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WEST LAFAYETTE -- Purdue basketball’s summer foreign trip will not leave North America, with a flight covering the 1,800 miles to Vancouver in a little over four hours.
Convenience is one reason Matt Painter chose this Canadian jaunt when the NCAA relaxed its rules to allow teams to make a foreign trip every year. At the end of that shorter trip, though, he also expects to find better competition against other college teams in the Vancouver area.
“International trips, the competition hasn’t been as good lately,” Painter said. “We went over to Europe. The timing when you go over isn’t good. That’s their down time.
“Now trying to get teams together – well, they don’t want to. They’re on vacation. Who the hell wants to (play exhibitions) on vacation?”
Purdue is currently scheduled to leave West Lafayette on July 24 and return Aug. 1. Under that plan it will play four games in five days at the front of the trip, with a couple of days at the end for more touristy experiences and team bonding time.
Purdue played four games in Germany, Italy, Austria and the Czech Republic in 2023. It went to Taipei in August 2017 as the United States’ representative at the World University Games.
Those locations may be more exotic than a city you can drive to from Seattle in under three hours. Painter, though, needs real basketball challenges more than cultural experiences this summer.
He’s breaking in a four-man freshman class and a key transfer, former Princeton forward Caden Pierce. He’s replacing four members of the starting lineup, including three three-year starters. More crucially, he’s asking those who will replace them to take on more ownership and team-leading responsibility than had been asked of them as underclassmen.
Perhaps future trips will take Purdue overseas again. Painter does not deny their appeal. This team needs eight days in July to help ignite a long stretch of games in March.
“When you go there -- whether you go to Spain or Italy, wherever -- those trips are fascinating,” Painter said. “You want to go on those trips, but you want the basketball to be good.
“Here, the basketball will be better. It will be college teams. We’ll go from there and see how it helps us.”
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Why Purdue basketball will play in Canada on summer foreign trip
Continue reading...
Convenience is one reason Matt Painter chose this Canadian jaunt when the NCAA relaxed its rules to allow teams to make a foreign trip every year. At the end of that shorter trip, though, he also expects to find better competition against other college teams in the Vancouver area.
“International trips, the competition hasn’t been as good lately,” Painter said. “We went over to Europe. The timing when you go over isn’t good. That’s their down time.
“Now trying to get teams together – well, they don’t want to. They’re on vacation. Who the hell wants to (play exhibitions) on vacation?”
Purdue is currently scheduled to leave West Lafayette on July 24 and return Aug. 1. Under that plan it will play four games in five days at the front of the trip, with a couple of days at the end for more touristy experiences and team bonding time.
Purdue played four games in Germany, Italy, Austria and the Czech Republic in 2023. It went to Taipei in August 2017 as the United States’ representative at the World University Games.
Those locations may be more exotic than a city you can drive to from Seattle in under three hours. Painter, though, needs real basketball challenges more than cultural experiences this summer.
He’s breaking in a four-man freshman class and a key transfer, former Princeton forward Caden Pierce. He’s replacing four members of the starting lineup, including three three-year starters. More crucially, he’s asking those who will replace them to take on more ownership and team-leading responsibility than had been asked of them as underclassmen.
Perhaps future trips will take Purdue overseas again. Painter does not deny their appeal. This team needs eight days in July to help ignite a long stretch of games in March.
“When you go there -- whether you go to Spain or Italy, wherever -- those trips are fascinating,” Painter said. “You want to go on those trips, but you want the basketball to be good.
“Here, the basketball will be better. It will be college teams. We’ll go from there and see how it helps us.”
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Why Purdue basketball will play in Canada on summer foreign trip
Continue reading...
