This has been a lost year for the Purdue Boilermakers. It was pretty clear that the Boilers weren’t going to do much this year after they lost to Bucknell, Villanova and Oregon State early this year, and struggled further early in the Big Ten schedule. Teams could have given up at some point, especially a team like this one. They are young, but still talented enough so as not to have been a complete embarrassment. That is to say, they didn’t really need to play even for pride’s sake, like Penn State, for example.
Still, check out the last three games from Purdue. Win at Wisconsin, tough game against Michigan and a blowout victory against Minnesota. The team is still playing hard, and even more importantly, getting better. This speaks highly of Matt Painter’s coaching ability. We all know about his recruiting skill, but this is an example of his leadership. To have this particular group of young men still pushing is fairly remarkable.
Oh, and his recruiting ability. The Boilers have the 35th ranked recruiting class coming in next year, on top of some left over talent on the roster. This is a down year for Purdue, but it won’t be long before they are back.
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