Purdue Basketball Uses Grueling Training Session to Prepare for 2025-26 Season
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Purdue is putting the work in during the offseason to bring a national championship back to West Lafayette. The Boilermakers recently underwent a grueling training session with the Navy SEALs to prepare for the upcoming college basketball season.
The work Purdue put in with the Navy SEALs is a test of physical and mental toughness. It forces the players to use teamwork to accomplish goals and helps develop team chemistry.
On Monday, Purdue's social media team shared images of the Boilermakers training with the Navy SEALs.
😤 Weekend work with the Navy SEALs. pic.twitter.com/YXOWDCRn13
— Purdue Men's Basketball (@BoilerBall) September 22, 2025
Purdue understands the expectations coming into the 2025-26 season. The Boilermakers could be the No. 1 team in the preseason rankings and are the favorites to win the Big Ten championship. Matt Painter's squad is also among the favorites to win the national championship at the season's end.
After coming so close in 2024, the Boilermakers are determined to return to the Final Four and hoist an NCAA trophy in Indianapolis. This training session with the Navy SEALs just shows how serious this team is about accomplishing its goals this year.
Purdue focused on one goal
Purdue hasn't backed away from the expectations this season. In fact, everyone in West Lafayette is embracing the opportunity.
In recent interviews with the Field of 68, both Braden Smith and Trey Kaufman-Renn talked about the desire to win a championship this year.
"We have 'National Champs' (written) on our whiteboard in our locker room," Kaufman-Renn told the Field of 68. "After every practice, we look at that and say, 'Did we do our best to compete for that today?' It's a good thing that we're doing this year."
"That's genuinely what I came back for, why I'm here, the group that we have — that's the main reason," Smith said, talking about Purdue winning a national title. "At the end of the day, I just want to win."
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Dustin Schutte is the publisher of Purdue Boilermakers on SI and has spent more than a decade working in sports journalism. His career began in 2013, when he covered Big Ten football. He remained in that role for eight years before working at On SI to cover the Boilermakers. Dustin graduated from Manchester University in Indiana in 2010, where he played for the men's tennis team.
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