What Purdue Guard Braden Smith Would Give Up to Win National Championship
ROSEMONT, Ill. — Preseason honors and recognition have poured in for Purdue guard Braden Smith. He was picked as the Big Ten Preseason Player of the Year for a second consecutive season and is one of the favorites to bring home National Player of the Year honors. He's willing to give all of it up to win a national championship.
After winning Big Ten Player of the Year, the Bob Cousy Award, and being named a first-team All-American last year, Smith enters his senior season as one of the top players in college basketball. High expectations come with those accolades.
Yes, Smith is honored to have his name mentioned in those conversations, but winning individual awards isn't his top priority this season.
"It doesn't matter a lot to me. Preseason awards, I said it this time last year, it doesn't matter," Smith said. "What matters is at the end of the year. What matters to me is being the team that wins a national championship at Purdue.
"Winning National Player of the Year, yeah, it's awesome, but those memories of winning a national championship are more important than that."
And, yes, Smith would be willing to surrender college basketball's all-time assist record to bring a title back to West Lafayette.
Entering the year, Smith needs 319 assists to pass Duke's Bobby Hurley as the NCAA's all-time assist leader. It's something the senior guard would love to accomplish, but he wants to win the national championship even more.
"Obviously, that's a goal individually. That's your goal, what you want to do, what you want to accomplish at that level," Smith said. "My goal is to get the National Player of the Year, is to break the all-time assist record. Yeah, those are goals for me. But at the end of the day, I would be willing to give up all of that just to win a national championship with this group of guys, this coaching staff, and this team. This is why we all decided to come back and play here."
Smith chasing history
Someone in college basketball is rarely chasing an all-time record. That's the spot Smith finds himself in, though, needing just 319 assists to break Hurley's mark, which sits at 1,076 career assists.
Smith has already become Purdue's all-time assist leader, breaking a record set by Bruce Parkinson from 1972-77. He's also a member of the program's 1,000-point club and has recorded more than 500 rebounds.
Already, Smith has enjoyed plenty of success throughout his career.
If he's named the Big Ten Player of the Year, it would be the fourth straight time a player from Purdue has earned the honor, with Zach Edey taking the award in 2023 and 2024 and Smith winning last year. Should he be named the National Player of the Year, it would be the third time in four years a Boilermaker has claimed the honor (Edey, 2023 and 2024).
But, as he's mentioned numerous times, that's not why he came back to Purdue. He wants to cut down the nets in Indianapolis and bring a national title to West Lafayette.
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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.