Caleb Swanigan to Purdue

Wow big surprise here. It sure will be laughable to see if MSU tees off on the boilers now. Sure a strong front court is nice, can Purdue really compete for a title with a wimpy back court?

It will be curious to how Painter handles having 3 legit bigs. I can’t see him playing all 3 at the same time unless he decides to play zone. I’d wager Swanigan and Hammons will start and Ivan Drago will come off the bench.

There front line is impressive but I still think the backcourt has holes and will be an issue. UM faces them twice next year, so it will be interesting to see how this plays out.

Wow big surprise here. It sure will be laughable to see if MSU tees off on the boilers now. Sure a strong front court is nice, can Purdue really compete for a title with a wimpy back court?

They only lost one starter from the team that made the tournament. Stephens, Edwards Mathias, and Davis can still play ball.

Some things to think about w/r/t Purdue:

-They were already dominant on the offensive glass, but can they improve on the defensive glass? Chased too many blocks last year and ranked 11th in the Big Ten in DR%.

-Purdue turned it over on over 20% of its possessions in the Big Ten – worst in the conference. Don’t know much about the fifth year PG, but they need help there badly. Swanigan isn’t going to help the team’s turnover rate.

-Having all of that size along with the defensive player of the year in Rapheal Davis on the perimeter is going to make for a good defense, no doubt about that.

-Motivating AJ Hammons might be the most important factor. I thought Haas helped last year, but Swanigan will put even more pressure on AJ to step up.

-They’ll lack spacing with the big guys and then, similar to last year, Kendall Stephens is really the only guy that can hit a jump shot.

Maybe they can ball a little bit but I’m not sure they have an all big ten player in the backcourt. IMO honorable mention doesn’t count. We all know college ball is run in the backcourt.

Wow big surprise here. It sure will be laughable to see if MSU tees off on the boilers now. Sure a strong front court is nice, can Purdue really compete for a title with a wimpy back court?

Much the same question for perimeter based teams - can they compete with a wimpy frontcourt? Its all about the net effect…can the strengths overcome the weaknesses?

So does this development knock Michigan down another notch in projected Big Ten finish?

Uh, no.

So does this development knock Michigan down another notch in projected Big Ten finish?

Don’t think it necessarily knocks us down a notch, but it makes our path toward the top of the middle of the pack (IE 3-6) more difficult.

So does this development knock Michigan down another notch in projected Big Ten finish?

I guess it depends on your point of view. Purdue won 12 B1G games last year, lose 1 returning starter. Michigan won 8 B1G games last year, lose 1 player, returns maybe their most valuable guy in Levert. Is Levert worth a 2 game swing, and Purdue loses 2 extra games? It’s possible but when the two teams played last year it wasn’t close. I would be surprised if Purdue lost more than 8 games in the B1G but I would be surprised if Michigan won more than 11.

Some things to think about w/r/t Purdue:

-They were already dominant on the offensive glass, but can they improve on the defensive glass? Chased too many blocks last year and ranked 11th in the Big Ten in DR%.

-Purdue turned it over on over 20% of its possessions in the Big Ten – worst in the conference. Don’t know much about the fifth year PG, but they need help there badly. Swanigan isn’t going to help the team’s turnover rate.

-Having all of that size along with the defensive player of the year in Rapheal Davis on the perimeter is going to make for a good defense, no doubt about that.

-Motivating AJ Hammons might be the most important factor. I thought Haas helped last year, but Swanigan will put even more pressure on AJ to step up.

-They’ll lack spacing with the big guys and then, similar to last year, Kendall Stephens is really the only guy that can hit a jump shot.

