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    • Purdue basketball weighs redshirt for big freshman Raleigh Burgess
    Update Information

    Purdue basketball weighs redshirt for big freshman Raleigh Burgess

    Kathleen William Posted on

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    • Monday's game: Texas A&M-Corpus Christi at Purdue, 6 p.m., BTN

    UPDATE: Purdue will not redshirt Raleigh Burgess this season. Click here to read more.

    WEST LAFAYETTE — After practice ended Sunday and Purdue basketball coach Matt Painter finished his interviews, he and freshman Raleigh Burgess walked side by side down the hallway toward the locker room.

    It's safe to assume players and coaches were continuing a conversation that began months ago. Painter has that conversation — about whether a redshirt year makes the most sense for both the individual and the Boilermakers — with at least one member of most incoming classes.

    Painter announced that another freshman, Jack Benter, will definitely redshirt this year. As of Sunday evening and with the season opener against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi approaching on Monday, Burgess' status remains unclear.

    “We’re still working on it with Raleigh,” Painter said.

    Purdue Basketball:: What you need to know ahead of the 2024-25 season

    Sometimes these decisions make themselves. Benter came into the game with two other guards – CJ Cox and Gicarri Harris – who essentially share a lineup spot. The Brownstown Central graduate can work on long-term physical skills and abilities development as well as transition to the Boilermakers system.

    At one time, Burgess' decision may have seemed self-evident. Purdue's roster of frontcourt players includes another freshman, 7-4 Daniel Jacobsen. A traumatic leg injury during his junior year of high school caused Burgess to miss most practices and nonleague games as a senior at Sycamore High School outside Cincinnati.

    Then the 6-11, 240-pound Burgess showed up this summer and immediately impressed with his shooting touch and attitude. Painter saw how Burgess could help this team right away — but maybe not with consistent minutes, maybe not even every night.

    While football players can play in four regular-season games — and postseason games — and still redshirt, basketball players have no wiggle room. Burgess was aware of the impending decision last week and trusted the process.

    “I'm just going full throttle, and I don't think any decision will change that,” Burgess said. “I did my best every day and whatever happens, happens.”

    “An exceptional talent”

    Tim Austling accepted the Sycamore boys basketball job already knowing a future Division I player would be on the roster. That was Ben Southerland, who started his career at Liberty and now plays at Wright State.

    He knew nothing about Burgess, then a rising sophomore.

    “It took me about 30 seconds to realize I was meeting the best player I had ever coached,” Austling said.

    A broken arm that required surgery cut short Burgess' rise to national talent. He exploded the following summer, and Purdue's history of producing big men put the Boilermakers at the top of his list. In January of his junior year, he collided with a teammate while shooting a layup in practice.

    Austling compared the resulting compound leg fracture to the one recently suffered by Detroit Lions defenseman Aidan Hutchinson.

    Burgess returned to play as a senior. However, Austling only allowed him to go “live” twice a week. He was a spectator at most training sessions. He played in only one of Sycamore's five non-league games, but played well enough in the other 17 games to earn Player of the Year honors for the league champions.

    However, Austling had no concerns about Burgess contributing to the college immediately. That confidence grew through examples like a summer bout against Marietta (Ga.) Wheeler led by Isaiah Collier. The consensus No. 1 prospect in the 2023 class who played at USC now plays for the Utah Jazz.

    This squad also featured other top-notch talent. So Austling decided to swap all five spots on the ball screens, confident that Burgess could hold his own defensively against Collier, the future NBA point guard.

    “I just think he’s an exceptional talent,” Austling said. “I've probably said that sentence to 20 people in the last year, maybe 1,000 times. No one has any idea how good he is because he hasn't been able to give his best. Broken arm, broken leg – in two years there were very few routes where I had him at 100%.”

    Painter said Burgess has played without restrictions since arriving at Purdue. Assistant coach Brandon Brantley, who works with the team's big men, admitted last week that the injury gave him initial reservations about Burgess' ability to help right away. He also admitted that Burgess “exceeded my expectations” and impressed him with intangibles as well as his legal skills and his physical abilities.

    “I wish I had had this when I was a young man,” said Brantley, a former Purdue MVP and longtime pro player overseas. “You come in and feel sorry for yourself because you haven't played the minutes you expected and the training is too hard and I had to take three or four classes. You know – woe is me.”

    “And he didn’t. I just think, man, that’s a great quality to have as a kid.”

    On one side or the other?

    Painter uses redshirts as often or more than any other major program coach in the country. He used to have a list of players who, in retrospect, he wished had redshirted as freshmen: Ryne Smith, Ryan Cline, Grady Eifert. He confirmed Sunday that he has not yet regretted the decision of a player who chose the redshirt option.

    “But that doesn’t mean it couldn’t happen,” Painter said.

    Burgess can find examples of the virtue of a redshirt year throughout the program. Brantley got one in his second season under Gene Keady. Director of player personnel Sasha Stefanovic took one with Painter as a freshman from Crown Point. Current Boilermakers Trey Kaufman-Renn, Brian Waddell, Camden Heide and Will Berg did not play in their first year on campus.

    Kaufman-Renn is considered a complete converted zealot, declaring, “I think almost everyone should redshirt.”

    “You have an extra year of just working on your game, understanding the system, and then you can play when you're at your best,” said Kaufman-Renn, who also needed extra time after a high school injury . “That’s why I think it’s probably one of the best decisions I’ve made.”

    Kaufman-Renn holds a starting spot in the frontcourt and plays both power forward and center depending on the matchup. The committee representing the other spot includes Jacobsen, Berg, fourth-grader Caleb Furst and Burgess.

    In Painter's perfect world, the team benefits and the individual benefits would complement each other seamlessly. However, there was no uniform separation in this group of four in pre-season preparation. However, Burgess reiterated his worth.

    “He helps us because he has the size to guard someone who is tall, but still he could stretch the defense,” Painter said. “He can play on the inside and center line and has good athleticism and strength.

    “Now I’m just learning two different positions, and how much would we need him? A little bit it depends on how well other people play or how well they don’t play – which is a terrible way to look at it, but it’s true.”

    That last sentence suggests that the decision may not have to be made by Monday. Painter could sit Burgess early while he analyzes performances in Monday's game, Friday's game against Northern Kentucky and perhaps beyond.

    Players who stay an extra year also have an additional incentive that wasn't available just a few years ago: an additional year of name, image and likeness earnings. Burgess, whom Austling described as “extremely intelligent” and capable of earning a full scholarship without basketball, could start paying for a college degree in his fifth season.

    And yet, 6-11 off the bench, knocking down 3s or luring opposing bigs off the field could become a crucial part of the frontcourt rotation by March.

    “Either way, if I need an extra year, I’m going to take it and use it to my advantage,” Burgess said last week.

    The only good thing about these difficult decisions for Painter? Both options have advantages.

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    Kathleen William
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