Purdue coach Matt Painter didn’t really hold back when hew as asked about the NCAA’s redshirt rule when it came to college basketball and why it differs from football. It’s clearly doesn’t agree with the difference between the two sports.

For those unfamiliar, the redshirt rule in college football allows players to participate in as many as four games while being able to retain a year of eligibility. That’s not the case in college basketball, as players can’t play in a single game without losing their redshirt status.

This season, Purdue would have benefited from the football redshirt rule, especially when it comes to the big men. The Boilermakers are trying to figure out a frontcourt rotation with Will Berg, Daniel Jacobsen, Caleb Furst and Raleigh Burgess.

Before Purdue’s first game against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi on Monday, there was a tough decision to be made on Burgess and whether or not he’d redshirt his freshman season. Ultimately, it was decided the 6-foot-11 freshman would play during the 2024-25 season.

Painter said it would’ve been helpful to have the football rule in place to potentially experiment before making a decision on Burgess.

“We’ve tried to do it. Why we haven’t been able to get to that point, I don’t know,” Painter said.

When asked if he’s been given an explanation about why college basketball hasn’t adopted football’s redshirt rule, Painter took a pause before providing his answer.

“If you want to have another talk about the NCAA and the decisions that have been made, across the board with everything, from the (transfer) portal to name, image and likeness to eligibility to recruiting, their area of compliance befuddles me,” he said. “How we have people who are absolutely, openly not doing what they’re supposed to and why we can’t hold these people accountable, and we glorify them because they win basketball games. It blows my mind.”

It is one of the most confusing rules the NCAA has implemented, which is saying something. Why wouldn’t the organization permit a 33% competition rule for all sports to promote fairness? Maybe, at some point, we’ll see the NCAA make changes.

For right now, the old, outdated model is still in place.

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