Swanigan is very good, but your second and final points are major concerns for Purdue. This is what I wrote elsewhere before seeing your comment–it seems to coincide with what you’re saying:

"Here’s my concern for Purdue–if Swanigan plays the 4, they’re either going to move a lot of guys out of position or bench someone they need. With Hammons/Haas and Swanigan, that moves Edwards to the 3 or seriously cuts his playing time, if he moves there, it moves Davis to the 2 or cuts his minutes, and if Davis moves to the 2, where do they play Kendall Stephens? Stephens is the only returnee with a better than 33.3% record from 3, a problem which is further exacerbated by the fact that their putative PG, 5th year transfer Johhny Hill, is an under 30% 3 point shooter. On a team which will play two low post guys, Stephens (or another shooter–the freshman, Cline, or Dakota Matthius, who came in with a shooter’s rep, but struggled) has to play. Davis is arguably the best defender in the Big Ten–he’s going to play as well. What offense do you run with this combination of players?

I’m guessing that the signing leaves Edwards as a sub. It will be interesting to see whether Swanigan puts up appreciably better numbers as a freshman than did Edwards (8.8/4.8/2.7), or if he plays defense as well as Edwards did last year. If he doesn’t, will Painter revert to a lineup which brought him some success? If he does, how will Swanigan (and, more importantly, Roosevelt Barnes) react to this."

Purdue’s potential issues are simply the reverse of what we have at the 4

Purdue's potential issues are simply the reverse of what we have at the 4

That’s true, though I think we have more options at the 4 than they have in the ballhandling/shooting area. In any event, in the college game, I’d rather have a surfeit of guys who can handle the ball and shoot it than a surfeit of bigs, though obviously it’s optimal to have both.

Can’t wait for Doyle and Donnal to give Swanigan the Business.

“I’m guessing that the signing leaves Edwards as a sub. It will be interesting to see whether Swanigan puts up appreciably better numbers as a freshman than did Edwards (8.8/4.8/2.7), or if he plays defense as well as Edwards did last year. If he doesn’t, will Painter revert to a lineup which brought him some success? If he does, how will Swanigan (and, more importantly, Roosevelt Barnes) react to this.”

Swanigan will not react well. Promises were made to get him.

Can’t wait for the first time Mr. Barnes becomes disillusioned about how Painter is “using his lottery pick.” This might backfire in his face, he’s going to be very “involved” in a lot of negative ways.

#Purdue coach Matt Painter on Caleb Swanigan: 'He can make the right decision and do it while dribbling ball, which is rare for 6-9, 250'

— GoldandBlack.com (@GoldandBlackcom) May 22, 2015

#Purdue coach Matt Painter on Caleb Swanigan: 'He can take the ball at 20 feet and go make a play.'

— GoldandBlack.com (@GoldandBlackcom) May 22, 2015

I don’t know. I still don’t love it. A frontcourt of Davis and Swanigan like you would have seen at MSU seems more intriguing to me. Davis is long and athletic and can hit the three while Swanigan can bang around inside. Purdue I just see a bunch of guys that want to bang around the basket.

Maybe it works, but I’m still a bit skeptical.

#Purdue coach Matt Painter on Caleb Swanigan: 'He can make the right decision and do it while dribbling ball, which is rare for 6-9, 250'

— GoldandBlack.com (@GoldandBlackcom) May 22, 2015

#Purdue coach Matt Painter on Caleb Swanigan: 'He can take the ball at 20 feet and go make a play.'

— GoldandBlack.com (@GoldandBlackcom) May 22, 2015

I don’t know. I still don’t love it. A frontcourt of Davis and Swanigan like you would have seen at MSU seems more intriguing to me. Davis is long and athletic and can hit the three while Swanigan can bang around inside. Purdue I just see a bunch of guys that want to bang around the basket.

Maybe it works, but I’m still a bit skeptical.

Pretty much what you seen at UK…but Purdue’s bigs are not on that level in terms of raw talent/athleticism.

Well where’s Purdue’s WCS or Trey Lyles? You still need some guys that can provide some spacing or provide a gamechanger defensively and guard multiple positions.

I hate to think of our rebounding margins versus Hammons/Haas/Swanigan. Especially considering what a lesser player like NW’s Olah did to us single-handedly.