Senior Night: Caleb Furst

The former Mr. Basketball has had highs and lows throughout his career but appears to be going out as a catalyst for the program as he enters his final March Madness

Due to redshirts and a lack of transfers into the program, this will be a very short senior day on Tuesday night as the Boilers take on Rutgers for the final game inside Mackey Arena this season. In fact, it will feature only one senior on Sunday who has been one of the program’s highest rated recruits in the Matt Painter era and one who has seen his role increase, decrease, and finally increase throughout his time at Purdue. The fact his time at Purdue will likely finish as the catalyst for a team that needed him more than ever is a testament to his approach and his commitment to the program.

Caleb Furst was a long standing target for Matt Painter and on March 2nd, 2020 he gave the Boilers his verbal commitment. Checking in at 65th overall in the 247 composite rankings (he was as high as 25th early in his high school career) when his time at Blackhawk Christian was over, Furst chose the Boilermakers over Michigan State and Virginia along with a bevy of other major programs like Indiana, Iowa, Louisville, Marquette, Maryland, and Notre Dame.

As a freshman, Furst came in and impressed the staff enough that he found himself inserted into the starting lineup to start the season. He would remain there for the first twelve games before finishing the season coming off the bench for a squad that would end the season 29-8. As a sophomore, Furst started 21 of 35 games and flashed against the Duke Blue Devils as he grabbed his first collegiate double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds in a big victory for the Boilers. He would go on to have two more double-doubles in that sophomore season that saw the emergence of Zach Edey and former classmate Trey Kaufman-Renn and the foreshadowing of a big shift in his role as a junior.

In his junior season Furst would not start a game and saw his minutes dwindle where he would play 20 minutes just twice throughout the season. However, he would give a wonderful insight on the culture of the Purdue program and his own mentality in a world of college sports that has seen a seismic shift due to the immediate eligibility of the transfer portal. In an early season post game media session, Furst provided these comments about how he has accepted his role to help the team. Matt Painter would go on to echo those thoughts and provide high praise at the end of that season. Furst would average only 2.2 points per game and just 9 minutes per game but with the exit of Edey and Mason Gillis, it looked like he would vault himself back into a prominent starting role in his final season.

That wouldn’t be the plan as Purdue would bring in two highly rated and regarded front court players in the 2024 class, highlighted by Daniel Jacobsen. It was also evident that his former classmate, Trey Kaufman-Renn, had taken a major step forward in development. Those two were set to start for the Boilermakers as the season started but an injury to Jacobsen in less than one minute of the second game left the Boilers scrambling to find a starter. Purdue would turn first to Will Berg but his struggles and a mobile big man in Dawson Garcia 14 games into the season saw Furst return to the starting lineup for the first time in two years. Purdue took a major leap forward on both ends and Furst hasn’t looked back since.

He isn’t the big time scorer he could be at a number of other programs and he certainly would be garnering 25+ minutes elsewhere, but his vision for himself and buy-in to the culture set by Matt Painter has highlighted the development of skills and character that vaulted Purdue into elite company in the past four seasons. Furst isn’t the most demonstrative of players on the floor and likely isn’t the vocal leader behind close doors. What he is, though, is everything a program that continues to operate an elite level needs.

I’ve had my fair share of run ins with Caleb throughout my three years covering Purdue Basketball but notably my wife has had even more as a barista in downtown Lafayette. Caleb frequents Reveille Coffee Bar often and is quick to offer words of thanks, take a photo with adoring fans, and share in conversation with any and everyone who stops in. As Purdue fans we have been lucky to have some high quality young men representing the program outside the lined court at Mackey Arena, but Caleb Furst may very well be the standard for the kinds of young men Matt Painter has and will continue to look to recruit moving forward. It should come as no surprise that he will leave Purdue as the program’s all time leader in career wins when the final buzzer sounds on an absolutely stellar career.