On the health of former Purdue coach Gene Keady:

He’s great. He had a mini stroke. He popped right out of it and wanted to know who was winning the USC-Michigan football game. He’s going to try to get by to a practice next week.

What are the incentives following a Final Four season?

We’re trying to win three Big Ten championships in a row. Just keep that carrot in front of us. We have three starters back from a Final Four team. We have five freshmen. We have a lot of guys with experience outside those three starters. Just blending in those five freshmen more than anything. Just understanding what we do and how we do it will take a little bit of time. We’re excited, but we also know it’ll be very hard. That’s the one thing with a challenging schedule like we have in non-conference. You’ve got to get yourself prepared because it’s such a bear when you get to Big Ten play.

The challenges of playing in an 18-team conference:

More than anything, you have to have the pieces. You have to be a little lucky. You have to stay healthy. You have to get a break. Hopefully you can make your own breaks. Right now the way the schedule goes, you look at it and there’s a grind somewhere, to where you’re playing five or six games in 17 days, something crazy where you don’t have a day off. We have a 2 1/2-week stretch in Big Ten play where we don’t have a day off. How do we come out of that? When you look at that, do you split that? Do you win it all? Do you lose it all? You really don’t know. When you look at the media and how they rank people, I don’t know how you would go about it with so much change in the portal and a new job, to adding the four teams. It’s just a crapshoot. So it’s good if people pick you to win your league, but it really means nothing. If you’re there in the first week of March, then it does mean something.

Braden Smith’s new role, and those of veterans:

He’s always had the ball in his hands, even when Zach (Edey) was there, so when we play through the post and play through ball screens, he can really manipulate the defense with his ability to pass and see the court, to make plays and make shots. He’s also someone who defers to others, so we just need him to be more aggressive. Fletcher Loyer, same thing. Just a winner. Plays tough, hard nosed, makes shots. Those guys will have more of a responsibility. Trey Kaufman-Renn will step into where he’ll be one of the best big men in our league.