Matt Painter thinks 'the (transfer) rule stinks.' Purdue coach rants

PISCATAWAY, N.J. — Purdue basketball coach Matt Painter's ability to keep a nucleus together for four years helped the Boilermakers grow into the nation's No. 1 team and a national championship favorite.

Painter, though, is under no pretense that's an easy thing to pull off. When asked about Rutgers playing six freshmen against Purdue on Tuesday, he agreed the youth movement could eventually pay off — with one obvious caveat.

"It works if you can keep them," Painter said. "Right? It works if you can keep them. If you can't keep them, who cares?

"... That's the dilemma of why the (transfer) rule stinks. You can't grow them if you can't keep them. That's just the nature of development."

Painter pointed to his own set of multi-year starters in Trey Kaufman-Renn, Braden Smith and Fletcher Loyer. They were around for most of a stretch of five losses in the last six Big Ten road openers. Yet they internalized that experience and used it to motivate an emphatic road win Tuesday.

"They've been freshmen in this building. They've been sophomores in this building," Painter said. "We're at an advantage. We have corporate DNA. We have guys that they can coach our team. They coach our team. That's what you want — you empower people that stay in your program and grow."

Painter used the example of Caleb McConnell — the two-time Big Ten defensive player of the year who spent five seasons with the Scarlet Knights. He played on teams which averaged 18.3 wins per season over his final four years — all winning seasons.

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"It's not just a Rutgers issue, it's a college basketball issue," Painter said. "Because now if you play younger guys and you live with them, and they go into their sophomore year, they're going to be better. Then they're going to go into their junior year, they're going to be better.

"But if you can't keep your core group together, that's what makes it hard. That's why you see a lot of coaches say hey man I'm going to stick with this and play some young guys — and they leave on 'em. That's why you see people just play older guys and go in the portal. Why not?"

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This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Purdue basketball coach Matt Painter rants about transfer rule