We can all get better in the new year right?
2025 is here and Purdue basketball plays today. If you missed part one of our series, take a look right here.
Chase: Caleb Furst and Daniel Jacobsen
Caleb Furst:
Be more confident.
It’s amazing how short people’s memories can be. People have seemingly completely forgotten that Caleb Furst started 33 games in a period where Purdue was ranked #1 in the country at times. And sometimes it looks like he has too. He’s our best rebounder, he’s got a good enough jump shot that teams can’t leave him alone at the 3-point line (he shot 42% from 3 as a freshman), and he’s way more athletic than people give him credit for. I know it, anyone with any ball knowledge knows it. The only person who seems to not know it at times is Caleb.
Circumstances dictate that we need Caleb at his best, and if he can just regain the confidence he came in with on day one, he could be the key to unlocking this team in Big Ten Play. I believe in you. Purdue believes in you. Believe in yourself.
Daniel Jacobsen:
Get big. Fast.
There’s no two ways about it. Daniel Jacobsen’s injury stinks. But it happened, and all we can do now is look to the future of his career and the program. And next year, when Braden, Fletcher, and TKR are all seniors, Purdue needs Daniel to be READY. His footwork, agility, and shot-blocking all look to be close to game-ready. The only thing that isn’t is his body.
If Daniel can put on 20 pounds of muscle before opening day next year, he will be a freshman primed for a long, successful four year career at Purdue. So make 2025 the year of weight rooms and silver linings, young man.
Drew: CJ Cox and Fletcher Loyer
CJ Cox:
Resolves to play better on the road.
When it comes to bench scoring, it’s CJ Cox and whatever garbage buckets the big guys can find. Purdue needs Cox to provide consistent points off the bench. It’s feast or famine at the moment for the Freshman. That’s to be expected, but Matt Painter really needs him to step up, especially on the road where he’s needed most, but tends to disappear.
Fletcher Loyer;
Resolves to shoot more 3s.
Loyer is undoubtedly one of the best 3-point shooters in the nation. He’s currently hitting over 40% and Purdue needs him to up his quantity without sacrificing too much quality.
When he’s on the floor, he needs to shoot early and often. Part of Purdue’s tempo issue could be solved with a more aggressive approach from Fletcher early in the clock. I’d love to find him a other 2-3 attempts a game, preferably in transition.
There are some limitations on defense and rebounding that are baked into this team without Jacobson (possibly with him as well). Loyer can’t help in either of those areas, but his ability to hit from deep can be an equalizer. He’s playing well so far, but if the Boilermakers have designs on competing for the Big10, Fletch needs to provide a little more juice on offense, especially in transition where teams can’t force him to drive the ball with hard closeouts.
Garrett: Caleb Furst and Braden Smith
Braden Smith:
Resolve to chill when approaching double-digit three point attempts.
Who am I to question the decisions of a guy who has been game MVP so many times in such a young season? Well, this kind of goes hand in hand with Drew’s opinion on the utilization of Fletcher Loyer.
Braden Smith IS a great three-point shooter, hitting 43% of his attempts in the season thus far. It’s when he’s forced to shoot a lot of threes that is indicative of pacing issues Mr. Schneider also mentioned. We are coming off a game in which he was 6 for 13 from three point land against a Toledo team Purdue was to beat handily, but you’ll notice that the games in which he approaches or eclipses ten three-point attempts are usually out of necessity or in a blowout. I don’t want Smith to be the necessary three shooter here, though it’s comforting to have the ball in his hands running the offense and I am comfortable with him shooting as the clock winds down.
But is this upward trend in 3PA going to last through the conference schedule? He has 38 attempted threes in the past four games compared to 41 in the first nine games of the season. I’m cool with him in the range of five to eight 3PA’s per game, but if he’s attempting anything over eight his hand better be pretty hot. I again, I do trust him as a shooter, I just overall want to see the offense click to the point where the guy running the offense is NOT also tasked with being the primary long-range threat.
Go back to that: 41 three attempts in nine games, 38 in four later games. This will be an interesting trend to follow through and will be a good indicator of what head coach Matt Painter plans to do with the offense as we enter the thick of the conference schedule.
Caleb Furst:
Resolve to get to the free throw line more.
Furst is back to shooting from the free throw line like he did as a freshman, coming back from an inexplicable dropoff a lot of us were worried about: He shot 71.7% from the stripe as a freshman, then as a sophomore slipped to 59.2% on roughly double the free throw attempts. He shot a much better (but still not great) 67.6% from the free throw line last year and is now hitting 75.9% of his free throws.
As he receives more minutes as a center than he’s ever been used to, I would really like him to work on drawing contact down low. He’s back to shooting free throws well and he can use that big body in positions where he will be fouled. As he can shoot from afar, it’ll be harder for him to draw contact around the mid-range, so I’d like him to position himself in the post a bit more even if that was not his bread and butter entering college. Looks like he’s totally been taken out of any place to be shooting threes, so focus on down low. For reference: he attempted 26 threes as a freshman, 41 as a sophomore, and just 11 last year. He has attempted 0 threes in the 2024-25 season.
Stick to down low, draw that contact, keep hittin’ them freebies.
Ledman: Matt Painter
Look, this caveat is always necessary when trying to make suggestions to a basketball mind like Matt Painter, the man has forgotten more about basketball than I will ever know. Now, that caveat out of the way…
I’m not going to tell Matt Painter to change his offense or his defense or even his coaching staff. What I’m going to suggest he figure out in the new year is how to handle the pending increased scholarship opportunities and the vast swath of transfer portal candidates that will inevitably come. Painter needs to understand that coming to Purdue is desirable. Purdue should be a destination. I’m not asking Painter to compromise his extreme focus on team chemistry and fit because these things have resulted in the resurgence of Purdue basketball after they hit the bottom of the Big Ten. What I’m saying is that the college game is changing and Painter, and his staff, need to be able to find the best way to adapt their program to fit these changes. Going into the transfer portal to find an additional player here and there won’t compromise who Purdue is and could in fact supplement the team. Just look at Lance Jones. He added so much to last year’s team and I don’t think they make the Final Four without him. He was unlike any player on the roster, and sometimes that’s what you need. So, in the offseason don’t shy away from bringing in some new guys. It could invigorate the program for a season in 2025-2026 that has the real opporturnity to be special.