Griffiths: Purdue, Painter have much to address in the offseason
By DOUG GRIFFITHS
ISL Assistant Editor
CHICAGO ” Yes, perhaps 15-17 Purdue hopes to hear from a postseason tournament on Sunday so its season can continue, but in reality Matt Painter, needs to punt any invite that might come his team’s way and get to focusing on the offseason right away.
By the letter of the law, the NIT or CBI can invite a sub-.500 team. The NIT never has, but the CBI has. If the CBI calls, will that really excite these Boilermaker players, who collectively as a whole, have shown little fire for nearly all of this season?
Purdue coach Matt Painter has indicated he has a desire to extend this season in some type of postseason. However, after his team was bounced by Nebraska in the opening round of the Big Ten Tournament, Painter didn’t exactly sound overly thrilled with the thought of that.
By the sounds of his remarks, it’s obvious the Boilermaker boss can want to play in the postseason until he’s blue in the face, but if his players don’t want it much and just provide lip service, there’s really no point in continuing what’s been a disappointing season.
It’s no secret Painter has been fed up with the way things have gone this season and seems to have seen enough from some of those on the roster.
When asked Thursday why freshman Rapheal Davis started at the power forward spot and earned 29 minutes of playing time while others like Jacob Lawson didn’t play, Painter was very candid.
“It’s real simple,” Painter said. “Rapheal Davis beat out all those guys. He’s not a traditional four. Rapheal Davis shows up every single day, he comes early, he stays late, he works on his game, he watches extra film. I’m going to migrate to those guys.
“I’m not going to migrate to guys that come in when practice is at 3 o’clock, right at 3 and it ends at 5:30, they leave right at 5:30. I’m always going to be that way.
“The guys who didn’t play tonight, outside of Travis Carroll and Dru Anthrop, they’ve got to get in the gym,” Painter added. “Dru Anthrop and Travis Carroll, they overachieved. They worked their asses off to be here and they care. The other guys are good guys, but you’ve got to show up with a passion and a commitment to what we’re doing if you want me to trust you.”
It doesn’t take a genius to read between the lines and see exactly how Painter feels about his current roster.
If I was one of those “other guys” Painter is referring to, I’d be really concerned right now.
Are you listening Jacob Lawson and Anthony Johnson? They’ve been in the program a while now, yet their contributions are minimal.
Remember, John Hart decided to finish his eligibility somewhere else (a nice way of saying he wasn’t asked to return) and it’s a safe bet a Boilermaker or two could be shown the door in the coming months.
You get the sense Painter is looking forward to the off-season because he’ll have time to completely evaluate the state of his program, assess the roster player by player and get to work trying to rectify things with the hope of getting his program back in the NCAA Tournament in 2014 after being a mainstay in the Big Dance from 2007-12.
“We go back (to West Lafayette), assess where we are, evaluate each guy, evaluate our team, do our best to evaluate what’s coming in,” Painter explained. “We need to recruit and try to get some things fixed.
“We just have to be more into it in terms of having 12-month guys. We’ve got to get a more skilled guy, in my opinion. The year before we weren’t as talented as we were before, but we took care of the basketball and we always gave ourself a chance. And this year we didn’t do that at times. And then you’ve got to be able to make free throws, just do simple fundamental things.
“So when you have guys that are 12-month guys that put in a lot of time, that area is going to improve,” Painter added. “You’ve just got to do a better job there. I’ve got to do a better job there.”
To say the least, it should be a very interesting offseason in West Lafayette.
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