When Purdue basketball takes on N.C. State Saturday in the Final Four, the game will feature an interesting matchup of togetherness vs. the transfer portal.
Both the Boilermakers and Wolfpack have gone about manufacturing their respective teams through different means, and it has paid dividends for both programs.
Purdue basketball brought back all the key pieces from last year and only added veteran guard Lance Jones from the transfer portal. Jones came to the Boilermakers after starting 113 games in four years at Southern Illinois.
Not taking pieces from the portal has been the standard for Purdue basketball under head coach Matt Painter. That has proven to be a recipe for success, as the Boilermakers have contended in the Big Ten Conference, winning the title 11 times.
Painter said things are now different when it comes to coaching and building a team.
“Now when people take a job they jump right into the portal. The people they get may be with them for three years, but really two years and a lot of them for one. Now, you can go and have a good season with that, but you can’t have growth with that. The way we’ve been able to do it at Purdue is we sign high school guys and try to develop them and grow with them. We’ve had two transfers in four years. We signed six high school guys in the fall. We want to continue to do what we’ve done and we’ve seen it be successful for us,” Painter said.
N.C. State has built a contender through the portal
While Purdue basketball has built a championship contender with homegrown talent, N.C. State has built its championship contender through the transfer portal.
Coach Kevin Keatts has been able to pull quite a bit of talent out of the transfer portal, as his starting five is made up of players who began their careers outside of Raleigh, North Carolina.
That includes fifth year guard DJ Horne. Horne, who played at both Illinois State and Arizona State, averages 16.8 points per game. Stanford transfer Michael O’Connell has also been instrumental in helping the Wolfpack make a run. And, there is big man DJ Burns Jr., who joined N.C. State last year through the portal.
Which type of program building will win out?
We will have to wait until Saturday evening to find out.
