Six Things That Really Matter: Purdue in Europe

As Purdue basketball embarks on its four-game, four-country exhibition tour, it’s been well-documented how different the Boilermakers will be playing without Team Canada-entangled Zach Edey and how this team’s experience may make for diminishing returns (whereas these opportunities are normally ideal for younger or newer teams.)

Nevertheless, there’s some basketball minutia worth exploring during these four games. Here’s a look at some of those less-than-obvious finer points.

TREY KAUFMAN-RENN’S THREE-POINT SHOOTING

As has been well-documented here, sophomore big man Trey Kaufman-Renn will be tried primarily at forward this season after being mostly plugged in at center off the bench last season.

Without Zach Edey present, the biggest offensive dynamic that’ll need to be smoothed out won’t be applicable in Europe, and without knowing what the competition and defensive matchups will look like, it’s hard to know how much Kaufman-Renn will be tested as a perimeter defender.

That said, one thing we absolutely do know is that Kaufman-Renn’s ability to eventually co-exist and complement Edey will largely depend on his ability to space the floor from the 4. That in mind, Kaufman-Renn dedicated himself this off-season to improving his three-point shooting.

Now, this is very different personnel and very different game conditions than what Purdue will have and see once the season starts, and no one’s shooting during these four games will assure anything moving forward, but nonetheless it’s better to make shots than miss shots, and any success that validates Kaufman-Renn’s work this spring and summer and buoys his confidence, that’s only positive.

PURDUE’S PLAY-CALLING OPERATION

This is probably not that big a deal in the grand scheme of things, but Europe may be a worthwhile dry run from a game-day operations perspective, as P.J. Thompson assumes offensive play-calling duties and assistant coaches Paul Lusk and Terry Johnson both work with the defense.

Now, some qualifiers. These exhibitions tend to be more of the just-show-up-and-play variety, so there won’t be real scouting reports, real practice or real game prep, so these aren’t relevant circumstances to how things will work come November.

But it’s worth mentioning.

WINGS ON D

Again, the biggest issue for young players is grasping detail and absorbing scouting reports, so Camden Heide and more importantly Myles Colvin won’t face the sort of head-spinning stuff that can easily hold freshmen back right away. (Heide has a year in the program, so he has much more of a knowledge base.)

Purdue isn’t going to expect perfection here any time soon, but wants to fast-track Heide and Colvin, the combination of the two bringing a level of athleticism and defensive interchangeability that can theoretically really make this team better and more complete.

Europe is a chance for them to show commitment to D, listening skills and ability to course correct during games. Once the season starts, processing and applying those scouting reports then comes to the forefront.

BRADEN SMITH’S APPROACH

Purdue is going to push Braden Smith to assert himself even more this season — as a scorer, as a defender, as a leader, all of it. Without Edey, this is a chance for him to really let loose the alpha streak in him.

So much of this also applies to Fletcher Loyer, who’s gonna have a chance to score a ton on this trip.

But Smith showed last season what can happen when he’s imposing his will on games. To be truly great this season, Purdue will need more of that.

Purdue’s Caleb Furst (Photo: Jacob Wright)

CALEB FURST’S USAGE

Caleb Furst will predominately play center — he was a forward, mostly, last season — where his player profile offensively fits best. His skill set is well suited to play as a dive man in pick-and-roll and off elbow offense, and to use his quickness to out-maneuver bigger post players. If he can get in a rhythm shooting threes, his pick-and-pop potential is considerable.

How much will Purdue post him up? That’s an area of his game that’s not really been explored all that much to this point, and has entailed just the occasional jump hook or baseline spin move every now and then. Without Edey, maybe Purdue rolls him into some post-ups to give him a look, but when Kaufman-Renn is on the floor, he’ll be the focal point in the post. Look for some high-low action with the 5 man stepping out and throwing it in to Kaufman-Renn.

Purdue guard Braden Smith (Photo: Jacob Wright)

BALL PRESSURE

Purdue took a step forward defensively last season and expects to take another now.

There are some real hot buttons at play in terms of the Boilermakers doing so. For one thing those young wings; for another, Kaufman-Renn being to able to guard away from the basket better than he’d have been able to last season.

But the biggest key is going to be ball pressure on the perimeter, Purdue’s ability to better disrupt offenses, to force more turnovers and to make opponents have to really work when hunting whatever matchups they might want to go after. This will apply to Smith and Lance Jones on the ball and getting through or around screens, but also everyone else on the perimeter keeping the ball out of the paint.

If Purdue does some different things defensively with Furst (who’s better suited to hedge and trap and such) at center, that would be interesting, but maybe not reflective of what will happen when Edey is back and playing drop coverage almost exclusively.

Will Berg will play center, too, and that would be a more fitting simulation of what things might look like with Edey.

The post Six Things That Really Matter: Purdue in Europe appeared first on On3.