Incoming Freshmen Jack Benter, Aaron Fine on Purdue: 'Best Culture in College Basketball'
Matt Painter takes a lot of pride in recruiting "Purdue guys." He seems to have found two players who are already bought in on the program's culture before arriving on campus to begin their college careers.
Saturday, incoming Purdue freshmen Jack Benter and Aaron Fine were teammates on the Indiana All-Star Team, which played the Kentucky All-Stars. Indiana recorded a 92-89 victory.
Benter, a 6-foot-4 shooting guard with a three-star rating from 247Sports, talked about the importance of basketball in the state of Indiana. He also talked about the culture that Matt Painter has established at Purdue.
"Indiana basketball is just different," Benter said, per The Indianapolis Star. "I feel like (Purdue's) the best culture there is in college basketball. They tell you they're not promising anything, so you got to go in every day fighting for a spot."
Fine, a preferred walk-on guard from Noblesville, says the incoming freshman class has major ambitions.
"Indiana is the best basketball state in the nation," said Fine. "Nobody can argue with me, they can try to, but there's no way Indiana's not the best... Indiana players have a knack to them. They're tough, and Purdue's a tough team.
"We're coming for the championship. We're gonna try to get back to where we were last year. Me and Jack and all the other freshman are going to work as hard as we can to help build that culture that's already so good."
Benter and Fine are part of a heralded Purdue 2024 recruiting class that ranks 16th nationally, per 247Sports. The Boilermakers are also bringing in four-star guard Gicarri Harris, four-star center Daniel Jacobsen, three-star forward Raleigh Burgess and three-star guard CJ Cox.
Purdue did suffer a big blow, losing four-star forward and top-40 prospect Kanon Catchings, who asked to be released from his scholarship last week. Still, it's a really solid class Painter and his staff assembled.
Last season, Purdue finished with a 34-5 record, winning a Big Ten regular season title and competed in the National Championship Game for the first time since 1969.
The incoming freshman class wants to get the Boilers back to that stage, and quickly.
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