Purdue was just putting the finishing touches on an epic slide in 2005-2006. After over a century of success, the basketball program officially bottomed out with a 9-19 season, a year after going 7-21.
Matt Painter's first season as head coach couldn't have gone much worse.
It didn't have to be that way. Although the drawn-out conclusion to Gene Keady's career as head coach hurt the program's ability to recruit, the real reason for the slide was that Purdue was passing on the right personnel.
One look at Purdue's '05-'06 roster tells the whole story: just one recruited scholarship player from the state of Indiana, Matt Keifer, was playing.
To be fair, David Teague was out for the year after tearing his ACL, and Chris Hartley was playing after arriving as a walk-on.
Every other player from that disappointing team arrived from outside of Indiana's borders.
Can it be blamed on the fact that Purdue was simply unattractive to recruits worthy of playing in the Big Ten?
While it's understandable that the Boilermakers didn’t scoop up the five-star talent during this period, there's no excuse for missing out on a host of other possibilities who went on to excel at mid-majors after being shunned by Purdue.
During the '05-'06 season, many players from Indiana at smaller schools were outperforming players brought in from out of state to play in Mackey Arena.
From less than 10 miles away in Lafayette, Avery Sheets was putting the finishing touches on a very successful Butler career, and Peyton Stovall averaged 16.7 points, 3.7 rebounds, and 3.5 assists for Ball State as a sophomore.
AJ Graves and Brandon Crone became nationally recognizable names while leading Butler up the top-25.
George Hill averaged 19 points, six rebounds, and 3.6 assists as a freshman at IUPUI.
Had Purdue correctly assessed the talents of these former Indiana All-Stars, the program wouldn't have been in such a sorry state.
In '06-'07, Purdue brought in four scholarship recruits, and just one, the lightly-heralded Chris Kramer (the only Hoosier-native of the group), was a real difference-maker in what turned out to be a surprisingly good season.
The cupboard was bare afterwards, but the future looked good.
That's because the '07-'08 recruiting class was composed of four top-100 in-state freshmen (two JUCO-transfers were added late).
Robbie Hummel, E'Twaun Moore, Scott Martin, and JaJuan Johnson were the impetus behind what has been the most surprising of turnarounds in terms of both the level Purdue has ascended to and the short time it took.
"Baby Boilers" annoyingly became a linchpin of the vocabulary of college basketball analysts when Purdue turned out to be a threat for the Big Ten Championship on the backs of the freshmen, a fact all the more surprising when considering that they were not even the best four newcomers from Indiana last season.
Eric Gordon was ranked second in the country coming out of high school and averaged over 20 points for Indiana.
Jeff Teague and Matt Howard were certainly more productive than Johnson and arguably rank better than Martin.
In summation, the high school class of 2007 from the state of Indiana was loaded.
While it may be fair to suggest that it was a good year for Indiana recruits, it would be an incorrect slight to suggest that a class of this caliber was a one-off event.
Two prospects you can count on to develop into top college players every year are the Indiana Mr. Basketball and the best player from the Indiana 4A State Championship game (some years they are one-in-the-same).
Here's a year-by-year look at what Indiana's Mr. Basketball winner's have produced since 1990:
1990—Damon Bailey: The state's all-time leading scorer, Bailey averaged 19.6 points and was a second-team All-American as a senior.
1991—Glenn Robinson: After academic problems wrecked what would've been his freshman season, the Big Dog became the most dominant player in college basketball for Purdue and went on to be the No. 1 overall pick in the NBA Draft.
1992—Charles Macon: Macon initially enrolled at Ohio State, but ended his career at Central Michigan. He averaged 18.2 points and 7.2 rebounds as a senior for the Chippewas.
1993—Maurice "Kojak" Fuller: Fuller stood just 5'7", but possessed big-time ability. Unfortunately, personal problems landed him in prison.
1994—Bryce Drew: Drew led Valparaiso to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament before a six-year NBA career.
1995—Damon Frierson: Twice named second-team All-MAC at Miami, Frierson averaged 18.8 points, 4.6 rebounds, and 4.1 assists as a junior.
1996—Kevin Ault: Ault helped Steve Alford put the Bears' program on the map. He started as they went to the Sweet 16 in the program's only NCAA appearance.
1997—Luke Recker: Despite a helter-skelter career that saw him attend Indiana, Arizona, and Iowa, Recker managed to graduate with nearly 2,000 career points.
1998—Tom Coverdale: Coverdale was a three-year starter for Indiana who helped the Hoosiers reach the title game in 2002.
1999—Jason Gardner: Gardner started all four years at Arizona and was at times considered one of the best players in the country.
2000—Jared Jeffries: After hoisting the Hoosiers to the national title game, Jeffries turned pro and is currently playing for the New York Knicks.
2001—Chris Thomas: Thomas posted career averages of 17.1 points, 4.1 rebounds, and 6.5 assists at Notre Dame. He currently plays professionally in Spain.
2002—Sean May: May was Most Outstanding Player in leading North Carolina to the 2005 National Championship. He is a member of the Charlotte Bobcats in the NBA.
2003—Justin Cage: Cage started over 100 games as Xavier elevated themselves from a mid-major into a Top-25 staple during his career.
2004—AJ Ratliff: Ratliff's career at Indiana started promising, but personal problems led to him being dismissed from the team as a senior.
2005—Luke Zeller: The 6'10" Zeller has failed to establish himself at Notre Dame as anything more than a reserve.
