Things Looking up for Purdue Basketball and Maybe Football
November can’t get here soon enough for Purdue men’s basketball fans.
Not since the Troy Lewis-Todd Mitchell-Everette Stephens Boilermakers in 1987-88 have expectations been higher in West Lafayette. Now that the Final Four curse has been broken, a national championship does not seem out of the question to a normally pessimistic fan base. Some even wonder if the 2025-26 Boilermakers could have the best starting lineup in school history.
While I would put Purdue among a handful of title contenders (Houston, Duke, Louisville, Connecticut), let’s not get ahead of ourselves.
Braden Smith will be a favorite to win national player of the year honors, and I wouldn’t be surprised if Trey Kaufman-Renn is an All-American and a leading candidate to win the Karl Malone Award as the nation’s best power forward.
Fletcher Loyer is a career 40 percent shooter from 3-point range and has a very good chance of finishing among the top 10 scorers in Purdue history.
The loss of 7-4 center Daniel Jacobsen one minute into his second career game left – no pun intended – a giant sized hole in the Boilermaker defense. Kaufman-Renn led Purdue with 11 blocked shots over 36 games in 2024-25. Jacobsen had three in 26 minutes.
As insurance against another freak injury, Matt Painter brought in the No. 1 transfer in the On3.com rankings. Oscar Cluff, a 6-11, 260-pound center from South Dakota State, averaged 12.3 rebounds last season. That ranked second in the nation. He also averaged 17.6 points a game on 63.4 percent field goal shooting, the latter statistic ranking in the nation’s top 10.
Guard C.J. Cox started 23 games as a freshman and was just a tick under 40 percent shooting from 3-point range while averaging 6 points a game. He could be pushed by classmate Gicarri Harris, who started five games last season, and incoming freshman Omer Mayer, a 6-4 Israeli citizen who played as an 18-year-old in Europe’s top professional league for Maccabi Tel Aviv.
Mayer also could allow Smith to take a rest now and then after he averaged a team-high 37 minutes a game last season.
North Florida transfer forward Liam Murphy led the Atlantic Sun Conference with his 42.3 percent shooting from 3-point range.
A lineup filled with potential? Yes. The best in Purdue history? In chronological order, here are a few contenders that could lay claim to that honor.
1930
John Wooden would earn the first of his three All-America awards as a sophomore. Stretch Murphy, a giant in his time at 6-7, is also a Naismith Hall of Famer. Forward Glen Harmeson was an All-Big Ten performer in football and baseball in addition to basketball. Forward Harry Kellar would team up with Wooden two years later to lead Purdue to the Helms Athletic Foundation national championship. Herman Boots was a three-year starter at guard.
1969
Rick Mount, Billy Keller and Herm Gilliam all played professionally after leading Purdue to a runner-up finish to UCLA. An auto accident ended 7-foot center Chuck Bavis’ career prematurely a year later, while 6-5 forward George Faerber was an outstanding role player.
1978
Joe Barry Carroll, Jerry Sichting and Walter Jordan all played in the NBA. Point guard Eugene Parker and forward Wayne Walls gave Purdue five 1,000-point career scorers. Depth was thin with freshman Drake Morris and 6-10 junior Neil Bemenderfer the only frequently used reserves.
1980
Carroll would become the overall No. 1 pick in the NBA Draft after leading Purdue to a Final Four. Guard Keith Edmonson also was a first-round pick. Forward Arnette Hallman was one of the greatest athletes to wear a Purdue uniform, and Morris was a reliable scorer. Brian Walker remains one of the best point guards in school history. Steve Walker, Kevin Stallings and Mike “Scooby” Scearce led a solid bench.
1988
The first heartbreak for many Purdue fans came in the NCAA Sweet 16 when the aforementioned national title contenders were upset by a Kansas State team they had demolished during the regular season in Mackey Arena. Lewis, Mitchell and Stephens went into the Leroy Keyes Purdue Intercollegiate Hall of Fame together in 2010 with coach Gene Keady. Like Mitchell and Stephens, center Melvin McCants enjoyed a brief NBA career. Forward Kip Jones filled the role that every championship team needs. The bench was young but talented with point guard Tony Jones, former Lafayette Jeff star Ryan Berning and future Big Ten Player of the Year Stephen Scheffler.
