Wheeler and also start giving our athletes more minutes. We rely way too much on perimter shots because we don't have athletic guards that can get to the rim (other than Carsen) when shots aren't falling. Otherwise we are going to continue to lose games on the boards when our outside shots aren't falling. Our only athlete that gets minutes currently is Carsen, and he's only 6 feet so he's not going to rebound. Everyone else that plays just aren't athletic enough to get boards when going against athletic guys....so nothing will change until Painter changes up some lineups.