centralbucksfan;704917 wrote:You act as if replacing the POY with a TRUE freshman is easy? There is still something to it. He has to put the pieces of the puzzle together, sell upper classman that we need to get the ball to a freshman, and mesh it all together. And he did just that, and THEN some! If someone had told you OSU would be 29-2, #1 in the country before he season...would you have bought into that? Painter did a great job as well. But he also had two VERY good players, both SENIORS returning. And the other guys on the team aren't too shabby either BTW. I believe he has had some pretty good recuiting classes. Last year, when losing Hummel during the season...then going to sweet 16..I thought he did tremendous job. This year, they had time to adjust as the year went on. Both did a great job. But call me a homer if you choose...but when you look at the entire body of work from day one...I would choose Matta.
Never said it was easy. But Sullinger was the #1 recruit in the country. We all knew he had a ton of talent. Guys replacing Hummel (Carroll, a FR...Bade, a SO who is just not good lol...Byrd, a SO if you want to call him a Forward...Johnson, a FR not Hummels position, but god more minutes wihtout Hummel). Painter did everything he did relying on 2 SRs, and then FR and SO who, despite what you said, are marginal recruits. Bade, Carroll, Byrd, and Johnson were all around the 100 mark on ratings services.
You also talk about Painter having time to get the players to mesh and had time to adjust to no Hummel. But who had more time for the meshing and adjusting, OSU or Painter??? That argument is kind of biased imo.
Im taking NOTHING away from Matta, he surpassed even my lofty expectations (Had MSU winning conference with OSU 2nd and OSU getting a 2 seed with 5 loses). OSU has had a tremendous season already. But what Painter was able to do was pretty remarkable. I know you thought they still had a good team, and kudos to you, because I didnt think they were top 4 in the league when Hummel went down, and most people were closer to my train of thought than yours.
I mean, you asked if anyone would think OSU would be 29-2 and a #1 seed? The answer is probably not. But when Hummel went down did anyone think Purdue would be 25-6 a solid #2 seed and playing for a #1 seed 2 weeks left in the season. The answer to that probably has more "no"s than the OSU hypothetical, again jmo.
BTW, it is absolutely KILLING me to defend Painter and Purdue right now lol...just KILLING me


Fucking hate that school.