Smile Purdue, you’re on Candid Coaches Camera
Matt Painter’s Purdue basketball program figures prominently in CBSSports.com Candid Coaches series put together by Matt Norlander and Gary Parrish.
Coaches were granted anonymity by CBS, whose survey began with “who will be the best team in 2025-26?” Purdue received 32 percent of the vote to edge Houston (28 percent). The next closest schools were Duke and St. John’s at 8 percent each.
Coach No. 1: “They are so consistent. With the amount of returning production they have, with their coach they have, it seems like it’s impossible to bet against them, especially when talking about the regular season and which team will be most consistent throughout the course.”
Coach No. 2: “Has Final Four experience, has a good amount of returning players, has a NPOY candidate, has won with dominant bigs and with balanced attack. Has the best culture and didn’t just go out and buy players.”
Coach No. 3: “Any time you return two All-Americans, that’s a good start. (Braden) Smith and (Trey) Kaufmann-Renn should be as good of an inside-out combination as any in the country. Add another four-year starter in (Fletcher) Loyer and there’s three guys who were key pieces on a national championship runner-up two years ago. Combine that with their roster continuity and Painter and staff, and you have a team that should be as good as anyone. I have full confidence that they’ll be squarely in the mix all year long.”
Coach No. 4: “It really feels like this could be the year for (Matt) Painter. Talented. Old. Deep. Experienced. They might not be loaded with lottery picks. But they’re going to be tough.”
By a landslide, Smith was the coaches’ choice for the game’s best player. Smith garnered 51 percent of the vote to Texas Tech’s JT Toppin’s 14 percent. The coaches’ choice of Smith was affirmed by The Associated Press on Monday as its only unanimous preseason All-American selection. Smith also was chosen CBS Sports’ Preseason Player of the Year and was joined on its All-American first team by Kaufman-Renn.
Coach No. 1:”No one else in college basketball impacts the game and his team like him. He is also going on Year 4 in the same program with the same coach. That is an automatic leg up on the competition.”
Coach No. 2: “He’s the best point guard in the country and the best player. And don’t listen to anybody who says he won’t play in the NBA. He will, probably for a long time.”
Coach No. 3: “Purdue will have a top five team and he’s a magician with the ball in his hands. Was very impressed when we played him, with his pace, vision and decision making. The game is played at his speed “
Coach No. 4: “Braden Smith will be the best player in college basketball. He will have the greatest impact on winning night in and night out. He’s been in every situation you can imagine, and they’ve consistently won. There may be guys more talented if you are looking at the next level, but nobody impacts winning for their respective team more.”
Coach No. 5: “Best player / leader and proven winner. You take him off the floor at Purdue and I would anticipate more of a drop-off than the other guys on the list.”
Norlander agrees with the anonymous coaches.
“Smith is listed at 6 feet, 170 pounds but in reality, he’s probably just shy of both those measurements. Which makes his standing in this poll all the more impressive,” Norlander writes. “It speaks to his value, durability, intelligence and guile, particularly when there’s another returning First Team A-Aer in Toppin and three freshmen who are vying for what could be a tremendous race for the No. 1 pick in 2026. Keep in mind, Smith also got that many votes while playing alongside Trey Kaufmann-Renn, who in fact led Purdue in scoring a season ago (20.1 to Smith’s 15.8).
“Because of his diminutive stature, and (I guess?) because Purdue hasn’t yet won a national title under Matt Painter, Smith is sometimes dismissed by college basketball casuals who troll on social media, looking to hate because that’s become sports-fan dopamine more and more. But their opinions don’t matter. In college hoops, in the eyes of the experts who know the game at this level and see what skills impact winning the most, Smith is a runaway favorite. By the way, he was ranked 198th coming out of high school.”
Praise also came Painter’s way in two sections of the coaching survey. Painter is viewed as the best X’s and O’s coach in college basketball, claiming 19 percent of the vote. Connecticut’s Dan Hurley gained 18 percent and Greg McDermott of Creighton took 16 percent.
“Paint runs great stuff by design of his lineup,” one coach states. “He’ll always have an anchor for his offense, a scoring center. Lots of 3-point shooting. And when he has a dynamic playmaker his sets are almost impossible to stop. Then he has a ton of counters. You think you know what’s coming, then he flops it. Then he flips the flop. You gotta turn them over, ’cause you can’t get enough misses.”
Coach No. 2: “He has had exceptional players, but he has not had super-talented players on the same team. He schemes and designs game plans that beat more talented teams.”
And this potential recruiting tool from Coach No. 3:
“Paint has turned an unheralded recruit into a National Player of the Year [Zach Edey] and another unheralded recruit (possibly) into the NCAA’s all-time assist leader [Braden Smith]. Nobody is better and putting their players in positions to succeed.”
Norlander puts the last statement in perspective.
“My favorite quote we received about the 55-year-old Purdue graduate came from a coach who highlighted how Painter has taken a sub-400 recruit (Zach Edey) and made him a two-time Wooden Award winner and taken a borderline top-200 recruit (Braden Smith) and positioned him to possibly go down in history as the NCAA’s all-time assist leader.
“Some of that is development, sure. But a lot of it is that coaches largely believe Painter is the absolute best at putting his players, whomever his players happen to be in any given season, in positions to succeed. On that note, consider that Purdue has had a consensus First Team or Second Team All-American in seven of the past nine seasons despite never enrolling a top 30 recruiting class or a top 30 prospect at any point during that span.
“That’s incredible.”
But the biggest compliment to Painter was his clearcut pick when coaches were asked “if your son were a player, which college coach would you want him to spend four years with?” Painter garnered 30 percent of the vote to Michigan State coach Tom Izzo’s 16 percent. Former Indiana coach Kelvin Sampson was a distant third at 6 percent.
Purdue sports information director for men’s basketball, Chris Forman, couldn’t have asked for better quotes to help put together a recruiting package on Painter’s behalf.
Coach No. 1: “He’s like a brother to me. [He’s] one of the most genuine, well-spoken, compassionate, empathetic [people]. Elite thinker [and] elite coach who has produced with less and … his player development, and how he gets these kids to stay, is amazing to me. He’s a really, really good human being.”
Coach No. 2: “Excellent coach. Better person. Man of integrity. Tells his players what they need to hear, not what they want to hear. Genuinely cares about his program and the game of college basketball. Players have a great understanding of their job.”
Coach No. 3: “His program is at the highest level and has shown that they are doing the right things to retain players. So, they are having a great experience, will develop and get better, and will always hear the truth.”
Maybe the most telling statement, though, comes from Parrish.
“I don’t mean to paint him as a saint, if only because I don’t personally know any saints, but in 20-plus years of covering college basketball, I don’t think I’ve ever heard another coach say anything derogatory about Painter,” Parrish states.
“He’s both broadly respected as a coach and generally liked as a man. Not everybody in this sport checks those boxes while also being on track to someday become a Naismith Memorial Hall of Famer. But Painter clearly does.”
A more tangible honor was given to Painter on Oct. 14 when he was selected the John R. Wooden “Legends of Coaching Award.”
The award is presented to coaches who exemplify Wooden’s high standard of coaching success and personal integrity.
Kenny Thompson is the former sports editor for the Lafayette Journal & Courier and an award-winning journalist. He has covered Purdue athletics for many years.