2006—Greg Oden: Widely considered the best center prospect that his generation will see, Oden carried Ohio State to the title game as a freshman and was the No. 1 pick in the NBA Draft.
2007—Eric Gordon: Gordon led Indiana in scoring as a freshman and was recently drafted No. 7 overall.
Now a breakdown of the best players from the 4A and single-class state champions over the same time period:
1990—Bedford North Lawrence: Mr. Basketball Bailey
1991—Gary Roosevelt: Mr. Basketball Robinson
1992—Richmond: Woody Austin's brother Chad led Richmond. Chad went on to star at Purdue for four seasons.
1993—Jeffersonville: BJ Flynn was a contributor for four years at Louisville, and the Cardinals made three Sweet 16 appearances in his career.
1994—South Bend Clay: Lee Nailon was one of the top players in college basketball at TCU before enjoying a six-year NBA career.
1995—Indianapolis Ben Davis: Mr. Basketball Frierson
1996—Indianapolis Ben Davis: Unique case in that they were un-ranked before the tournament.
1997—Bloomington North: Kueth Duany was a starter and captain for Syracuse when they won the national championship in 2003.
1998—Indianapolis Pike: Rodney Smith started his last two seasons at Purdue and was a key player.
1999—Indianapolis North Central: Mr. Basketball Gardner
2000—Marion: Zach Randolph led Marion to victory over Jeffries and Bloomington North. Randolph starred in his freshman season at Michigan State and currently plays with Jeffries on the Knicks.
2001—Indianapolis Pike: Mr. Basketball Thomas
2002—Gary West Side: When Chris Hunter went to Michigan, he was said to be teeming with unrealized potential. People never stopped voicing his talent as his reputation exceeded his production all four years.
2003—Indianapolis Pike: Mr. Basketball Cage
2004-06—Lawrence North: Future Mr. Basketball Oden and future No. 4 overall draft pick Mike Conley Jr.
2007—East Chicago Central: Purdue's Moore
What does this history lesson serve to illustrate? No Mr. Basketball and no player that leads a big school team to a state championship should ever be passed on by Purdue or Indiana.
The state of Indiana isn't just stacked at the top. The classes are deep with future high-impact college players.
You can throw out the national recruiting rankings and say with some assurance that if Purdue or Indiana could recruit two of the top-five players from Indiana every season, they'd continuously be Big Ten Championship contenders and reside high in the polls.
A quick look back at recent Indiana All-Stars shows that there were dozens of All-Conference types that Purdue and Indiana missed on this decade after the Dukes and North Carolinas swooped in and stole the obvious stars.
2000: Jeffries, Randolph, Brody Boyd, Shane Power, Andre Owens
2001: Thomas, Chris Hill, Teague, Vytas Danelius
2002: May, Hunter, Kiefer, Sheets, Rodney Carney, Dedrick Finn, Anthony Winchester
2003: Cage, Stovall, Stanley Burrell, Brandon Crone
2004: Ratliff, Graves, Courtney Lee, Hill
2005: Josh McRoberts, Zeller, Dominic James, Deonta Vaughn, Armon Bassett
2006: Oden, Conley, Luke Harangody, Kramer, Vaughn Duggins
2007: Gordon, Moore, Hummel, Martin, Teague, Johnson, Howard, Ben Botts
Of the 34 players listed above between 2000-2006, only three moved to West Lafayette and just two played for the Hoosiers.
It's not hard to draw a connection between those numbers and the gradual downward slide the two programs suffered through during that time.
It's also perhaps worth reminding that a big in-state haul in 2007 paid early dividends for all three teams this season in propelling them to successful campaigns, while also stocking Purdue and Butler for the future.
The question is, have the Boilermakers and Hoosiers learned their lesson or will they once again foolishly covet thy neighbor's recruits while the ones residing in their borders are more than good enough?
A quick look ahead at the policies of Painter and his counterpart Tom Crean seems promising:
While just one of Purdue's three incoming recruits hail from the Hoosier state, Painter missed out on two big men he aggressively tried to recruit in Mr. Basketball Tyler Zeller (to North Carolina) and, star of the Class 4A State Champions, Brownsburg's 6'7" Gordon Hayward.
All four of Purdue's commitments for the high school Class of 2009—Franklin Central's Patrick Bade, Cathedral's Kelsey Barlow, Lawrence North's Jeff Robinson, and North Montgomery's DJ Byrd—are from Indiana, and Danville's Travis Carroll pledged for 2010 in mid-June.
Crean's 2008 class has been a patchwork, last-minute job, but he's got Tipton's Derek Elston and Bloomington South's Jordan Hulls waiting to sign in 2009.
We'll find out soon whether Crean makes in-state recruits a priority for 2010.
The state of Indiana features a handful of uncommitted top-100 talents in Lawrence North's Justin Martin, New Albany's Donnie Hale, and Blackhawk Christian's Russell Byrd.
The Hoosiers have reportedly already offered Byrd, while Purdue is said to heavily covet Hale.
How the final geographical make-up of those classes looks for the two rivals may go a long way in determining whether Painter can extend his time at Purdue as long as Gene Keady's, and if Tom Crean can be successful where Mike Davis and Kelvin Sampson were not.
Mid-majors around the country are holding their collective breath.
My beloved Boilermakers eked out a win today in Iowa City. With Play like that they'll likely be slaughtered by the Spartans on Tuesday. With that said, and in honor of how crazy the Big Ten season has been, I've decided to keep a Midwestern flavor in my recap of the web's best.
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