Braden Smith stands at doorstep of prestigious Purdue record

The whole thing started in a pretty familiar way, with then-freshman Braden Smith smacking the ball away from an opponent, then turning the turnover up the floor at breakneck pace before hitting then-redshirt freshman Trey Kaufman-Renn in transition as part of an eventual blowout win over Milwaukee in Mackey Arena.

That was the first assist of Smith’s Purdue, coming at a time when Matt Painter, his coaches and players, already had a pretty good idea that Smith was a keeper.

But shortly thereafter when Smith led the Boilermakers to a come-from-behind win over Marquette, then a stunning championship run at the PK85 event in Portland, that’s when it was crystal clear he was going to be special.

Tonight, almost certainly, he formalizes himself even further as one of the greatest players in Purdue history.

With just three more assists, Smith will becomes Purdue’s career leader, breaking Bruce Parkinson’s nearly 50-year-old career record of 690, a small-world sort of superlative if there ever was one considering Smith’s father Dustin was a high school teammate of Parkinson’s son, Austin, at Northwestern High School in Kokomo. When Purdue offered Braden Smith a scholarship during the pandemic, the Smiths consulted with Bruce and Austin Parkinson about the program for which both played point guard.

While Bruce Parkinson set his record feeding Frank Kendrick, John Garrett and Walter Jordan and playing at dizzying pace for Fred Schaus, Smith has done it lots of different ways. Most notably, he’s been the table-setter for one of the greatest players in college basketball history, Zach Edey, and now for another emerging All-American in Kaufman-Renn. From Day 1, he’s shared a basketball brain with classmate Fletcher Loyer and assisted on a robust percentage of his threes. Smith has helped turn Purdue into a formidable fast-break team, but also one of the best overall offensive programs in the game.

“He’s a great passer — he walked in the door that way, he’s got great vision, a great skill set. He’s earned it,” Painter said. “Obviously, he’s figured out how to play with different teammates, different skill sets. I think trying to get the ball to guys where they’re comfortable and in scoring position — he can do it a lot of ways, whether he’s playing in transition or out of ball screens or moving the basketball.”

For years, Painter — a devoted disciple of Bob Knight/Gene Keady motion offense — fielded offenses that decentralized assists, building offense around movement and decision-making at every position on the floor, to the point where forwards sometimes led the Boilermakers in assists.

There were ball-dominant guards at times — E’Twaun Moore, for one — but not many true play-making traditional point guard types, Lewis Jackson being one exception.

When Smith came along, he not only played a role in unlocking Edey but compelled Purdue to make offensive adjustments that contributed to it playing for the national title last season. Painter and assistant coach P.J. Thompson certainly haven’t abandoned motion, but did put Smith in more modern and NBA-ish ball screens, urging Smith to score out of them to max out the pressure applied to defenses.

“Braden’s a guy who needs the ball and rightfully so,” Thompson said. “The system changed when he got to Purdue. That’s what great players do. They change things.”

Smith just says of the record that “it’s just my job” to rack up assists and make teammates better, but he’ll wind up doing it as well as anyone who’s ever played not only at Purdue, but anywhere.

The junior enters Friday night’s game vs. UCLA with 688 career assists. He has three more regular season games to play this season, then at least two more in the postseason. Then a whole year of eligibility remaining.

Bobby Hurley’s NCAA career record is Bobby Hurley’s record is 1,076.

That that is even a possibility for an under-recruited, self-made player who’s thrived in his career off disrespect might seem like a real surprise. But for those who’ve been around him and his savant-like offensive command at Purdue from Day 1, it’s no shock.

“The sort of stuff you normally have to teach people, like reading the next level of defense, he had it right away,” Thompson said.

Bruce Parkinson talks about record and more on Gold and Black LIVE today at 2 p.m.