It seems like the biggest question with all the moving pieces is who is going to get the pieces to fit best? Purdue has the pedigree and Painter has the track record but it also seems like their pieces are some of the most difficult to fit.
I just think Michigan and ILL have the talent and the best path to getting it all to fit. Indiana is the most known commodity but we also know they don’t exactly fit together either. Plus I am of the belief that X Johnson will piss away at least a couple games for them.
As I continue to look at things I feel like I am buying Iowa more and more. We know what they are and if Kris can be 80% of what Keegan was they have the parts to contend.
I feel like if any other team was about to start a backcourt of two true freshmen, both of whom’s most recent recruiting profile listed them under 170 pounds, one of them a Loyer…
We would be writing them off. “It’s Painter” is pulling a lot of weight here IMO.
Doesn’t this take depend on whether they played well or not? Have there been any reports on how the scrimmage went?
Without that… you could easily flip it and say “It is good that Smith is good enough to start so Purdue isn’t having to try to figure out how to run their offense through guys who aren’t a PG like Jenkins or Morton or whoever.”
Idk I can see it. His upside is providing that same floor stretching with additional post up game. Him not starting implies to me that he’s not providing the floor stretching
That’s a fair point, technically it does. I’d bet Loyer/Smith winning starting jobs is more in line with “Mady Sissoko looks great against Jaxon Kohler” though than it being a sign that Purdue has found a great new backcourt this year.
Also feel like there’s been a good amount of skepticism applied toward other freshmen with more talent that will play starting roles (Skyy Clark for example) before we see them play that for some reason isn’t being applied to Purdue here “because Painter”
This feels like a moving the goal posts argument here to me. Isn’t the debate around Clark more “is he going to be FOTY coming off of an ACL” but everyone thinks he’ll be a starting PG for a team picked 2nd?
Smith we are talking about can he start and dribble the ball up the court and make the occasional open three. I don’t think anyone expects him to be in the FOTY race even if he’s Purdue’s starting PG, right?
Basically you are hoping to get Chucky Hepburn frosh year stats out of him, something like that, and Purdue can be really good because of Edey.
I think Illinois’ best case scenario really hinges on Clark being really good. Which is definitely possible, but he’s going to be asked to do a lot more than whoever starts at PG for Purdue.
I think I just disagree that Edey + four guys you hope can be Chucky Hepburn level impactful is an easier job for Purdue’s freshmen guards than having Shannon + Mayer + Hawkins + Melendez is for Skyy.
Maybe I shouldn’t have brought up Illinois here at all. I’m just still cloudy on what anyone sees in Purdue’s roster at this point. Edey’s awesome but that defense could be worse than the usual Iowa teams. If it turns out that Loyer and Smith are just great and that’s why they’re plugged in over Newman and Jenkins, I’ll be really really surprised.
I really like Illinois, and picked them second, so I’m not really trying to be down on Illinois.
For me, with Purdue it comes to having an obvious guy who can draw two to the ball and create a numbers advantage. Having that caliber of offensive player makes everyone else’s job easier.
It’s not the only way to win, but it is a great head start. Purdue is never going to ask Braden Smith to create those advantages, they will come from the post.
Illinois, I’m not sure they have one guy to consistently create those advantages. That’s the big difference in my eyes. OTOH, they have a lot of talented pieces who can do some different things, should be great defensively and score in spots. That’s why someone like Skyy Clark is going to be asked to do more offensively IMO.
I didn’t watch the Illinois game but the box score shows that maybe isn’t figured out (which is ok). And maybe it’s okay if they just dominate the offensive glass and force a lot of turnovers.
Idk a barely top 200 true frosh starting at PG feels really bad. And it’s hard to say “well he beat out X player so he must be decent.” He’s the only PG on the roster! Loyer can probably be fine as a floor spacer. I was just hoping they’d figured something else out on how to get their best players on the floor
Based on that box score I wonder if Quincy played a lot of zone. 34 attempts from deep seems like a lot of settling, so again I have to assume it was against a lot of zone.
OTOH, maybe Brad wanted them to get up a lot of threes in a game scenario.
I mean, focusing on that among 15 points (on six shots), 8 boards, 2 assists and 2 steals seems like trying to maintain a narrative that he stinks than objective observation.
My point is just that we have no idea how he played or if he is good. I don’t think the fact that Brandon Newman, who got benched last year mostly, not starting is a tell tale sign of anything.