1994
Start with National Player of the Year Glenn Robinson, the nation’s leading scorer and the only Boilermaker to ever score 1,000 points in a season. Cuonzo Martin entered the national spotlight in the NCAA Tournament when he scored 29 points to Robinson’s 44 in a victory against Kansas. Matt Waddell was a reliable No. 3 scoring option, and Porter Roberts was a steady point guard. Undersized center Brandon Brantley was a capable rebounder. Other than forward Ian Stanback, the bench was very young.
2010
What might have been if Robbie Hummel had not torn his ACL at Minnesota when Purdue was cruising at No. 3 in the nation. Hummel and E’Twaun Moore were first-team All-Big Ten selections, while center JaJuan Johnson continued his development that would see him become Big Ten Player of the Year as a senior. Chris Kramer is the role model for hustle and defense at Purdue while Keaton Grant was a 1,000-point scorer. Lewis Jackson, who until Braden Smith came along, was the best point guard to play for Matt Painter. Kelsey Barlow earned Big Ten All-Freshman honors.
2024
Zach Edey is arguably the greatest player to wear gold and black based on winning back-to-back national player of the year awards and helping Purdue snap a 44-year Final Four drought. Don’t shortchange Lance Jones’ impact on this Boilermaker team with his athletic ability and fearlessness to shoot from almost anywhere on the court. Smith, Loyer and Kaufman-Renn have improved their skills since their sophomore seasons.
Can’t tell the players without a scorecard
Look no further for an example of the absurdity of the transfer portal than quarterback Ryan Browne returning to Purdue after a semester’s audition for Bill Belichick at North Carolina.
Instead of staying put, learning the offense being installed by head coach Barry Odom and offensive coordinator Josh Henson and possibly claiming the starting quarterback job, Browne will compete with Malachi Singleton (formerly of Arkansas), Evans Chuba (formerly of Washington State) and holdover Bennett Meredith going into fall camp.
Speaking of the transfer merry-go-round, Browne takes the spot vacated by former UCF quarterback EJ Colson, who spent all of four months in West Lafayette before deciding to hit the road again.
Also exiting this week without suiting up for the Boilermakers is former Tennessee wide receiver Nathan Leacock. Considering the Purdue wide receiver room has just 14 receptions for 129 yards and two touchdowns returning, the immediate conclusion would be that Leacock did not put himself in contention for regular playing time.
Two Indiana natives are among the three wide receivers who have signed with Purdue out of the transfer portal this month. Nitro Tuggle, who chose Georgia after starring at NorthWood, will have three years eligibility. Former Brownsburg standout Corey Smith transfers in from Tulsa and will also have three years remaining. Purdue also dipped into Georgia to sign wide receiver Michael Jackson, who began his career at USC and will have one season of eligibility.
The only bigger need on Barry Odom’s first roster is offensive line. As of Wednesday, four more linemen have announced plans to join the Boilermakers. The most notable acquisitions are former Auburn starting guard Bradyn Joiner, who earned SEC All-Freshman honors, and Kentucky’s Marc Nave, a 6-4, 330-pounder who was once committed to Ohio State coming out of Toledo Central Catholic.
The foursome brings the total of offensive linemen from the transfer portal since Barry Odom’s arrival to eight. Jalen St. John, Mason Vicari and Hank Purvis followed Odom from UNLV. From spring football reports, Giordano Vaccaro (University of Manitoba) could be the starting center this fall.
It seems almost a certainty that Purdue’s rebuilt offensive line will be all transfers – including 2024 arrivals Joey Tanona from Notre Dame and Bakyne Coly from Lawrence Tech – with the exception of Carmel’s Ethan Trent, who was awarded a scholarship by Odom this spring.
With addition comes subtraction. The (so far) 12 incoming transfers are offset by 17 scholarship departures. Nose tackle Mo Omonode (Minnesota), long snapper Nick Levy (Wisconsin) and offensive lineman Jaekwon Bouldin (Mississippi State) are the only ones to announce their new schools.