Painter has subjugated Purdue to a fate far worse than failure. Mediocrity.
There is a clear pattern that every fan has pointed out. His teams look great until February when they start to falter.
They let games slip away from them until they stumble into March, a high seed but not no. 1, then lose a game they shouldn’t. This isn’t bad luck, this isn’t the teams’ fault, and this isn’t success.
It’s Painter’s distinct style of coaching and recruiting that leads to the most infuriating teams imaginable.
We did so well to start the year, why can’t we… beat the press, stop mid-range, play defense, rebound, or beat this team that is so clearly worse than us.
That is for the simple fact Painter has figured out how to create a productive team but not a great one. That’s the word he uses to describe how he recruits.
He doesn’t recruit based on rankings or talent, he finds the gems lower in the rankings that can fit his system. Recruiting and coaching this way has been lauded by fans and media, that is until March comes around.
That’s because coming up with a productive system, surrounded by productive players, that score in very strict ways, loses come March.
What do the best coaches in college basketball do? They find talented players and find a way to magnify that talent.
Coach K recruited five stars. Jay Wright recruited five stars. Bill Self recruits five stars.
“I’d rather have a lot of talent and a little experience than a lot of experience and a little talent,” John Wooden.
There is no secret that the path to success is through talented players.
“The team with the most talent usually wins,” John Wooden.
Yet Painter refutes this idea. After a terrible 15-17 season in 2014, Painter changed the way he recruited.
“They are 5 stars in my eyes,” Matt Painter when talking about the guys he’s recruited this year. “That’s what happens when you recruit productive players, not just recruiting rankings.”
The players he recruits are of high character and follow his system very closely.
Edey plays his role incredibly well; setting screens for zoom action, posting up in the paint and rebounding the ball. But that’s about it.
Every player is repressed to a defined role that makes them… productive.
His teams are productive. When playing they are productive.
Or course they beat anybody early in the year. Coaches haven't figured out how to maximize their talent or play Purdue.
But come late in the season when the best teams have found ways to play around the talents of their best players, Purdue is stuck at the level it started the year at.
Edey is doing the same thing he did at the start of the year. Nothing has changed or improved about this team at all.
Big ten teams figured out that Braden Smith isn’t very quick and won’t punish mistakes on defense so they play full-court press. Teams figured out Edey isn’t very dynamic so they double and downright foul him at times. They figured out Loyer isn’t an athletic defender so they isolate their best scorer on him.
Painter refuses to adjust mid-season or dare even consider the idea of adjusting his system mid-game. He is a stubborn mule who focuses on turnovers and rebounds instead of looking at the reason behind them.
He is a doctor pointing out symptoms at the end of the game failing to realize the true cause of the illness.
Painter likes to give up mid-range scoring and floaters. It makes sense, it's a low efficient shot.
But when Jalen Hood-Schifino is scoring again and again from the mid-range because of your shitty drop coverage, you feel you should change something, RIGHT?
Nope, let’s let him score and go for 35 as we lose one of the most embarrassing games inside Mackey this year.
Jalen Hood-Schifino has talent, something none of the players on this team come close to. Head coach Mike Woodson is maximizing that talent, playing around him and not subjecting him to his system.
That is why Indiana is the better team right now. And what did Painter say after the game about improving the team?
"A lot of people want 'change' but we got to be better at what we do," Painter said after the game.
Painter then went on a tirade saying fans think things aren't working because the ball is falling through the hoop for opponents and not Purdue.
THAT IS YOUR JOB! To get the ball through the hoop and prevent the other team from doing so. Of course, things aren't working when you are failing at the sole responsibility of your job.
It would be magical if shots started falling for Purdue. But shots are not because of your failed system and identity.
Purdue is a mirage of productive players that look good in theory.
But in reality, they aren’t. Edey isn’t dynamic, that is why the NBA doesn’t want him despite being the most productive player in college basketball.
Big men that can shoot three-pointers, pass dynamically, and guard smaller players are what the best teams want. Come tournament time the Big Ten, with its massive centers, will get dumbfounded by teams with dynamic play and athleticism.
Even with the NBA talent Painter couldn't figure out how to coach around that. With Ivey, a dynamic scorer, he couldn’t figure out how to deal with his lack of defense.
Most coaches with an incompetent, floundering, maladroit part of their team would look for solutions to fix that problem.
Different lineups, different schemes, something has to change. But no, Painter stuck with man defense and the inept defenders of Ivey and Stefanovic and lost to fucking Saint Peters.
The reason he doesn’t consider changing say the scheme of the defense? Because the last team to win the Big Ten with zone was Minnesota way back in the 80s.
Well here’s a question Painter, who was the last team in the Big Ten to win a title? That would be Maryland in 2002, which wasn’t even a part of the Big Ten then.
Take your guess now at how Purdue is going to fuck up in this year’s tournament. They have already shown they can lose to a 15 seed for a first-round exit isn’t off the table.
My guess is we lose to a 10-seeded Oklahoma st. who ends up making the final four so fans will use that as an excuse for the loss.
Whatever it might be, it's possible we luck our way into the sweet 16, I know for sure one thing will happen. And that is Purdue will not make the final four.
But the truly sad part of the whole situation is that Purdue would never fire Painter. He’s too good to fire but not good enough to ever make a final four.
At the end of the day, no fan is going to point out the season-win percentage of a coach. They are going to point to the championships.
Unless Painter can recruit and coach talent, fans are going to see this pattern repeat until the end of Painter’s coaching career.
It's a fate far worse than failing. It is continual never-ending disappointing mediocrity.
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