I feel like depending on who you ask, the range of what makes a team/program elite can differ widely. I think the last 3+ years, we’ve been an elite team/program. Remains to be seen if we can maintain it.
I was just referring to someone who won the award and came back because they weren’t going to be a first round pick. I agree they’re very different players. 30 years ago Edey would’ve been the number 1 overall pick no questions asked. Hard to say but I think he could’ve easily cleared $2 million and maybe upwards of $3 mil.
Tshiebwe did it just a few years ago. NIL has certainly changed things where players that would’ve easily left to either play in the league or overseas now are coming back because they’ll be paid more. Pre-NIL, I doubt TJD would’ve stayed for his senior year tbh. Just the reality of this new world we live in with NIL.
Staying so long? He was a true senior this year and didn’t redshirt or use the COVID year. I think it’s clear that Painter will adapt to the type of roster he has. The team that almost made the F4 in 2019 was drastically different than the one this year. He recruits talented players and figures out the rest later.
Yep I agree! Think it’ll look closer to the 2019 team with Carsen. Much more athleticism across the board and TKR will be the focal point in the low post.
You make a good point and it is interesting to see the difference in philosophy of our programs going forward. I personally love how CMP is still building it through the HS ranks and supplementing through the portal with a Lance Jones for example. I think a guy like Kanon Catchings would’ve been more heavily pursued an Illinois/IU pre-portal days for example. I do wonder how much different the portal will look after the COVID year goes away.
He didn’t have the option to stay at Purdue though. Once he told Painter he’d be moving on after the season, CMP recruited accordingly. He was always going to either play somewhere else or stop playing altogether.