Coach Matt Painter’s ability to adapt game plans has Purdue returning to Sweet 16

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Matt Painter has seen and done just about everything in two decades as Purdue’s coach.

He’s won nearly 500 games, five conference regular-season titles and two Big Ten tourney crowns. He’s been to the Final Four, a national championship game and is one of two coaches to lose to a No. 16 seed in March Madness. He even finished last in the league — twice.

Yet in an era of college basketball where the only true constant seems to be change, Painter remains a model of consistency because of his ability to win with a simple, proven philosophy and an uncanny ability to adapt to Purdue’s strengths and weaknesses.

“It’s a really unique deal,” the 54-year-old Painter said before last week’s first-round NCAA Tournament victory. “When we win, people say we’re great at developing players, and when we lose, we don’t go in the (transfer) portal enough. It’s kind of like being married, right? Damned if you do, damned if you don’t.”

The results speak for themselves, though.

Purdue has finished among the Big Ten’s top four in 10 of the last 11 seasons, been to 10 straight NCAA tourneys and reached the Sweet 16 in six of the last eight. The Boilermakers (24-11) are now a win away from their fourth straight 25-win season and a return trip to the Elite Eight, this time without two-time national player of the year Zach Edey.

Fourth-seeded Purdue faces top-seeded Houston (32-4) in the second Midwest Region semifinal Friday in Indianapolis, about an hour drive from the school’s campus.

The change

How has Painter stayed this good for this long?

He learned some tough lessons after the maturing “Baby Boilers” took him to his first two Sweet 16s in 2009 and 2010. Purdue lost second-round games in 2011 and 2012 then missed the tourney completely in 2013 and 2014 with sub-.500 conference records.

So Painter changed directions and reverted to some things he’d learned from other coaches he worked with and played for.

“At Purdue, it’s don’t look at what other people are doing, don’t get to that…

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Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/article/coach-matt-painters-ability-adapt-163228011.html

Author : MICHAEL MAROT

Publish date : 2025-03-25 16:32:00

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