Purdue basketball freshman big man may redshirt, but he's making decision tough

Purdue basketball freshman big man may redshirt, but he’s making decision tough

Posted by Admin November 4, 2024 Basketball

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Monday’s game: Texas A&M-Corpus Christi at Purdue, 6 p.m., BTN

WEST LAFAYETTE – After Sunday’s practice wrapped, and after Purdue basketball coach Matt Painter finished his interviews, he and freshman Raleigh Burgess walked down the hall toward the locker room side by side.

Safe to assume player and coach continued a conversation which started months ago. Painter has this conversation — about whether a redshirt year makes the most sense for both the individual and the Boilermakers — with at least one member of most incoming classes.

Painter announced another freshman, Jack Benter, will definitely use a redshirt this year. As of Sunday evening, and with Monday’s season-opener against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi looming, Burgess’ status remains unsettled.

“We’re still kind of working it out with Raleigh,” Painter said.

Sometimes these decisions make themselves. Benter came in with two other guards — C.J. Cox and Gicarri Harris — who essentially share a lineup spot. The Brownstown Central grad can work on long-term physical and skills development and transition to the Boilermakers’ system.

At one time, maybe Burgess’ decision seemed like a no-brainer, too. Purdue’s stockpile of frontcourt players includes another freshman, 7-4 Daniel Jacobsen. A traumatic leg injury during his junior year of high school meant Burgess sat out most practices and non-league games as a senior at Sycamore High School outside Cincinnati.

Then the 6-11, 240-pound Burgess showed up this summer and immediately impressed with his shooting touch and attitude. Painter saw how Burgess could help this team immediately — but maybe not with consistent minutes, maybe not even every night.

While football players can play in four regular-season games — and postseason games — and still use a redshirt, basketball players get no leeway. Burgess, aware of the approaching decision last week, put his trust in the process.

“I’m just kind of going full steam ahead, and I don’t think any decision will affect that,” Burgess said. “I’ve given my full effort every day, and whatever happens, happens.”

‘An exceptional talent’

Tim Austling took the Sycamore boys basketball job already aware of a future Division I player on the roster. That was Ben Southerland, who began his career at Liberty and now plays at Wright State.

He knew nothing about Burgess, then a rising sophomore.

“It took me about 30 seconds to figure out I was walking into the best player I ever coached,” Austling said.

A broken arm which required surgery interrupted Burgess’ rise to national prospect. He blew up the following summer, and Purdue’s history of developing big men put the Boilermakers high on his list. In January of his junior year, he collided with a teammate while shooting a layup in practice.

Austling likened the resulting compound leg fracture to the one recently suffered by Detroit Lions defensive end Aidan Hutchinson.

Burgess returned to play as a senior. However, Austling allowed him to go “live” only twice a week. He became a spectator during most practices. He played in only one of Sycamore’s five non-league games, but played well enough in the other 17 games to earn Player of the Year honors for the league champions.

Austling, though, held no reservations about Burgess contributing immediately in college. That confidence grew from examples such as a summer scrimmage against Marietta (Ga.) Wheeler, led by Isaiah Collier. The consensus No. 1 prospect in the 2023 class who played at USC now plays for the Utah Jazz.

That squad boasted other high-major talent, too. So Austling decided to switch all five spots on ball screens, confident Burgess could hold his own defensively against Collier, the future NBA point guard.

“I just think he’s an exceptional talent,” Austling said. “I probably said this phrase to 20 people maybe 1,000 times in the last year. Nobody has any idea how good he is because he hasn’t been able to be his best. Broken arm, broken leg — there were very few stretches in two years where I had him 100%.”

Painter said Burgess has played without restrictions since arriving at Purdue. Assistant coach Brandon Brantley, who works with the team’s big men, admitted last week the injury gave him some initial reservations about Burgess’ ability to help right away. He also admitted Burgess had “exceeded my expectations,” impressing him as much with intangibles as his court skills and physical abilities.

“I wish I had that when I was a young guy,” said Brantley, a former Purdue MVP and longtime overseas professional player. “You walk in you feeling sorry for yourself because you didn’t play the minutes you thought you were gonna get, and practice is too tough, and I had to go to three or four classes. You know — woe is me.

“And he doesn’t have that. I’m just like, man, that’s a great trait to have as a kid.”

Upside either way?

Painter utilizes redshirts as much or more than any major program coach in the country. He used to have a list of players he wished in retrospect had used a redshirt as freshmen: Ryne Smith, Ryan Cline, Grady Eifert. He confirmed Sunday he has not yet regretted the decision of any player who took the redshirt option.

“But it doesn’t mean it couldn’t happen,” Painter said.

Burgess can find examples of the virtue of a redshirt year throughout the program. Brantley took one in his second season under Gene Keady. Director of player personnel Sasha Stefanovic took one with Painter as a freshman out of Crown Point. Current Boilermakers Trey Kaufman-Renn, Brian Waddell, Camden Heide and Will Berg did not play their first year on campus.

Kaufman-Renn counts as a fully converted zealot, declaring: “I think almost everybody should redshirt.”

“You get to have that extra year of just working on your game, understanding the system, and then you get to play when you’re at your best,” said Kaufman-Renn, who also needed extra time coming off a high school injury. “So I think it’s probably one of the best decisions that I made.”

Kaufman-Renn holds one frontcourt starting lineup spot — playing both power forward and center depending on the matchup. The committee holding down the other spot includes Jacobsen, Berg, fourth-year senior Caleb Furst and Burgess.

In Painter’s perfect world, what benefits the team and what benefits the individual would lock together seamlessly. However, that group of four has seen no consistent separation in preseason performance. Burgess, though, asserted his value.

“He helps us, because he has size to guard somebody big, but yet he could stretch the defense,” Painter said. “He can play on the interior and post up, and he’s got good athleticism, good strength.

“Now, just kind of learning two different positions, and how much would we need him? A little bit it’s dependent on how well other people play, or how well they don’t play — which is a terrible way to look at it, but it’s true.”

That last sentence suggests the decision may not need to be made by Monday. Painter could sit Burgess early while analyzing in-game performances on Monday, Friday against Northern Kentucky and maybe beyond.

Players sticking around an extra year also have an added incentive not available even a few years ago: An extra year of name, image and likeness income. Burgess, who Austling described as “extremely intelligent” and capable of landing a full-ride academic scholarship without basketball, could begin paying for a graduate degree by that fifth season.

And yet, a 6-11 sparkplug off the bench knocking down 3s or drawing opposing bigs out of the paint might emerge as a crucial piece of the frontcourt rotation by March.

“Either way, if an extra year’s what I need, then I’ll take it and use it to my advantage,” Burgess said last week.

The only good aspect of these tough decisions for Painter? Both options come with upside.