Purdue basketball Coach Matt Painter just does not get the credit that he truly deserves.
True, he’s not quite “Gene Keady Light” as of yet, but since he took over the program in 2006-07, the Boilermakers are fourth in the B1G in wins and conference wins. They’re also third in the league in NCAA Tournament bids.
Painter is also fourth all time in B1G Coach of the Year awards and 16th all time in B1G wins; not bad for a guy who will be entering just his 13th year on the job. No, he’s definitely not the guy with the statue outside Mackey Arena and the name on the venue’s street address, but he also doesn’t deserve even half of the flak he consistently receives from much of the Purdue basketball community.
2016-17 was not “same old Purdue” (well, aside from the blowing-big-leads-in-huge-games thing, as that did still occur a couple times) as the Boilers finished with a league record 23rd conference title, and reached the sweet 16 for the third time in Painter’s regime.
The Boilers also accomplished a single season win total that ranks in the top six in program history.
However, until Painter grabs that elusive Elite 8 (which hasn’t happened in West Lafayette since 2000) or Final Four (none since 1980), he will keep taking heat from some of the base.
The Caleb Swanigan BIGGIE Question
You can’t accurately forecast 2017-18 Purdue basketball without knowing first if Biggie is coming back or not. For the purposes of this article we’re assuming he’s going pro because when you have a national player of the year level season, the timing is about as good as it gets.
If Swanigan played at a blue blood program, he wins all the NPOY awards hands down, no question.
This is the proverbial “strike while the iron is hot.”….kind of.
In checking our latest Swanigan NBA Draft stock price quotes, we see that he’s in that late first round discussion, which is not “you have to go” territory.
It’s not the lottery zone, where you have no choice but to declare. While no one could fault Biggie for leaving this year, it wouldn’t hurt him to stay either. He could use another season to condition, fine tune his game by cutting down on turnovers and continuing to make further strides on defense.
Then who knows where he could end up in 2018- top ten perhaps?
Who’s Gone?
Biggie Swanigan (perhaps, we’ll see), Guards Jon McKeeman and Spike Albrecht
Who’s Returning?
Everyone else on the current roster, see our very early rough draft of the 2017-18 Purdue basketball depth chart below for the details.
Liberalized, or perhaps more “free trade” friendly NBA Draft rules have opened up the possibilities for guys to “test the waters,” and Isaac Haas may in fact do that this year.
It’s all about receiving constructive criticism though, not entering the marketplace. Haas is not ready to jump to the pros, but 2017 would present a great opportunity to get real productive feedback from NBA scouts, and would thus augment his game for next year- i.e. what Swanigan did last year.
Who’s Coming?
Nojel Eastern no doubt headlines the class coming to West Lafayette as he checks in at #79 nationally on the ESPN Prospect rankings. The 6-6, 207 shooting guard from Evanston high school in Northwestern’s backyard is the only future Boilermaker in next year’s class to register on any of the recruiting rankings elite lists.
That’s not at all indicative of the strength of this Purdue basketball recruiting class though, because as N.W.A. told us in the early ‘90s, “Ice Cube, is not for the pop chart.”
The next crop of Baby Boilers have zero 5-stars, one 4-star (Eastern) but three 3-stars according to CBS recruiting affiliate 24/7 Sports. The class has depth and balance, ranking 24th nationally and 3rd in the B1G according to 24/7. Joining Eastern in this class are shooting guard Sasha Stefanovic, small forward Aaron Wheeler and power forward Eden Ewing.
Very Rough Draft of a Potential Depth Chart
F Vincent Edwards/Aaron Wheeler/Grady Eifert
C/F Isaac Haas/Matt Haarms/Eden Ewing/Jacquil Taylor
G P.J. Thompson/Carsen Edwards
G Ryan Cline/Sasha Stefanovic/Carsen Edwards
G Dakota Mathias/Nojel Eastern/Sasha Stefanovic
Expectations Bottom Line:
With or without Biggie, the Purdue basketball fan base should expect a return to the sweet 16 and a repeat of the B1G regular season title.
Obviously, the ceiling (is the roof, as Michael Jordan famously said) gets much higher with Swanigan back. If he declares for the draft, then this becomes the team of Vince Edwards. Vinsanity, Vincenzo, Vincent, whatever you want to call him becomes the new alpha dog and he possesses some NBA Draft stock himself.
He is already showing up in a 2018 NBA mock draft or two. Obviously, the absence of Swanigan gives Haas a tremendous opportunity to become a bigger name B1G brand as well.
While the B1G will get older and better next season, with both Illinois and Indiana on the rise now due to their regime changes, the Boilers remain the favorite next season.
Although Michigan will be a very sexy pick come October too. While there is some talent and depth coming to the league next year, only the Illini boast a top ten recruiting class.
In this week’s McDonald’s All-American Game, only Michigan State has representation, and only MSU is in the running for the remaining 5-star undecideds out there.
In other words, the league will be wide open again and Purdue basketball fans can dream big next season, but how big depends on the Biggie decision.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net and TheBank.News, partnered with FOX Sports Engage Network. and News Now. Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times and NBC Chicago.com, contributes to Chicago Tribune.com, Bold, WGN CLTV and KOZN.
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