Matt Painter's 500th win was a foregone conclusion. Purdue's run shows Hall of Fame coach's legacy
· Yahoo Sports
ST. LOUIS — Midway through the second half of Purdue basketball’s second-round NCAA Tournament win, with Miami still threatening to retake the lead and crush the Boilermakers’ dreams, coach Matt Painter was having a blast.
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Yet when Hurricanes coach Jai Lucas appeared to deftly use consideration of a replay challenge to see how Purdue planned to line up on the inbounds, Painter turned toward the media, administrators and fans behind him with a wide grin.
“I love that,” Painter said to no one in particular.
Painter appreciates tacticians and gamesmanship. Really, though, everyone involved with Purdue basketball is having fun right now, because they’re winning and because of how they’re winning.
It’s fitting this particular team gave Painter his 500th win at Purdue with Sunday’s 79-69 victory over Miami. Reaching that number had become a foregone conclusion – and matter of when, not if. Along those same lines, with 13 more wins, he’ll pass Gene Keady as the program’s all-time leader.
Reaching the Sweet 16, though, seemed more precarious late in the season. Purdue couldn’t beat the best teams in the Big Ten on its home floor. It could not mesh well enough defensively to capitalize on an offense putting up all-time efficiency numbers.
What Painter has accomplished over 21 seasons is not merely demonstrated in those 500 wins. It showed up tangibly over the past two weeks, when a senior-led team emerged from that disappointing regular season to win the Big Ten Tournament championship and return to the Sweet 16.
A more cohesive brand of basketball yielded more coherent results – on defense, on offense, and when answering opposing surges with one of their own.
Painter did not solve that problem in real time so much as he solved in four-plus years ago. He made correct evaluations of the makeup of Trey Kaufman-Renn, Fletcher Loyer and Braden Smith.
This team securing Painter's 500th win could almost be considered an accident of scheduling, matchups and dozens of other factors over two decades. That this team figured out how to push him there this month – with that championship run from the 7 seed in Chicago and two solid wins in St. Louis – was anything but coincidental.
“Our leadership and accountability level from our top guys, over the last two weeks, it’s been among the best in their career,” said assistant coach P.J. Thompson, who Painter once recruited after recognizing those same intangibles. “Obviously we’ve won, right, and winning helps a lot. But coach Paint’s a Hall of Fame coach if we win tomorrow or lose tomorrow. His resume ain’t really changing. He’s stamped.
“You win with the players, and our players are hooked up right now, and they’re about the right stuff, and it’s translated to a lot of success for our group.”
Painter, as with every milestone, deflected credit for those 500 wins to the guys who sweated and strained through 20,000-plus minutes to win them. Not McDonald’s All-Americans, he always reminds the media, but players who deliver five-star performances in March regardless of their star rating in ninth grade.
Those core seniors – all three Indiana high school products – quickly reminded the media they came to Purdue first and foremost because of Painter. He was winning before they arrived, and they expect he’ll keep winning once they’ve moved on.
They will be remembered as the group who helped Painter break through to a new level of success. As they see it, they’ll remember him as the coach who put them in position to maximize their potential.
“Being able to be a part of that with him and share that with him and experience that with him – it's an unbelievable feeling,” Smith said.
The Boilermakers did not arrive in St. Louis with their hearts set on pushing Painter's Purdue wins odometer to a nice, round number. This season’s perspective has not shifted. It will be defined by how many games this group won in its final March together.
So far the answer is six. This group already keyed the end of a 44-year Final Four drought, as Painter once predicted they would. If he, and they, get there again, that legacy will transcend the slow accumulation of milestones.
The celebration for Painter's 500th Purdue win was fairly subdued – more of a footnote on a victory with bigger consequences.
If they can win No. 502 in San Jose this week, they won’t stop celebrating until they’re back on Indiana soil.
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This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Purdue basketball coach Matt Painter's 500th win shows legacy left