The summer months have arrived and the mail is a little light. Still, I’ll do my best to answer your Purdue-related questions, even when some of the sports news is dry.
Here are some of the submissions for the latest Mailbag.
Q: With Purdue basketball entering the season as the likely No. 1 team, is anything short of a national championship considered a disappointment? — Sam S.
A: This is a mindset I think many fans adopted shortly after Purdue solidified its roster for the 2025-26 season. With Oscar Cluff transferring into the program and Daniel Jacobsen returning from injury to accompany Trey Kaufman-Renn, the Boilermakers should have a dominant frontcourt. The backcourt of Braden Smith, Fletcher Loyer, Omer Mayer, CJ Cox, and Gicarri Harris might be the best in the country.
It’s easy to understand why so many have jumped aboard the “national championship or bust” train. But I’m not one of those individuals — not when it comes to college basketball.
What I will say, though, is that anything short of a Big Ten championship and a trip to the Final Four will feel like a disappointment in West Lafayette. The Boilermakers can help themselves geographically during the regular season, too. If Purdue earns the No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament, they’d make trips to St. Louis (first and second rounds), Chicago (Sweet 16 and Elite Eight), and return to Indianapolis for the Final Four.
Purdue has the talent, the experience, the coaching, and the geographical path to a national championship. Their odds of winning a title are as good as they’ve ever been. But even if the Boilers fall short, it would be hard to call the season a disappointment if they can add another Big Ten title and Final Four appearance to their collection.
Q: Why do I feel like the energy around Purdue football isn’t very high, even with a new staff? There seemed to be a lot more energy going into 2024. — Barry
A: I think there are a lot of different factors involved with this, none of which are the fault of Barry Odom or his staff.
First, a lot of momentum surrounding the football program was lost last season. It wasn’t just finishing with a 1-11 record, it was getting embarrassed on the field nearly every week. Just two years after winning the Big Ten West, Purdue turned into the laughingstock of college football. I believe that deflated a lot of optimism, even though athletic director Mike Bobinski made a change at the end of the season.
I also believe that there’s so much momentum surrounding the basketball program that football is getting overlooked. Matt Painter has turned Purdue into one of the premier programs in the sport, and many fans are bought in on everything from offseason practices to recruiting to way-too-early predictions. It feels like most people are just ready for basketball season to tip off.
Lastly, and probably the most significant factor, Purdue is essentially starting from scratch for the 2025 season. The Boilermakers are welcoming nearly 70 new faces to the program — 53 transfers and 15 recruits — for the upcoming year. It’s hard to rally around a group of players that fans don’t know.
Perhaps enthusiasm will increase as the season creeps closer, but I think those three factors are preventing too much optimism about Odom’s first year at the helm.
Q: Can you give me your all-time Purdue basketball lineup? I’m not just talking starting five, but a four-deep bench and coach. — Bryan W.
A: Assembling a team of all-time Purdue greats is not an easy task, though one I enjoyed. But I did modify the rules, so you can certainly criticize or critique my list.
The one rule I have when creating these all-time teams is to omit anyone I never had the opportunity to watch play at Purdue. Since I was born in the late 1980s, it rules out Boilermaker greats like Rick Mount, Bruce Parkinson, Joe Barry Carroll, Dave Schellhase, and others.
I provided a 12-man roster and five-man coaching staff. Feel free to tell me where I went wrong!
Roster
Staff
Q: Where is the best place in Indiana to get a breaded pork tenderloin? — Kurt V.
A: For those of you who may not know, I’m a big foodie. Questions about any type of food will always get answered in the Mailbag, especially if it involves an Indiana staple.
If you want the best breaded pork tenderloin in the state, make the journey to Edinburgh Diner in Edinburgh. I don’t know what kind of mileage you’ll have to put on your car, but it’s worth it.
Not only is the portion massive (as it should be), but it has incredible flavor. So far, it’s the best breaded pork tenderloin I’ve tasted. But it’s still early in my journey, and I hope to be able to add more restaurants to this list.
I’ll also give a shoutout to Nick’s Kitchen in Huntington, home of the ORIGINAL breaded pork tenderloin.
Q: What’s the outlook for women’s basketball for the 2025-26 season? — David N.
A: Much like the football situation, it’s hard to place expectations on the women’s basketball team entering the 2025-26 season because of the number of new faces in the program. I do believe the Boilermakers are in better shape than a season ago, though.
Purdue should be excited about the incoming recruiting class, which features 6-foot-7 center Avery Gordon (Brownsburg). She was an Indiana All-Star this past season and will add size and depth to the frontcourt, as Gordon will join 6-foot-4 sophomore Lana McCarthy and 6-foot-3 sophomore Kendall Puryear.
Coach Katie Gearlds and her staff also added Israel native Hila Karsh, who committed to Purdue over offers from UCLA and Duke. She is the second international player in the 2025 class coming to West Lafayette, along with Keona Douwstra, a guard from the Netherlands.
As for transfers, Purdue has landed commitments from former Arkansas point guard Kiki Smith, SoCon Freshman of the Year Nya Smith from UNC-Greensboro, All-Big Sky first-team guard Taylor Feldman and former UNC-Wilmington guard Taylor Henderson. Plus, 1,000-point scorer Madison Layden-Zay is returning to the team after sitting out the 2024-25 campaign.
I know, that was a lot of information and not a lot of answering the question. But I do believe these additions fit into what Gearlds and her staff want to do at Purdue. They’d ultimately like to play at a faster pace, push tempo and be able to dominate on the interior.
Don’t ask me to place a win total on that, but I do think the results are going to be better than last season.
Q: Will the volleyball team have a big drop-off from last year? — David N.
A: Let’s start with the bad news first. By now, you’re probably aware that Purdue was forced to replace middle blockers Raven Colvin, Lourdes Myers, and Lizzie Carr, as well as outside hitters Chloe Chicoine and Eva Hudson, and defensive specialist Ali Hornung. That’s a lot of talent and production to replace from a team that finished 27-7 last season.
However, a “drop-off” in the Dave Shondell era still usually results in 20-plus wins and a trip to the NCAA Tournament. Things could be much worse.
Talking with Shondell earlier this spring, he’s excited about the players he’s brought in from the transfer portal and believes there’s a lot of potential. But he did highlight a few areas of concern, saying Purdue needed to be better on first-ball contact and finishing points. Those things were harped on all spring and will continue to be an area of focus heading into the 2025 season.
I don’t know if Purdue will be able to compete with programs like Nebraska, Penn State, and Wisconsin for a potential Big Ten title this season, but I’d be surprised if the Boilers aren’t back in the NCAA Tournament this year.
EDEY NAMED TO NBA ALL-ROOKIE TEAM: Former Purdue superstar Zach Edey received NBA All-Rookie honors after averaging 9.2 points, 8.3 rebounds, and 1.3 blocks in his first year with the Memphis Grizzlies. CLICK HERE
MOCKOBEE GIVES BACK TO HOMETOWN: Purdue senior running back Devin Mockobee donated $10,000 to the youth football program in Boonville, Ind., his hometown. CLICK HERE
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