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This isn’t going to be a normal game preview – to be honest, we’re going to aim for most previews to not be so generic this season.
But with this being an exhibition game, we won’t be looking at what we know about either team. It’ll be both teams first exhibition of the year. Frankly, we don’t know much about either. So, instead, we’ll focus on what we hope to learn from Purdue when they play host to Ball State on Sunday afternoon.
First, a look at Ball State from last season:
At 12-19, and a KenPom rating just around 300, Ball State was one of college basketballs worst team last season. An offensively inefficient team, its defense did have some relative teeth and was good at forcing turnovers.
With new head coach Chris Capko, Ball State looks to have an influx of talent and Kenpom is optimistic about them improving drastically this year.
It’ll be good practice for Purdue to play a team that’s unknown on film.
Who will step into lead role on offense?
I’m very optimistic about Purdue’s defense. There’s not nearly as many weaknesses on that end of the floor. Purdue has a bevy of different defenders that should be able to play multiple styles, including being more physical and aggressive. Especially with the addition of Enzo, the big man rotation should be pretty smooth sailing.
But offensively, where are Purdue’s points coming from? Whose offense is it going to be?
The easy, maybe lazy answer is Omer Mayer who came from Israel last year for this exact plan. For one year he’d learn and tutor under the all-time assist leader, Braden Smith, and then take over the offense in his sophomore season. That is still probably the most likely outcome in terms of who has the keys to the offense.
But it doesn’t look as clear a picture as it did before the season last year.
Mayer still isn’t a great shooter which is problematic because he’s great at creating space to get his shot off. If he gets hot, he’s unstoppable. But he’s flashed a more aggressive get to the rim game in summer practices. He also has a potential dream pick and roll match up with Enzo that should create more space.
But Mayer needs to be quicker with his decision making. He gets stuck with the ball, waiting for the court to move around him. It can stall the offense.
The ball doesn’t stick when Luke Ertel has it. In summer scrimmages, Ertel, a true freshman, has almost been an elixir for Mayer. They’ve looked good together. They both shift into combo guard roles and with Ertel’s inability to ever stop, the ball moves freely. He’s just a freshman but he’s a knock down shooter, a star in the making, and he might need as much time to adjust as his frame would suggest.
And then there’s the wonder kid. The freshman in waiting who redshirted, Antione West, who made Purdue’s Vancouver trip a personal showcase. He looked all the things: athletic, big, aggressive, capable of scoring inside, outside, and in the middle. Painter hit him with perhaps the quote of the summer that compared him to Patrick Mahomes. It’s not if West will be great, he said, just when. When might very well be now.
Or there’s CJ Cox who is Purdues most proven player. He took over a starting role he had no business taking his freshman year and hasn’t looked back. But is his dna to be the quiet fourth or fifth option capable of putting up points in a hurry? Or can he unlock a go to game that Purdue’s offense can rely on.
Or is it Gicarri Harris, who has at times flashed a quickness and brilliance that makes his ceiling seem the highest on the team? His jump shot took on leaps and bounds last season. If he can add consistency and more on the ball aggressiveness, he could be a dangerous lead guard.
What about Caden Pierce? Player of the year in the Ivy League who had the kind of heady, all-around game that usually thrives at the four for Purdue.
Or Daniel Jacobsen, who fell out of the rotation last season and has fallen a bit out of the headlines. But the 7-4 big is as easy a bucket as Purdue has. He’s a lob threat everywhere. He can shoot. He has good touch around the rim. Purdue has so many ball handlers that there’s an avenue where Jacobsen is just picking apart defenses out of rotation around the rim.
Don’t discount Jack Benter who flashed at times last year and took a back up four role that he physically probably shouldn’t have been able to as a freshman. There’s an all Big Ten player waiting in him too.
There might not be another team in the country with this many high caliber top option options, for good and bad. Sunday should be a decent early indication on who the team is gonna be built around after years of clarity going into the season.
How do the bigs look?
There’s so many ways for Purdue’s bigs to look this year that it could define both defensively, and offensively what Purdue wants to do and run based on which matchups down low work the best.
Caden Pierce is a true stretch four, allowing Purdue to play four out. He rebounds well so defensively he should help there.
Enzo Shahrvin adds heft, a true roll option, and rim protection at the four while also looking like the best pure rebounder on the roster.
Raleigh Burgess is in theory the back up five, and maybe four? He’s a true tweener. Where does he thrive? Where does he survive? Can he do both at both spots? If so that unlocks ultra big lineup potentials as well as floor spacing at the five.
Daniel Jacobsen is maybe the key to Purdue’s ceiling. He fell off the rotation last year because Oscar Cluff was better, but also because Jacobsen just struggled. He looked lost on defense. He still needed to add weight to his frame. But still, Jacobsen has every tool and this year, maybe more importantly, he has every opportunty. There’s no getting played off the floor this season. Purdue needs him and there could be freedom and confidence for Jacobsen who has had a rough road to start his college journey, losing an entire season just a few seconds into his first regular season game.
So which bigs go with which? How does that change Purdue’s schemes on either side of the ball, or if it does at all. That’s one of the most illimunating things we’ll see on Sunday.