GoldandBlack.com Saturday Simulcast: Purdue hoops roster talk, plus fooball's Spring Showcase

GoldandBlack.com’s Brian Neubert kicks it all off to talk the latest developments regarding Purdue’s 2026-27 men’s basketball roster and following the last football spring practice of 2026, GoldandBlack.com’s football experts Tom Dienhart and Dub Jellison join host Alan Karpick to break down the Spring Showcase and also put into perspective the second spring drills of the Barry Odom era.

Audio

Odom’s opening statement:

“Those that have covered our program this spring, and we appreciate the work that you put in covering our team. I like this group and for 15 practices plus another 20 walkthrough days or meeting days, they’ve done absolutely everything we have asked. They’re hungry to do it the Purdue way. They’re hungry to bring winning back to the fans and the people that care about this program and we’re on a mission to get it done. So, we got playmakers in the right spots. We got a long ways to go, okay? I’m not saying we’re there and there is no cruise control in this program. Now in the next 3 weeks finishing academically, finishing in the weight room, then we’ll have finals and then we’ll come back and we’ll have the best summer ball that you could possibly have and then get ready for our first game through fall camp and then how important it is. Thank goodness we wake up tomorrow and this is still our team, that there is no portal window at the end of of spring ball. So that has been exhilarating for our coaching staff knowing exactly who we have, how good can we get them, how much can we develop them, how much can we galvanize together. We got really good leaders on this team. We got guys that care about each other. The locker room is strong and they care about Purdue and I think that means a lot. The 2026 team is going to be one that that this place remembers for a long time. I’m honored to be their head coach.”

Q: How validating was this spring to know you put the right guys in place? Big uphill climb and you seem pretty pleased with the 15 practices?

A: “Well, I mean, not to revisit much of last year, but it wasn’t to anybody’s standard in any way, and I’ve got to own that. And then how do you fix it, right? That’s the bottom line. You got to fix it. Nobody cares. It’s results driven. So, you go to work, you keep your head down, you surround yourself with really good people in the organization, in the building. We’ve got a really good group of assistant coaches, and then everybody else that touches our players from equipment operations to nutrition to the weight room to academics to all those things. There’s alignment, there’s vision, and the messaging is very, very clear inside those walls what we’re going to go get done. So, I’ve had a lot of fun putting this team together, not only staff, but players, and then what they’ve done now since we started January 12th.”

Q: With 53 newcomers, have you seen the group kind of come together and build chemistry and then also understand like what Purdue football is?

A: “Well, I think it’s a a multi-step process. We’re not there yet, but they’ve grown together as a group. When you get 115 guys, the main objective is get everybody on the same page, galvanize that team, respect the cultural differences you have in the locker room, but then blend together and understand how important being a great teammate is. We’ve been very deliberate about that, because that was one area that we lacked last year.

So everything that we’ve done is pour into our culture and turn this into what we know it can be. The blending of the 53 new guys, almost all of them are here. We have eight guys joining us after they get out of either junior college or high school graduation. Then we got one more grad transfer that wasn’t here that will come in and join us in in June. But overall, this group has done a really good job. They care about each other. That’s really really important.”

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