30 GOLD AND BLACK ILLUSTRATED
BY BRIAN NEUBERT
BNeubert@GoldandBlack.com
P
urdue's won 47 games the past two seasons,
rebounding from a two-year lull in a big way.
Yet, there's a void.
The Boilermakers have lost in excruciating fashion
to open each of the past two NCAA Tournaments, leav-
ing them wanting — maybe needing — more this sea-
son, with what again looks like one of Matt Painter's
best and most complete teams in his time at Purdue.
Gold and Black Illustrated sat down with the 12th-
year coach to discuss the coming season.
Gold and Black: What stands out to you about
this team?
Painter: "I think this team has a chance to be a bet-
ter offensive team in certain areas, the areas of con-
cern that we have worked on a lot where we've strug-
gled handling certain scenarios. I think that we will be
a more skilled offensive team even after we averaged
79 points last season. Our guard play will be very good.
Carsen Edwards and Spike (Albrecht) will give us
things that will really improve our team, and obviously
the improvements of every player (is important). (Ca-
leb) Swanigan will give us two different looks at the
power forward and at center. I think that will make it
very tough to guard us when we go small. I think hav-
REASON
TO BE CONFIDENT
Painter on pressure, offensive improvement and defensive questions
Tom Campbell
Matt Painter would appear to have one of the
best offensive teams he's coached at Purdue, but
it will need to handle key situations better than it
did at times a year ago.
