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BIG TEN CONFERENCE MEDIA DAYS (MEN)

October 29, 2009

Matt Painter

CHICAGO, ILLINOIS

THE MODERATOR: We'll jump forward to Purdue. Up next is Purdue head coach Matt Painter. Painter begins his fifth year with the Boilermakers and welcomes back all five starters from last year's team that went 27-10, won its first Big Ten tournament title and advanced to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament.
Coach, we'll start with an opening statement and go with questions.
COACH PAINTER: I thought I should have been batting instead of -- in front of Ed DeChellis, anyways, and he could bump me over. But these guys didn't think so. They're the manager.
Obviously we're very excited about this year's team and really looking forward to getting into nonconference play. I think when you finish the season on a good note and you're able to win the Big Ten tournament, go to the Sweet 16, you're excited about the season starting. You want it to start immediately.
And having everybody back, having guys that are healthy and the thing that we've really tried to encourage with our guys and explain to our guys is that injuries are part of the game. And you can't use them as excuses, and last year we did not. And we got better as the year went on.
We also got better as we were healthier. But we didn't use that as an excuse. We kept plugging. I thought we had a strong finish and our guys embraced it, which was something that was great for our team instead of making those excuses like I talked about.
And now I think we're stronger because of it. So we're really looking forward to playing this year and hopefully getting some breaks in terms of health issues, and just staying -- I think from sickness to injury, I think you get that at the wrong time, it really hurts you.
With all that being said, Coach Izzo's team won the league by four games, and his best all-around player was really in and out the whole season. So they were able to overcome it and then do some things that are special. Hopefully we can do some things that are special this year.
But we've got a great league and every game is going to be a challenge, and that's probably something that's different in the Big Ten this year. You can't grab your schedule and say: Well, I think we can win these two or three games and have some wins on your schedule.
There are absolutely zero wins on a Big Ten schedule this year. Anybody can beat anybody else on the road, home, and I think that means you have a great conference.
THE MODERATOR: We'll take questions.

Q. Could you describe how your players embraced all that hardship and was that organic or did you have anything to do with it or did it happen by itself?
COACH PAINTER: The issue really was the uncertainty if Rob was going to play or not. And I think it would have been better for us if he was just going to be out two to four weeks, three to five weeks, and we would have adjusted to that. The uncertainty of whether he was going to be in the lineup on a Wednesday when it was Tuesday night is difficult as a coach because you just want time to prepare.
Obviously we would play small without him at times even smaller than we do. And at times we would play bigger. We would use Chris Kramer as a 4, we would slide JaJuan Johnson down to the 4 and bring in Chalison (phonetic). But these were some lineups we didn't work on. We really wanted to keep it consistent and we weren't able to do that because you want to put your best guys on the court.
But our guys didn't -- they didn't bat an eye. We lost some games through that and nobody pointed fingers and nobody made excuses. Like I said, I just felt we became a stronger team because of it.
With that being said, I don't want to go through it again. I think we've learned our lesson through it. You don't have to do it twice. But I was just proud of our guys for sticking with it.

Q. You returned a lot of guys. What road do you think returning players has had to do with the parity of the Big Ten?
COACH PAINTER: I think with our team, just the returning guys, just the leadership and their experience of being through the grind, I think, is very important to future success.
In terms of our league, we just have an unbelievable junior class in college basketball. And it's evident, obviously, in the Big Ten. There's a lot of juniors in that class that are stars. And when we have some guys that had opportunities I think to go in the draft that stayed I think that really strengthened our league.
And I think we'll have the opportunity now to grow and be one of the premier leagues if not the premiere league in the country.

Q. What can you tell us about the guys who are going to be backing up Johnson and Hummel in terms of size and power in the post?
COACH PAINTER: I think that's a big question for us. I really like the guys that we've signed. Sandi Marcius and D.J. Byrd and Patrick Bade.
With that being said, they're all freshmen and unproven. Sandi gives us more of a true post. Six-ten, 260. Patrick kind of gives us that 4-5, probably more leaning towards the 5, at a six-eight, six-nine, 235, 240, a lefty, a guy that can score the ball a little bit. Can shoot 3s, can stress the defense but can play inside. He was probably more heavily recruited in the Big Ten as a football player as a tight end than he was a power forward.
D.J. Byrd is a big strong kid at six-five, 220, kind of a combo forward play small with him backing up Rob, where we can push him over to the small forward. And he's a skilled kid.
But that's a question because you haven't seen those guys in games yet. You've seen them a lot in AAU. And you've seen them a lot in high school. But they are unproven. If we get an injury like we did last year they're going to have to step up and play major minutes. With backing those guys up and giving us that depth and the bodies, I think they're going to be great in those roles.
But if they have to step out of those roles, there's some uncertainty there. Not in their ability, but just in their experience.

Q. How is Lewis getting along after his deal? Is he showing you what you would like to see off and on the court and then on the court? What are your expectations for him in this second season?
COACH PAINTER: Lewis is, he's done a good job. But I'd rather not comment after somebody does something five, six months later. He has time -- he has this time to prove himself and it's just not through the course of the season, it's his career and it's the rest of his life. Great kids make mistakes. And I think he falls into that category.
If you continue to make those mistakes and it's a pattern of behavior, then that's another deal. I don't think this is a pattern of behavior. I think he made a mistake. So hopefully he can improve and learn from this mistake.
He's been out of practice a little bit. He's had kind of a hip flexor or something in his thigh, strain. Then he scratched his cornea the other day in practice. So he's been out a little bit but he's not going to be in the first three games, two exhibition and the first game. So we'll have to learn to play without him, but he gives us a great spark.
We have some good athletic combo guards in Kramer and Grant and Moore. And he gives us a different look. He gives us that quintessential point guard that can pressure the basketball, that can push the basketball, and he allows us to steal some points in transition.
He was All-Freshman Team last year. People don't really talk about that. But to get that experience as a true freshman at that position, those guys always seem to make a big jump their sophomore year after getting that experience as a point.

Q. How does Keaton Grant look to you? Last year he admitted he was just kind of cautious coming off the injury. But in the pre-season he's been saying, you know, I will not be that way.
COACH PAINTER: Well, he had a surgery. And he didn't play for five months. And our team went to Australia. He wasn't able to play on that trip or practice. And then he did his best last year, didn't make excuses and fought through it. And now he's had a great offseason. Had a great spring, summer, here in the fall he worked hard. He's in the best shape of his life. He put a lot of time into his game.
And I think he'll shoot the ball like he did his sophomore year. But he needs to do other things. I think at the end of the year I always point to the Washington game. He had 12 rebounds against Washington when we advanced to the Sweet 16.
It was just a huge boost to our team when he was able to get those 12 rebounds. But, no, I think he's going to have a great senior year. He's worked very hard academically. He'll need one class in the spring to graduate. Both with him and Kramer. I expect them to have very good senior years.
THE MODERATOR: Thank you, Coach.

End of FastScripts

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