Express Thoughts: Transfer hysteria, Purdue's extra gear and more

Gold and Black Express Three Thoughts column, with analysis of Purdue football, Boilermaker men’s basketball, recruiting, or whatever else comes to mind. Note: It was written on Monday, Jan. 6.

ON THE FOOTBALL PORTAL CAROUSEL

While you were sleeping this weekend, Purdue football’s roster took a big step forward, as Barry Odom and his staff added this guy, this guy and this guy. Oh, and that guy. Whether the names end up being worth knowing, that’s anyone everywhere’s guess.

That’s what this time of year is now in college football, especially during coaching transitions. If you think keeping up is difficult, imagine what the recruiting process is like for these coaches and recruits. It’s Hungry, Hungry Hippos out there and the players are the marbles. If you look at where average players from a 1-11 team are landing, you see how indiscriminate these processes are and that climate is part of the reason Purdue’s last staff failed — Ryan Walters got flat took by a few name-brand types sitting in a used-car lot — but also maybe part of the reason its new staff can succeed.

Sure, Purdue is taking some fliers on guys who haven’t produced much at other places, but more importantly, it’s bringing in a lot of players it actually knows, and right now, knowledge is the ultimate advantage. Odom and his staff have a background with most of their first offensive line, for example, players I should add that won games for a team that was a hell of a lot better than Purdue in 2024.

It has background with its quarterbacks.

This stuff matters and should at least give Purdue a chance this season.

ON PURDUE BASKETBALL

Seemed to me that prior to Sunday, Purdue was starting to get some post-SEC traction, building up to an extra gear that it might have found vs. Northwestern in arguably its best and most complete performance of the season.

Northwestern isn’t going to be a title contender this season, but if you don’t realize how hard they have been to play, then you haven’t been paying attention the past half decade or so. They have one of the better offensive tandems in the conference.

And the important context here is that Northwestern could just as easily come to Purdue 3-0 in the Big Ten as it did 1-2 after tough losses at Iowa and Penn State. They’ve been very competitive/good eniough to win on the road.

And their one win: Illinois.

Purdue destroyed Northwestern with relative ease. That game was over in the first half. That, to me at least, was most unexpected, but an indication that maybe some of the Boilermakers’ up-side is starting to be realized now that it’s navigated that absurd non-conference schedule.

Just gotta get those road wins. They’ll decide the Big Ten championship.

ON THE BASKETBALL SCHEDULE

Wednesday night, Purdue will charter into Central Jersey and may catch a glimpse of the Atlantic Ocean from the air. Seven days later Purdue will charter into Seattle and will catch a glimpse of the Pacific Ocean from the sky.

This is a Big Ten basketball schedule, the result of some suit somewhere just needing to USC football losing at Minnesota on television. It’s also an egregious scheduling snag; no team should ever be sent to both coasts in the span of a week. but when you have 18 teams spanning four time zones and TV partners to prioritize, someone is getting the shaft somewhere along the line every season. This is the new Wednesday-night-at-9 tip-off three states over.

Basketball was never a priority in the Big Ten’s media rights deal and will actually wind up being collateral damage as the insanity of coast-to-coast expanse in a sport that plays multiple games a week and during the week will affect championships. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Purdue won the last truly meaningful Big Ten regular season title a year ago. The Boilermakers are about to have played games on Eastern, Central and Pacific times all in the span of 13 days.

Maryland, who’s been pretty good this season, just went coast to coast and lost at both Oregon and Washington. Never say never, but they have been dealt a crippling blow in a Big Ten race they might have been able to factor into. In the most predictable outcome ever, UCLA, a viable Big Ten contender, left the coast for the first time for a conference game and got Pinnacle Bank’d at Nebraska. When those western teams start playing in the traditional league footprint, they’re gonna get drilled, so much so I don’t know if they can ever win the conference.

Kudos to Illinois for sweeping the Pacific Northwest. That was a real statement the Illini made. Can Purdue match it?