Trying our best to move on from football.
With football season going poorly, and basketball season starting officially this week, we thought it was time to take a broad look at what we are looking forward to in the 2024-2025 Purdue basketball season. So, I fired up the roundtable machine and sent this question to the staff:
With basketball practice officially starting this weekend, what is your biggest question mark heading into this season?
Jumbo Heroes:
It’s hard for me not to say that I’m excited to see how Purdue replaces Zach Edey’s production. Purdue obviously is losing a lot coming into this season. The two time National player of the year has gone out the door after exhausting his eligibility and leading Purdue to the National Title game. He now sits in the NBA with the Memphis Grizzlies. Lance Jones, the do everything one year transfer fan-favorite, has headed overseas to play in Europe. There will be much to replace, and it’s just common sense that no one player can replace the contributions of Zach Edey. But, no matter how tall he was, you only get to place one additional player in the lineup when it doesn’t include Edey. Who will that be? Will TKR step into the starting role at the 5 allowing Caleb Furst or Camden Heide to play at the four? Does Will Berg step up? What about Daniel Jacobsen? There are so many possibilities, that I’m excited to see the brilliant mind of Matt Painter take on this challenge.
Kyle:
Can we fast-forward to hoops season?
My biggest question for the upcoming season is who is the Robin to the offense? Last year, Zach Edey was clearly Batman with Braden Smith being his Robin. Now, the offense should run through Braden Smith. The back court will be a year older with everyone but Lance Jones returning and should continue to improve.
Will his Robin be TKR with the high pick and roll? Will we see Myles Colvin make that step that we all think he will make? Does Camden Heide make another leap?
No one person can replace what Purdue lost with Zach Edey, but by committee, there are plenty of options for the 2024-2025 season.
Jed:
Can Braden Smith shoulder the weight in the post Edey-era at Purdue? He was obviously a pillar alongside Edey but what can the point guard do without the most dominant low post presence in the last half century of college basketball. Purdue is still going to run post ups for their big men in Kaufman-Renn, Berg, and Jacobsen, but they are likely to be fewer with the skill that Smith has as a lead guard in ball screen action. In fact, Smith may be the second best at that in particular in the country behind Mark Sears at Alabama, and I don’t think there is much distance between the two. With that, and the loss of Edey, Smith’s decision making becomes paramount to the Boilers success this season.
Smith has the ability to be on triple-double watch every single night and without Edey eating up rebounds at a prolific rate, Smith may stand the most to benefit in that regard. The question becomes, will those around him finish to give him the assists needed to get there. If so, Smith should be considered a front runner for B1G Player of the Year and on the short list for National Player of the Year if he can lead the Boilers to the level Matt Painter believes he can. In fact, Painter said he thinks Smith can be a Tyrese Haliburton kind of player for the Boilers in that he can score, rebound, and provide assists without turning the ball over. That then becomes the biggest question for Smith himself. Can he do all of those things and not turn it over? If so, Purdue stands to again be one of college basketball’s premier teams with a cast setup to benefit from Smith’s lead guard skills.
Ryan:
Well, I think we all know the obvious question: how in the world do you replace the productivity of Zach Edey? A lot of that is going to come by committee but I think a bigger question is what stylistic changes are going to happen to the offense and how well can it run? You do not have the same personnel to dump the ball down low and let the center bang inside for a post up. Yes, Trey Kaufman-Renn has a bag of post moves but they are more geared toward finesse rather than power. Will Berg and Daniel Jacobsen just don’t have the size that allow for it the way Zach did.
I think we are going to see the offense rely more on the play of the guards this year. I mean this in the best way, but the offense was extremely monotonous the last few years. Get the ball into Zach, let him go to work, and if not, get the ball out. That works when you have arguably the best player in program history play in and play out. Now the offense will be more free to switch it up as needed. Braden Smith and Fletcher Loyer are upperclassmen now and should have the most offensive wiggle room in their careers. Same goes for Cam Heide, Myles Colvin, and obviously the freshmen. I for one am excited to see how these changes look.
Drew:
Obviously, this is a different team without Zach Edey.
I don’t think we’re going to know what this team looks like until we’re a month into the season. I anticipate Painter playing around with both rotations and style early in the year until he settles on something he likes. I’m not sure he knows exactly what this team will look like when the Big 10 season starts in the new year.
I’m hoping for a more perimeter-oriented attack paired with an aggressive defense, but I’ll defer to Coach Painter’s expertise in the matter. I don’t know what this team will look like in 2025, and it might take a minute to get things figured out, but I’m excited by the possibilities.
Garrett:
So yeah, losing a player like Edey is gonna cause a team to adjust to a new gameplan without an actual giant in the post. I won’t call it a rebuilding year as a lot of the core is back. I’ll call it a re-thinking year and I trust Matt Painter to be able to re-think. After all, he’s been a great head coach and hasn’t always had a Zach Edey. It’s just going to be interesting watching the adjustment.
That brings us to the biggest question (for me at least). Does the team totally change its offensive identity to more perimeter play or do the young centers get tested out to fill the big Canadian hole that now exists? Purdue will again have seven-footers and be one of the tallest teams in college hoops this season, but the first few weeks before conference play will be a fun experiment to observe.