Did y’all know we’re about nine weeks from college basketball season? Yeah! I swear to God!
It’s coming up fast, and yet with college football already underway it feels that these last moments exist for college hoops to get any kind of attention before hearts, minds and wallets turn to the gridiron. Obviously, this is not a problem at Sons of Pepe Sanchez (or else we’d probably be called Sons of Pisa Tinoisamoa) but it is worth bearing in mind that the cognoscenti are running out of space on the dance card to devote to basketball.
So until the season tips, we’ll tackle one big question for each of my own personal preseason top-10. We’ve already slightly looked at this, but it’s time to consider:
What happens to Purdue if Zach Edey’s supporting cast isn’t enough?
I don't know what to do with Purdue. I don’t know how to feel about them.
Some scattered thoughts arranged as a pro/con list to get us going.
Pro:
Zach Edey, the reigning consensus National Player of the Year and one-step problem solver for everything Purdue needed within 12 feet of the basket on either end of the court.
Matt Painter. I’ve come around on Matt Painter. West Lafayette can’t be an easy place to win. Look what it did to Gene Keady—and at what cost.
A pair of guards in Fletcher Loyer and Braden Smith who cut their teeth against a high level of competition, week after week, during freshman seasons that could best be termed as “up-and-down.” This will come up again, but you know what’s a lot better than relying heavily on a pair of freshman guards? Relying on a pair of sophomore guards.
As every program in the nation sprints at full tilt toward the money, Purdue has the luxury of a head start. Being part of the Big 10 money machine has its benefits, and being successful has them too—the locker room renovations should be nearing completion, season tickets are already sold out and the Boilermakers spent their summer on a jaunty European excursion that saw them post a 4-0 record against some solid Euro competition.
About that: with Edey on Team Canada duty at the FIBA World Cup, sophomore big man Trey Kauffman-Renn got to shine in the pivot during the European tour and put up 18-9 per game. Not Edey numbers, but Purdue establishing anything resembling a reliable second option is… a bit on the necessary side of things.