Three Thoughts From The Weekend: Purdue football musts, U.S. Olympic basketball and more

GoldandBlack.com’s Three Thoughts from the Weekend column, with analysis of Purdue football, Boilermaker men’s basketball, recruiting, or whatever else comes to mind.

ON PURDUE FOOTBALL

It’s that time of year, kids. School is about to start and families nationwide are learning the hard way that you can’t fit a 70-inch television in an Elantra.

Yeah, the fall semester looms and thus so does football season, one in which Purdue will want more than anything to establish positive momentum. But for that to happen, there are musts, non-negotiables that have to happen.

I’m running perilously thin on stuff to write about, so when in doubt, list stuff.

Here are some of Purdue’s musts.

Hudson Card’s health: It’s intellectually insulting to you, the reader, to even mention this since it sort of goes without saying, but Card is Purdue’s season, in my opinion, and it’s not just about him being available, but him being comfortable and confident and a weapon running the football. It’s not just about serious injury that sidelines players, but also the wear and tear of the physical and mental varieties that hold players back. Everyone gets hurt, but Purdue needs Card playing with as full a deck as possible all season.

Kicking: Um, this is a big deal that may not jump off the page at casual fans, but Purdue has new kickers again. A new punter, for sure, and maybe a freshman kicker. Margin for error is scarce in either area.

Pressure: Purdue’s defenses under this staff are never going to be good if they can’t really apply pressure on the quarterback and his receivers. It’s kind of the whole point. The scheme is good. The pieces have to be, too. You want to see Will Heldt take a step, Kydran Jenkins fit well in different roles and transfers to pan out. You have a strong secondary, on paper, but good defensive backfields can become mediocre real quick without a pass rush. Obviously.

Offensive playmakers: All your best receiving playmakers from last season are gone, but it was an average group anyway. Deion Burks was a nice player but he’s a No. 3, not a No. 1, in my opinion. T.J. Sheffield was like a 5. Garrett Miller would have been nice to have back. Now, everyone’s either new or coming back from injury. You’re not going to be good enough offensively if you can’t make big plays and establish bread-and-butter completion fodder to move chains, set up counterpunches and keep your defense off the field. This is always going to be a deal where you have to set up the run with the pass.

Discipline: The competition is too good for Purdue to have a whole lot of margin for error to hurt itself with penalties. The fine line of coaching aggressiveness on defense without getting called for too many personal fouls or pass interferences looms large. When you have brand-new teams every year, as will be the case for most everyone annually, life is like a box of chocolates.

There are obviously a hundred more keys I could list, but these are the musts, in my view.

Steph Curry (Candice Ward/USA Today Sports)

ON U.S. OLYMPIC BASKETBALL

The U.S. won its fifth consecutive gold medal at the Summer Olympics this past weekend, but if you’e one of those who have long felt a sense of entitlement for your homeland to dominate the world in basketball, you best recalibrate your expectations.

If there’s one reality that should have been apparent prior to these Games, only to be reinforced in Paris, it’s that the world is really good at basketball. It — as in the totality of the world — has caught up to America. Not surpassed, but caught up.

The funny thing about it is that obviously the ’92 Dream Team was the inflection point for Europe, Asia, South America, Canada, etc., making their move, not only with their national teams but in turning out incredible players.

Look at the world right now: Nikola Jokic of Serbia is the best player on the planet, in my opinion, with Luka Doncic of Slovenia right behind him, and Greece’s Giannis Antetokounmpo not far removed for his reign, s Canada’s Shai Gilgous-Alexander knocks on the door himself. In three years, maybe sooner, France’s Victor Wembanyama takes the crown.

With America’s Mount Rushmore of LeBron James, Kevin Durant and Steph Curry cycling out, it’s up to the next generation to keep America on top now.

It will not be easy, not because the U.S. doesn’t have great players, but look at what decided the Olympics here: Threes. Serbia damn near beat the Americans because of threes and the U.S. claimed the gold with threes, mainly the incredible, super-heroic, indescribable run from Curry, who fried the French with four crunch-time threes.

Offensive skill is the name of the game. It’s central to the world’s gap-closing on us.

Now, what game’s next? Steph Curry is inarguably the greatest shooter to ever walk the earth. If you want to argue Ray Allen or whoever, have at it. Kevin Durant isn’t far behind, and in my opinion, the most gifted/best equipped scorer to ever play. LeBron may be the greatest passer ever.

Skill development ought to be a bigger deal in America than it is. Kids here play too much and don’t practice enough. They should be practicing not just jump shots, but jump stops. Everyone should train as guards young, and if they grow, cool. Don’t worry about mixtapes and Eurosteps and being a “PROBLEM!!!!”

In 2028, no one in the world will have a physical force like Anthony Edwards. But all these teams will come back with grown men who really know how to play, and really know how to play together, guys who can shoot and pass and be Eastern Europe tough.

The Americans have dominated the global basketball landscape forever, but heavy lies the crown and starting in L.A. in 2028, it may lie heavier than ever.

When that team in 1992 changed basketball forever by skating to a gold medal, it went through a bunch of good players, but I just scanned all the rosters from that year and found, I think, nine NBA players. Not stars. Players, some of whom didn’t come to the U.S. ’til they were deep into their careers. I also was shocked to learn that Luc Longley’s first name is Lucien. Anyway, Toni Kukoc, Drazen Petrovic, Detlef Schrempf, Arvydys Sabonis and Sarunas Marčiulionis, those dudes were great players, but the U.S. was a walking Hall of Fame. The gap was, well, kinda hilarious.

It is a whole different deal now.

ON LESSONS FOR YOUNG PLAYERS

Be that guy right there.

This U.S. Basketball team was the best of the best, of course.

Tyrese Haliburton played the role of walk-on, which is to say he didn’t play. That’s how he responded. Winning was what mattered to him.

Jayson Tatum just won an NBA title and was Finals MVP. He played sparsely. He seemed excited as hell to win, didn’t he? Here’s hoping he’s back in 2028, because he and Edwards and Haliburton get the keys now.

Prioritize winning, kids. Not your brand. And the two things can be linked, you know.

And shooting. If you can shoot, you can play.

Locally, it’s amazing what has happened for Purdue since Matt Painter just prioritized recruiting shooters and started having his teams shoot a million threes in practice every year.

Why isn’t everyone doing this? It’s not rocket science. It wasn’t novel what Painter did. It should be everyone’s priority.

And every young player’s priority.

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