Matt Painter, NBA Combine, Purdue football notes and more

PURDUE BASKETBALL​

• Matt Painter on Jamyn Sondrup, who has signed with Purdue but is slated to be a 2028 recruit after a two-year Mormon mission. (There will be religion-based exceptions to the five-year rule, so no issues there.)

“It made a whole lot of sense. Whether he was coming immediately or in one year or two years, you can never have enough quality big guys. He’s got soft hands. He can post and score with his back to the basket. He can make threes. He can pass the basketball.

“He’s got to get in better shape. That’s the one thing, getting in really, really good shape. I think once he gets to that and physically makes some improvements with his stamina and just working on his body, once he gets situated here, he’s going to be a hell of a player. I’m a big fan of his.”

• Purdue is going to play another exhibition game on the road, same as it it did the past several years at Arkansas, Creighton and Kentucky. “Somebody good,” we’re told. We don’t know who it is, but if you filter out teams on the schedule already, cut out the west due to annoying travel and apply “someone good” you wonder about the Dukes, North Carolinas and Kansases (what’s the plural of ‘Kansas’ and why would you ever need it?) of the world. We’ll add, too, that Purdue was long in communication with Duke in hopes of meeting them in Fort Myers in November, which didn’t materialize.

• All Purdue’s players are healthy for the summer. Jack Benter‘s wrist just needed rest. CJ Cox‘s ankle is fine.

Assuming there are no paperwork issues, once Enzo Shahrvin signs and arrives in June, Purdue should have its full group intact for the summer and the July trip to Canada.

It’s pretty evident — and this isn’t really news — that Omer Mayer is going to have the ball in much the same way Braden Smith did. He’ll be Purdue’s point guard/lead guard. But they are absolutely going to explore pairings that have him playing off the ball — as he did with Smith — while either Luke Ertel or Antione West have the ball.

• We’ll explore this more later, but five years of eligibility changes the practice of redshirting, which crystalizes for Purdue right now, because it has a few freshmen coming in who could stand to redshirt. Purdue has taken players before specifically to redshirt, most recently (we believe) Rivers Knight.

Painter said he’ll still put everyone in during mop-up minutes and that players are still going to be needed if there’s foul trouble or injuries or something, but suggested conversations will be held with those outside the rotation to treat their seasons as redshirt years, if that makes sense.

• Word around the Combine this week is that the Pacers want Braden Smith bad. But of course they do. He’s a first-round-level guy and Indiana has no picks right now. But it does go beyond that. Members of the Pacers brass are good friends with Smith’s family. Braden Smith and Chad Buchanan’s son, Trey, were teammates at Westfield for a few years.

The Celtics have Smith coming in soon. Brad Stevens generally gravitates to the same sort of player as Matt Painter (BN)

PURDUE FOOTBALL​

• Ryan Browne is in Texas ’til the end of the month, working with noted QB guru Jeff Christensen.

Browne will spend May in Big D working two, two-hour throwing sessions each day followed by a one-hour film session. He’ll do this schedule seven days a week.

Browne is expected to fly his WR’s down at different times, and that will carry over to every weekend starting in June. WR Xavier Townsend is flying to Dallas today.

Starting June 1, he’ll go down every weekend until camp starts. Browne also is expected to work the famed Manning Camp in June.

• How did IU get so good, so fast? I asked a Big Ten head coach that question this week.

“Resources,” he said. “They got major donor support, invested heavily, hired the right coach and aggressively attacked the portal. But beyond that, they looked physically different. They looked developed, tough and well-coached when I watched them live.

Is Curt Cignetti the real deal?

“We’ll find out long-term, but last year’s team absolutely looked legit to me,” said the head coach. “They didn’t look like the typical Indiana teams of the past.”

• We are seeing some schools across the nation cuts sports, supposedly in response to new financial pressures of paying athletes.

“That’s the scary part,” the head coach said.

“Football, men’s basketball and maybe one other sport (at my school) are the only ones generating real revenue at a lot of schools. The rest lose money. From a pure business standpoint, how many companies carry 19 negative divisions forever? It’s not sustainable.

“And for people like me — my parents didn’t have money for college—athletics created that opportunity. So, it worries me when opportunities start disappearing.”

Is the current system sustainable?

“Honestly, I think if schools and conferences don’t make hard decisions themselves, eventually the federal government or the courts are going to decide it for them,” said the head coach. “And neither one of those outcomes is probably going to be painless.” (TD)

PURDUE FOOTBALL RECRUITING​

– A flurry of recent offers have been sent out by Purdue to members of the 2027 recruiting class, headlined by three rising in-state talents..

A trio of Indianapolis products netted Purdue offers, coinciding with their respective recruitments taking off of late. Miami (OH) commits DJ Mitchell, Errol Kerns and Izayveon Moore were all added to the Boilermakers’ recruiting board.

Mitchell, a Franklin Central cornerback, was offered on Monday, and has already locked in an official visit with the Boilermakers for May 29-31. Mitchell also picked up a Michigan offer and will be in Ann Arbor from June 12-14, in addition to his official visit to Miami (OH), where he is still committed, sandwiched in between.

Moore, a three-star running back from Lawrence North, was the first last week. The 5-foot-9 tailback has been as productive as any playmaker in the state, and it was head-scratching to see no Power 4 offers come his way, until Cornell Ford and the Boilermakers became the first last week. Don’t be surprised to see Moore in West Lafayette in the next month or so.

Kerns is the most touted of the trio, picking up offers from Texas A&M, Michigan, Kentucky, Illinois, Northwestern and Purdue. The Lawrence Central defensive back has already booked trips to College Station and Ann Arbor, with his recruitment going national.

– Other 2027 prospects also netted recent offers and present new names to monitor for the near future.

Purdue became the latest to offer The James Academy (Va.) running back Ar’mand Stevens, who also holds offers from Wisconsin, Pitt, Virginia, Michigan State, Washington, Minnesota, and Arkansas.

A sleeper name to know, Rock Hill (Texas) linebacker Riley Hinds, had only Texas Tech, Fordham, and North Texas on his offer sheet prior to Purdue entering the mix. He is a track star that translates that speed onto the gridiron, having run a 10.68 in the 100-meter dash.

Armwood (Fla.) defensive lineman Errol Demontagnac III has solidified himself as a key target for several Big Ten programs, including Nebraska, and Illinois, where he is expected to take official visits, as well as Virginia. The Florida native also holds offers from Michigan, South Florida, Louisville, Vanderbilt, Florida State, Virginia Tech, Indiana, and others.

– In-state New Palestine tight end Mason Oglesby is expected to announced his commitment May 23, choosing between Indiana, Ohio State, North Carolina, and Kansas. It’s not a huge surprise to see Purdue out of the race now, as the decision was always going to come down to Ohio State or Indiana. (DJ)