Purdue Boilermakers
New faces and fresh legs at Purdue
By John Gasaway, BigTen Wonk
Nov 15, 2006 - 11:25:57 AM

Last year
9-19 overall, 3-13 in conference.

Back
Chris Lutz (9.2 PPG, 1.02 PPWS , 4.6 reb. pct. , 3.3 assists per 100 possessions , 4.9 TOs per 100 possessions )
Marcus Green (5.5 PPG, 1.03 PPWS, 8.3 reb. pct., 2.7 a/100 poss., 5.7 TO/100 poss.)
Bobby Riddell (2.2 PPG)
Chris Hartley (1.8 PPG)

New
Carl Landry (6-7 F, sat out 2006 with knee injury, 18.2 PPG in 2005)
David Teague (6-5 G, sat out 2006 with knee injury, 14.0 PPG in 2005)
Tarrance Crump (6-1 G, missed 2006 season due to suspension for an off-court incident)
Gordon Watt (6-6 F, transfer from Boston College)
Chris Kramer (6-3 G, Huntington, IN)
Keaton Grant (6-4 G, Kissimmee, FL)
Johnathan Uchendu (6-11 F, Pulaski, AR)
Dan Vandervieren (6-10 F, Eden Prairie, MN)

Gone
Matt Kiefer (12.0 PPG, 1.02 PPWS, 16.2 reb. pct., 3.6 a/100 poss., 4.0 TO/100 poss.)
Nate Minnoy (10.2 PPG)
Marcus White (10.1 PPG)
Gary Ware (7.3 PPG)
Bryant Dillon (6.9 PPG)

Official motto for 2006-07
"Any use of the term 'knee injury' this season is prohibited."

What we think we know in November (read the warning label)
Purdue played its first regular season game Monday night and not one Boilermaker on the floor for the opening tip started even a single Big Ten game last season.

So what do we think we know in November? We don't know anything. But, to quote the immortal Lloyd Dobler, we know that we don't know....

Who are those guys?
The mystery begins with head coach Matt Painter. He's been on the sidelines at Purdue in one capacity or another for two years now and we still don't know what we'll see from his team this year.

Painter served one year as a coach-in-waiting during Gene Keady's farewell season in 2005-05. And then his nominal first year at the helm last season was washed out by a disastrous series of injuries and suspensions that removed Purdue's entire projected starting five from action before conference play began. An unrepentant Pharaoh could not have suffered more plagues upon his house than did Painter last year. (At one point last season I'm fairly certain I saw a cloud of locusts in Mackey Arena.)

But the Successories poster at the mall says adversity breeds inner strength and indeed the coach appears to have a sense of humor about his travails. When Purdue administrators gave Painter the equivalent of an act-of-God exemption, conferring upon the coach a one-year contract extension, he said, "I’ve got to be the only coach in America to go 9-19 and get an extension. I tell people if we win 11 this year, I’m going for two more years."

Looking to this year Painter says: "As long as we make improvement and stop turning the ball over, we should be fine." He's right--this is indeed the task at hand for the new guys. Last year Purdue's shooting and offensive rebounding were both average, even amidst the plague of locusts, but they coughed up the ball on very nearly one in every four possessions, the worst figure in the league.

On defense, this year's new-look Boilermakers appear to be numerous on the perimeter and thin in the post. My assumption until further notice: very few threes shot by opposing teams, who will instead be busy attacking the rim and trying to draw fouls on and/or wear out a certain big man down low....

DiMaggio in '41, Peyton Manning in '04, and Landry in '05--OK, maybe not that good. Still....
Carl Landry sat out last season recovering from a knee injury suffered in February 2005. He scored 18 points a game for Purdue that season but that's just the beginning of the story. After all, Bracey Wright scored 18 points a game for Indiana that year, too, and no one particularly reveres the Hoosier's performance that season.

But Landry achieved something special that year: outstanding scoring efficiency (1.30 PPWS) and sheer volume (18 a game) on a team with no other offensive threats. When Landry shot the ball that year it went in, despite the inconvenient little fact that opposing defenses paid no attention whatsoever to any other Purdue player. (For one thing, the Boilermakers hit less than 32 percent of their threes in-conference that year.) Other players have scored with equal efficiency--but they are often the second, third, or fourth offensive options on teams with multiple threats.

Or look at it another way: Wisconsin last year was no scoring juggernaut, to be sure, but primary scoring threat Alando Tucker still had a level of support on offense that primary scoring threat Landry did not have in 2005. And yet Tucker's scoring efficiency last year was pretty much the exact ( horrific) opposite of Landry's. (Don't get me wrong: I ( heart) Tucker--tune in tomorrow for more. Still, it illustrates just how striking Landry's year really was.)

As a fan of the game, my wish this season is for a non-Landry Boilermaker to emerge as a viable scoring threat. I would love to see what Landry can do with such support.

And as for non-scoring matters, the big guy (ha--wait until you see him next to Greg Oden) would appear to be good but not great on the boards and let's not talk about the rest. Assists, holding on the ball, defense--that's for teammates, right?...

Intrigued by Teague
(At the risk of sounding repetitive....) David Teague sat out last season with a knee injury. I keep hearing that he's going to provide Painter with defense and perimeter shooting this year. I don't doubt the former but I do have to wonder about the latter. Teague was solid but not spectacular shooting threes his first two years in West Lafayette before recording a notably more underwhelming 31.5 3FG pct. in 2005. Moreover he's a career 71 percent free throw shooter--not the profile of a preternaturally gifted outside shooter. An over/under of 36 percent this season would seem about right. On the plus side, Teague is a tenacious defender and on offense he holds on to the ball with admirable possessive zeal.

Say Watt?
Boston College transfer Gordon Watt is either 6-6 or 6-7 depending on where you link. He started Purdue's first game and recorded 10 points and nine boards in just 19 minutes.

Get to the point
Tarrance Crump sat out last season after leaving the scene of an accident in which the car he was driving struck a pedestrian. He is billed as the "true" point guard but got off to a slow start in his first game the other night, recording just four points and zero assists in 20 minutes.

Rewriting the depth chart
Chris Kramer may qualify as the surprise of the season so far. The true freshman from Huntington, Indiana, has landed in the starting lineup and been praised by Painter for his ability to defend on the perimeter.

"Yay, new guys! I think...."
Chris Lutz says he's glad he'll have some help in the backcourt this year. (He has so much help he's lost his spot as a starter.)

Baffling statistical anomaly Marcus Green, Wonk salutes you!
In 2006, Marcus Green was an 87 percent free throw shooter and a 22 percent three-point shooter. Repeat: in 2006 Marcus Green was an 87 percent free throw shooter and a 22 percent three-point shooter. True, that FT percentage is based on just 31 attempts. Still, write this one in stone: Green's three-point shooting will improve dramatically this year. (There's an alternative?)

Etc.
Keaton Grant gives Painter still another dose of athleticism and size (6-4, 200) on the perimeter.

Johnathan Uchendu's parents are notably iconoclastic spellers. Also he reportedly needs to gain weight. Dan Vandervieren's parents, conversely, eschewed the temptation to go with something more like "Daan" or "Daine." Also he reportedly needs to lose weight.