GBI has a story up right now about Matty's conference this morning with the media. It's a good read, but for those who are lazy, here are the highlights:The coach has already talked to the Big Three about the potential of going to the NBA and will continue to talk to them and their families, as needed. Seems as though not much has changed: Hummel's knee guarantees he's back, Smooge has made no comments to indicate he thinks he's ready and JJ has publicly said he's planning to come back, though last week he hedged just a bit after the Duke loss. We'd be surprised if any of them left, honestly.
Donnie Hale's situation hasn't changed: if a scholarship opens up, he's getting it, but as of now none is necessarily expected to open up. While there's nothing to see here -- for now -- it's not the first time we've heard the remark that he gets a schollie if one opens. Is someone transferring? We haven't heard any specific rumors and any names we could come up with would be pure speculation.
Hummel's knee is progressing fine and he remains on a 4-6 month timetable, which would mean back to full use by late summer most likely, especially given Rob's work ethic. That's good to hear.
LewJack will have surgery next week to get the broken screw pieces out of his foot, and he "had damaged the screws to the point they caused him great discomfort." Yeesh. I'll bet. Painter also said that once Jackson is healthy, the coach wants to see him become a perimeter scoring threat (don't we all, coach):
"He's got to be able to make a shot," Painter said. "It's just that simple. Once he's able to make an open shot and get something to his intermediate game, whether it's a floater or a runner ... I think he has a chance to be one of the best point guards in our league."
Matty is excited about the size for next year, especially since it might allow Rob Hummel to play the 3 instead of the 4 and turn Purdue into a terrific rebounding team. I loved this quote:
"I don't care who it is on our team, you have to rebound the basketball. If you can't see that as a void on our basketball team, you've been blind-folded this year."
Coach Matty also isn't letting anyone get too comfortable, saying about DJ Byrd that while he's versatile, "he has to have a hell of an off-season, just like a lot of other returners."
Good stuff.
6 comments:
I was a bit shocked by Painter's tone. I thought he could've given some kudos for a couple of weeks.
Instead, he made us sound like we'd just finished in the middle of the Big Ten. Granted, everything he said was true, but he wasn't holding how he felt back!
I have a feeling JJ is going pro...Painter keeps slipping insinuating that Hale is going to play next year. We all know what it will take for Hale to get the schollie.
I think we'll see at least one guy with eligibility remaining at Purdue not playing for Purdue next season...either via transfer or leaving early.
It just seems the rumors are becoming louder and more frequent.
For the program's academic sake, I hope it's a NBA move...apparently that doesn't hurt the grades as much as a transfer (see O$U).
Bade or Barlow are really the only scholarship players I think we can afford to lose, but I don't think I want to lose either.
Bade really came around at the end of the year.
We can lose Bade and Barlow? I don't think so.
Bade is the only reserve big man with any experience. He drove us mad during the season, but I think we can admit that he greatly improved over the last 5-10 games.
Barlow has a skill set that no one else on the team has. He is long, athletic, and is one of the best ball handlers on the team. Granted he can't shoot, but neither can LewJack. Barlow is basically a bigger (although not quite as good) version of Lew. Why do you think he started a lot of the games this season?
I don't want to see anyone go, but if I had to pick a guy so that Hale could have a roster spot, it would be Hart or Smith. With the two Johnsons coming in, they will probably get bumped behind them in the depth chart anyway. Neither are great defensively, and from what I have heard about TJ and AJ, they can both light it up.
We'll see what happens.
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