5 Questions Facing Purdue Ahead of 2026-27 College Basketball Season
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Purdue is going to look quite different heading into the 2026-27 season. Braden Smith, Trey Kaufman-Renn, Fletcher Loyer and Oscar Cluff are done in West Lafayette, creating some major voids for the Boilermakers to fill next year.
Replacing those players won't be an easy task, but Purdue has plenty of key returners and is bringing in some skilled newcomers during the offseason. So, while the team may look a lot different, there's still a lot of talent on the roster.
There are going to be several questions Purdue needs to answer heading into the 2026-27 campaign. Here are just a few to think about during the offseason.
What does the rotation look like at the five?
This is probably the most interesting question because Purdue has some options at the five spot heading into the 2026-27 season. Daniel Jacobsen is the logical option to slide in and become the starter for the Boilermakers, despite his minutes tapering off in the postseason. He'll have another entire offseason to build muscle and strength, which should help his durability throughout the course of a college basketball season.
Purdue is also bringing in 7-foot-1 center Sinan Huan, an elite shot-blocker at the prep level. Like Jacobsen, Huan is a player who will need to bulk up upon his arrival at Purdue, but he could provide the Boilers with some tremendous rim protection on the defensive end.
The interesting piece here is 6-foot-11 sophomore Raleigh Burgess. He redshirted this past season because of an injury and Purdue's loaded frontcourt. He's a big-bodied yet versatile forward who would probably be best suited to play the four spot. However, he's capable of shifting into that five spot and giving the Boilers a small-ball look, and helping Purdue's spacing offensively.
Matt Painter is going to have a few options at the five for next season.
Who becomes the primary scorers?
With the top four scorers all departing, Purdue is going to have to rely on someone else to put the ball in the basket. In one of his podcast episodes earlier this year, Smith suggested that redshirt freshman guard Antione West Jr. will be the team's leading scorer for the 2026-27 campaign. Will that come to fruition, or will it be someone else?
C.J. Cox is another logical option, a player who can knock down threes and also get to his pull-up jumper. What would he be able to do as the focal point of the offense?
Incoming Princeton transfer Caden Pierce is another likely contender to be Purdue's top scoring option next season. He averaged 16.6 points per game as a sophomore in the Ivy League during the 2023-24 season. The senior transfer is a 48.7% shooter from the floor for his career.
Lastly, could one of Purdue's bigs emerge as one of the top offensive producers? Jacobsen, Huan and Burgess aren't going to transform into Zach Edey, but if they become reliable post players, one of those guys could become a primary scoring threat.
Are Omer Mayer and Luke Ertel the only point guard options?
On paper, this looks like the most solidified position group for the 2026-27 season. Mayer played the point guard spot sparingly for Purdue last season, but also learned how to operate in the two spot. Painter has already indicated that, with Smith departing, Mayer will have the ball in his hands more frequently. In all likelihood, he'll be the starter at the point for the Boilermakers.
Ertel comes to Purdue having played the point guard spot throughout his high school and AAU career. He's also comfortable with the basketball in his hands. Will he be the guy who relieves Mayer on occasion? Or will this be a similar situation that we saw during the 2025-26 campaign?
It's possible that, at times, Ertel steps into the lead guard spot and Mayer shifts over to the two, putting them both on the floor at the same time. It would be similar to how Mayer and Smith worked together at times this year.
The one question is if there's someone else Purdue would like in that position. Basically, is there any chance Cox or Gicarri Harris sees any time at the one spot? If so, it would probably be extremely limited.
Who picks up the slack on the glass?
Painter always places a heavy emphasis on Purdue's ability to rebound the basketball. It helps the team's defense tremendously. So, with the top two rebounders in Cluff and Kaufman-Renn moving on, a few guys are going to have to step up in this area.
The bigs like Jacobsen, Huan and Burgess make the most sense. At times during the 2025-26 season, Jacobsen pulled down some big boards; he just needs to be more consistent when crashing the glass.
Burgress is a guy who should be able to outmuscle guys in the post for some of those rebounds. He could make a living off of offensive rebounds and putback opportunities because of his size, strength and athleticism.
Pierce might be the wild card in this situation. He might be undersized at 6-foot-7, but he rebounded at an extremely high level at Princeton. He averaged 9.2 boards as a sophomore in the 2023-24 season, and is averaging 7.9 rebounds per game for his career.
Rebounding is going to be a complete team effort, but Purdue needs two or three guys to make that a top priority, especially when it comes to finishing off defensive possessions.
How versatile can Purdue be with its lineups?
Over the past two seasons, we've seen Purdue operate with a bigger, more traditional lineup. We've also seen the Boilermakers utilize a small-ball lineup to be more productive on the offensive end. Will they have that same opportunity in 2026-27?
Purdue could roll with a healthy rotation of Jacobsen and Huan at the five spot and playing a more traditional lineup throughout the year. Or, they could move Burgess into that five spot, which would really open up the floor offensively, but may come at a cost in terms of rebounding and rim protection.
There are some interesting lineup options for Purdue next season, in which Purdue could go extremely big, playing Jacobsen at the five, Burgess at the four, Pierce at the three, West at the two and Omer Mayer at the one.
Purdue could also move Burgess to the five, Pierce to the four, Jack Benter at the three, Cox or Harris at the two, and Mayer or Ertel at the point guard spot.
Right now, the options appear endless. Things will start to look clearer next fall.
Bonus: How many redshirts will Purdue utilize?
The Boilermakers are bringing in an extremely talented four-man recruiting class. Ertel, Huan, Jacob Webber and Rivers Knight are all highly-regarded prospects, and each could carve out a role for himself on Purdue's 2026-27 roster.
But Painter also isn't afraid to utilize a redshirt year and preserve an extra year of eligibility for those players if it's in the best interest of the program. So, how many could Purdue utilize next year?
Ertel and Huan seem to fill immediate voids for the roster this coming season. Webber and Knight seem like the most likely to use a redshirt year, but one or both could shine in summer and fall practice and challenge for playing time.
It creates an interesting situation and is an extremely good problem for Painter and his staff to have heading into a new year.
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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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