Against unprecedented circumstance, Purdue aims for productive offseason
During an offseason the likes of which college basketball has never seen, Isaiah Thompson has found advantages.
At a time when college basketball teams are scattered during the COVID-19 outbreak, Thompson literally lives with his trainer — his father, LaSalle — and one of his college coaches. Older brother P.J. Thompson is part of Purdue's coaching staff.
Quarantined at home in Indianapolis while Purdue's West Lafayette campus has gone quiet through at least the summer, the Boilermaker sophomore-to-be guard doesn't have access to his program's ample resources or top-end facilities, but thanks to LaSalle Thompson's training network, Isaiah Thompson has access to a gym and some basic weight-training equipment, enough to accommodate a five-days-per-week training regimen.
"A lot of people can't really work out during this time," Thompson said. "However I can get an upper hand, that's only going to benefit me and my team."
Meanwhile, elsewhere in Indy, Eric Hunter has found his own advantages.
He, too, has secured access to a gym on the north side of the city, with a training partner no less. Close friend and Big Ten rival Aaron Henry has joined Hunter for workouts, adding at least an element of competitiveness at a time when players who are conditioned to compete in some form 12 months out of the year otherwise can't right now.
For Hunter, and those like him, this may be the longest he's ever gone without competitive basketball, whether it be games, scrimmages or practices.
"I can get some of my competitiveness out in these workouts," Hunter said of his sessions with Henry and trainer Rob Blackwell. "We compete in drills and things like that and try to keep an edge."
Normally, this would be a slow period in the college basketball calendar. Finals week would have just given way to summer break. It may not feel that way for players, who've been sort of off largely on their own for the bulk of the spring, virtually ever since the season was cut short by the COVID-19 outbreak.
For Purdue — and presumably all teams right now — there has been some measure of team camaraderie, despite most players being home, wherever home may be. Locals like Hunter, Thompson and Brandon Newman, who's from Valparaiso, have been free to come and go from campus as needed. Trevion Williams is in West Lafayette currently. But Connecticut native Aaron Wheeler is hundreds of miles away — both at home in Stamford, but also with his older brother in Boston — as is center Emmanuel Dowuona, who's in Miami, but also passed through Atlanta for a while.
Mostly, players are on their own, accountable on a day-to-day basis to themselves as much as anything.
"That kind of stuff is on us," Hunter said. "It's a responsibility thing. ... It's a lot of room for individual growth."
There is, of course, though, engagement to the furthest extent possible.
Each Friday, Purdue's coaching staff has been initiating a Zoom call for the entire team to be together, for an hour, hour-and-a-half, whatever it may be.
"It feels like we're still with each other when in reality we're not," Thompson said. "That's the good thing about us. ... I feel like we're getting a little closer as a team even though we're not together."
Basketball is not the sole focus, if any part of the focus.
"Right now, you hear a lot about the importance of making sure college students are handling their mental health, and part of that is they're used to being around their teammates," said Micah Shrewsberry, Purdue's associate head coach. "We're used to being together all the time. For us, these Zoom meetings can be therapeutic. We get a chance to see each other's faces and to talk to each other and laugh. It's a little bit of a getaway for everybody. Whatever their circumstance is, that's our chance to get away."
Purdue's staff has mixed in guest speakers, too — thus far, Robbie Hummel, E'Twaun Moore, former Wendy's executive Junior Bridgeman and program sports psychologist Dr. Kelsey Dawson.
This past Friday, now that Purdue's spring semester is over, freshmen were able to join in for the first time. Previously, Purdue was conducting separate Zoom calls for incoming freshmen Jaden Ivey, Ethan Morton, Zach Edey, Carson Barrett and Chase Martin. Former Boilermakers Rapheal Davis and Ryan Cline each spoke to the freshmen via Zoom.
Sports performance coach Gavin Roberts has kept in weekly contact with each player to help them lay out workout plans. Director of sports nutrition Lauren Link has kept on top of players' diets best she can, also. Supervisor of basketball operations Elliot Bloom has been one of the main facilitators of keeping the team and program connected, a "leader," as Hunter called him.
Players say they speak with the assistant coach charged with monitoring their academic progress several times per week. If there's one comfort in this, it's that basketball players are accustomed to online classes. They're pretty common anyway due to the scheduling flexibility that come with them.
Still, this is different.
"I think you could have canceled (in-person) classes and kept us on campus, and that wouldn't have been that big a deal," Hunter said, "but being in school from home is weird, almost like you have to kind of teach yourself at this point. They put the lecture online, but then it's really up to you."
This is a unique circumstance, unlike anything these players have likely never known. It is quite literally up to them.
Continue reading below
They're basically on their own, directly accountable only to themselves on a daily basis. And their challenges can be unique to the individual. Whereas one player may have access to training resources, another may not.
Hunter is fortunate in that sense. His family purchased a slew of training equipment specifically for this ordeal.
Not every player will be so lucky. Even those who remain on Purdue's campus. Its athletic facilities remain locked down, a moratorium expected to run at least through the end of May.
Whether it's a gym, weights, the high-speed Internet needed for school or whatever, resources may be inconsistent from one player to another whereas on campus, they're both plentiful and evenly accessible.
The key, then, is for every player to make the most of what they do have, and being self-motivated enough to do so.
Coaches and support staff across the country can present a framework, but ultimately it's up to their players to fill their otherwise strangely open schedules with the right things.
"What are you getting out of this?" Shrewsberry said. "Someone I talked to, a coach, going into all of this, said, 'We have a choice to make about who we want to be coming out of all of this.' Everybody's in the same boat. You can either stay the same person or separate and become something different. That's the challenge right now for everybody across America.
"They have an idea of what they can do to stay ready. Now, it's really up to them. This is the one opportunity where you have a choice. You have a choice whether you want to do it or not. There's time in the day for everything right now."
Time is not something college athletes are accustomed to having all that much of, as during the season and even into the off-season, their schedules are carefully crafted around a wide variety of responsibilities, whether it be classes, practices, meals, academic support, medical services and on down the line.
"It is kind of hard," said Thompson, who just concluded his first calendar year of college. "We're used to being in such a routine. Now we're all off that routine and just trying to adapt, to totally new situations, just trying to learn from each other and learn from yourself."
Membership Info: Sign up for GoldandBlack.com now | Why join? | Questions?
Follow GoldandBlack.com: Twitter | Facebook | YouTube
More: Gold and Black Illustrated/Gold and Black Express | Subscribe to our podcast
Copyright, Boilers, Inc. 2020. All Rights Reserved. Reproducing or using editorial or graphical content, in whole or in part, without permission, is strictly prohibited.