When I am writing this article, the Purdue Men’s Basketball Team was down to 5 scholarship players. The latest player to defect is Ronnie Johnson. He was just a sophomore and one of the leading scorers on this years’ team. He could actually make free throws!
Since the beginning of last year, Matt Painter has appeared to have lost control of the program at Purdue. He stills seems to do a good job once the team makes it on the floor, but off the floor activities tell an entirely different story. He cannot recruit the home state players that are making huge waves at other colleges, and the athletes he does recruit either leave, get hurt, and simply can’t play.
When no one in the state of Indiana makes the NCAA Tournament, the whole system in a basketball-rich state seems to have gone awry. Michigan and Michigan State are filled with Indiana All-Star players. Duke University is living off of the Indiana talent.
University presidents and athletic directors in the state of Indiana need to take a hard look at who is in charge of their men’s basketball programs. Something is wrong when Indiana players start looking elsewhere without even considering one of our state universities.