While the NCAA Transfer Portal opens today, one should not expect Purdue basketball to be active participants.
“We’ve taken two guys now, if you count the following year, in four years. So we’ve had the fewest amount of guys of any high major school in the country in the last four years,” Purdue basketball coach Matt Painter said Saturday when asked about the portal.
While Indiana and other Big Ten programs have tried to rebuild its roster in recent years through the portal, Painter has maintained the same roster year after year and it has paid off nicely. Purdue basketball has captured back-to-back Big Ten titles and number one seeds in the NCAA Tournament while keeping the vast majority of its team together.
Painter said jumping into the portal depends on a team’s current situation.
“Like, if you’re starting over, you’re in a much different position than someone who’s been at a school for 19 years. If you’ve got that are unhappy or, we got teams in our league that have been successful doing it, we have other teams in our league that are somewhere in the middle, then we’ve had other guys that kind of struggle,” Painter said.
Prior to this season, Purdue basketball got Lance Jones out of the transfer portal, and Painter said Jones has simply been about winning.
“He didn’t say one thing about name, image and likeness, even though he, obviously, gets money through name, image and likeness. But he didn’t say one thing in recruiting about that. There’s nothing wrong with that. There’s nothing wrong with him wanting that, but that can’t supersede winning,” Painter said.
Purdue basketball’s coach pointed to the fact that he has players who started last year that are not playing this year as a sign that his players are about winning.
“I got a couple guys that started for me last year who don’t play. It kills me. But I have to do what’s best for Purdue. I have a job, right? So, when you look at all those things, those kids need to look at that, the people around those kids need to look at that and say, “hey, I’m going to go and get some money, I’m going to go and do this.” Your happiness is going to lie in winning or losing. If it doesn’t lie in winning or losing, then you’re not a competitor and you’re not a real basketball player because that’s how it is as a coach,” Painter said.
While some coaches may question who to take, Painter has an idea year after year on the recruiting trail of who he wants to play for Purdue basketball.
“It’s not a school district. Take the guys that fit your program. And then if you’re a little bit shorthanded and not as athletic or whatever, you know, who cares, right? Who cares. Let’s just play basketball and take care of it and it’s not that big of a deal. But know who you can coach and know who you can’t coach and more than anything, know who you can get to. Like, I got a lot of second and third place ribbons in my garage, and I had no chance on getting them. No chance. But then after awhile, just understand just get out of that race. Like, just save a year of your life and get out of that race and recruit people that want to come to your school,” Painter said.
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