Issue link: http://read.uberflip.com/i/379726
GoldanDBlack express • volume 25, express 3 • 38 BY BRIAN NEUBERT BNeubert@GoldandBlack.com On Monday, Purdue and college basket- ball programs nationwide will begin full-team fall workouts on a limited basis, no more than two hours per week. After using that time in past years to typi- cally conduct three 40-minute workouts a week, Purdue may change this fall. "I think we're just going to treat it like we're going to do one team workout (per week), basi- cally a two-hour practice," said Elliot Bloom, Pur- due's supervisor of basketball operations. "That's kind of different from what we've done the past few years, but with practice starting so soon, these workouts are important, but probably a little less important than they used to be." Official preseason practice gets underway Oct. 3, so if Purdue uses its two hours per week to run one weekly two-hour, full-team prac- tice, it'll be able to conduct just three of them. They'd be used as a sort of primer of sorts for preseason practice. "A lot of it's kind of introducing things," Bloom said, "so when you start practice Oct. 3 you can hit the ground running with some of those basic concepts and principles." The time might be particularly valuable for Purdue this year as it in - troduces five freshmen — guards P.J. Thomp- son and Dakota Mathias, forwards Vince Ed- wards and JacQuil Taylor and center Isaac Haas — some of them likely into prominent roles. During the summer and to this point in September, college coaches have been per- mitted to work with players up to two hours a week, but only in small groups. ON POINT GUARD The biggest question mark personnel-wise on Purdue's team, at least in terms of positions, is like- ly point guard, where Ronnie John- son's transfer after last season left the Boilermakers without a clear- cut next man up. Matt Painter said five play- ers could factor into the position: Sophomore Bryson Scott, Thomp- son, Mathias, junior Stephen Toyra and Edwards, the latter being a for- ward who often ran his high school team's offense. Painter said he's not hung up on having one player handle the ma- jority of point guard-type responsi- bilities, suggesting a platoon sort of arrangement could be in play. He does know exactly what he wants from whoever's playing the position, though. "Make other people better," Painter said. "Everything's important, but just making peo- ple better, wanting to see Purdue win, want- ing to see your teammates do well and being happy for them even when you don't have success. Just having that selfless type of ap- proach is so critical." Scott is the only player in that mix who's played significant minutes at Purdue. j m e n ' s ba s k e t ba l l : n e w s a n d n ot e s vertime Brian Neubert A.J. Hammons and Purdue will start full-team fall practices Monday. 2014-15 PURDUE BASKETBALL SCHEDULE Date Opponent Time Nov. 2 CALIFORNIA (Pa.) TBA Nov. 7 CARROLL TBA Nov. 14 SAMFORD TBA Nov. 16 IUPUI TBA Nov. 20 GRAMBLING TBA Nov. 24 vs. Kansas State* 2:30 p.m. Nov. 25 vs. Arizona/Missouri* TBA Nov. 26 vs. TBA* TBA Dec. 2 NORTH CAROLINA STATE! 9 p.m. Dec. 6 NORTH FLORIDA TBA Dec. 8 IPFW TBA Dec. 10 ARKANSAS STATE TBA Dec. 13 at Vanderbilt TBA Dec. 20 vs. Notre Dame& TBA Dec. 22 GARDNER-WEBB TBA Dec. 31 MINNESOTA TBA Jan. 3 MICHIGAN TBA Jan. 7 at Wisconsin TBA Jan. 10 MARYLAND TBA Jan. 17 at Penn State TBA Jan. 21 at Illinois TBA Jan. 24 IOWA TBA Jan. 28 INDIANA TBA Jan. 31 at Northwestern TBA Feb. 4 OHIO STATE TBA Feb. 7 at Minnesota TBA Feb. 12 at Rutgers TBA Feb. 15 NEBRASKA TBA Feb. 19 at Indiana TBA Feb. 26 RUTGERS TBA March 1 at Ohio State TBA March 4 at Michigan State TBA March 7 ILLINOIS TBA March 11-15 Big Ten Tournament (Chicago) * Maui Invitational (Lahaina, Hawaii) # Old Spice Classic game — Orlando, Fla. ! Big Ten/ACC Challenge & Crossroads Classic — Indianapolis Fall Practices Set To Begin