Behind Edey, Trey Kaufman-Renn, and Caleb Furst could easily start at most other B1G programs and be major contributors there at the center position alone. The power forward and backup center position at Purdue might be the deepest one in all of the B1G next season. But what about the other two positions? Those two likely determine the success of Purdue’s season next year. Those minutes are known standards as it appears Loyer will grow as a scoring threat off an incredibly strong freshman season and Smith will likely continue his path to being a strong point guard who controls the tempo at both ends of the floor. If last year is any indication, he will float around the 32 minutes per game mark. There are only 200 minutes to be handed out each and every game and it appears as though the backcourt of Smith and Loyer will each eat up about 30 of those minutes with Zach getting all that he can handle at the center position. We have also heard from the players how close of a bond the players have at Purdue but will that bond and that reliance in recruiting keep people happy when there are only so many minutes to go around and you likely have nearly half of the minutes during a game eaten up by Edey and the freshman dynamic duo in Fletcher Loyer and Braden Smith? Marc Lebryk-USA TODAY Sports We have heard the soundbites from Painter about how hard it is for guys to come in from high school where they were expected to be scorers and suddenly needed to be defenders, passers, and rebounders first. ![]() ![]() Much has been written about his reliance on personality tests and ensuring that the guys he has coming in are ‘program guys’ who understand the roles that he needs them to play from an early age. The one aspect that will carry Matt Painter into next season is the heavy lifting he has done through the recruiting process for many of these players. There may not be a bigger juggle for playing time amongst players who rightfully deserve more than what they are getting and there is biggest hurdle for Matt Painter next season. Never has a Boilermaker team been so deep with talent with the National Player of the Year coming back to a squad that will return nearly 97% of its starts from the previous year (second only to 1998 who returned all six starters from the previous year) while also bringing back what amounts to nearly 90% of the scoring form the previous year as well. ![]() With Zach Edey coming back as the biggest puzzle piece, both literally and figuratively, for the Purdue Boilermakers next season, Head Coach Matt Painter will need to put on his most virtuoso coaching performance so far in his career.
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