There's no telling how Purdue's season would have ended had COVID-19 not cut it short just hours before the Boilermakers tipped off postseason play.

In that sense, all things possible are immortalized as such.

A 31-game body of work, however, suggests that the Boilermakers' season would have ended in the NIT, a feeling Purdue hasn't experienced in quite some time and one that flies in the face of the standard the program measures itself against.

Purdue was just 16-15 and the No. 10 seed in the Big Ten Tournament when said tournament was called off, the NCAA and NIT events to follow.

It did face a schedule considered one of the most formidable in the country, in a Big Ten even more competitive than usual and inordinately balanced, but that was the result: A game over .500 as a wildly inconsistent season wound down.

"The thing that jumps out to me was the inconsistency, individually and collectively," Coach Matt Painter said last week, reflecting on the season. "With that, there's a lot of positives to that because when you're inconsistent, you play well and you play poorly. That's the back-and-forth of your play ... and as a coach you're looking for that consistent group, that consistent starting five. We just never got to that point."

From a 29-point rout of defending champion Virginia to a dreadful loss at woebegone Nebraska, from another 29-point rout of eventual Big Ten co-champion Michigan State to one of the ugliest losses in Purdue history at Illinois, the Boilermakers veered wildly between high and low all season, and because of it, the NCAA Tournament likely would have slipped out of reach had there actually been anything to grab when all was said and done.

Purdue's collective inconsistency mirrored its inconsistency in areas that often represent the difference between and losing.

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Reflecting on the season, Painter pointed to two things above all others: Decision-making and competitiveness.

To the latter point, its importance kind of speaks for itself.

"I think we have to make some strides competitively and through consistent work, especially in practice," Painter said. "I probably didn't help it, because when you redshirt two guys (Mason Gillis and Brandon Newman), you're doing what's best for your program four or five years down the road, but when it's not a perfect world, you're maybe not doing what's best for that season. ... The competitive piece, if I thought those two guys were the answer for us, I wouldn't have redshirted them, but I think they could have added more competition and more growth. When there's more competition in every-day practices, there's more growth and guys get better.

"Now, would it have made a difference in wins and losses? That's hard to quantify."

The Purdue team that took the floor did seem to often miss a certain something, that certain something perhaps manifesting itself most apparently in the Boilermakers' unwelcome penchant for being decidedly outplayed to open games away from Mackey Arena, a nasty habit that Purdue seemed to grow out of to a certain extent with late-season wins at Indiana and Iowa, but paid dearly for on several occasions prior. Additionally, teams that played with a certain competitive swagger, shall we say, were teams Purdue tended to struggle against.

To Painter's second point about decision-making, that element may have been the key culprit in Purdue's biggest obstacle: Its difficulties scoring.

Purdue averaged 66.3 points in Big Ten play. Only Illinois and Northwestern averaged fewer, and the issue was particularly acute against particularly aggressive and particularly physical defensive teams.

Decision-making is often a symptom of young — or at least raw — guard play.

"We have to be better on the offensive end. We just do," Painter said. "Our guards have to be better decision-makers than they were. There was a real learning curve there for some guys who are quality players that can grow into being better players than they showed. There were also moments with some guys where we kept working on some things and some guys made some progress, then had guys who didn't make any progress with their decision-making and that's such an important thing.

"Your decision-making leads to shooting a higher percentage collectively and individually. It just does," Painter said. "... We just didn't have that. That's on me, as well, because you put together teams and you want high-basketball-IQ and savvy guys, but you also need the experience with that. When you have guys who have experience and struggle in that area, that's probably who they are in that element of the game. We have to keep growing in that area, but also put guys in better positions with that."

Next year, Purdue's guard play could transform. This past season's youth are next season's veterans. And the cast around them widens considerably.

Brandon Newman comes out of redshirt and at minimum should give Purdue another shooter and a reputed competitor in the backcourt.

And both of Purdue's touted freshman guards seem to line up well against some of the Boilermakers' existing concerns.

Ethan Morton's offensive savvy, for one thing.

"Ethan Morton's the best passer I've ever recruited, with all apologies to Dakota Mathias," Painter said. "He's just very gifted and Dakota was fabulous. Dakota was the best passer I've ever coached but (in terms of) a guy I recruited, Ethan can just do some really special things. He has unbelievable vision, can see the court. Who have we recruited who averages nine assists in high school? Who does that? I've never recruited anyone who's averaged that many, who gets the ball where it needs to be and understands who can score, where they want the basketball, all the little things a really good passer comes with."

Ivey's athleticism and speed in the open floor can change Purdue's offensive profile. As a scoring prospect, he's closer to the E'Twaun Moore/Carsen Edwards sort of level than the mean.

Both freshmen will have a lot to learn, however, and this non-traditional off-season will afford them no advantages.

"The thing is you have to know what's going on," Painter said about freshmen. "Then the ability takes over."

The two redshirts' time is now, too.

"Both are competitive, both can make threes and both are hard-working guys," Painter said. "We write out who's putting in the most time on our team, who's shooting the most, spending the most time in the gym. Those two names keep popping up: 'Mason, Brandon, Mason, Brandon, Mason, Brandon.' Before the season, during the season, in the summer, those guys are in the gym. When you have the ability like they both do and when you have the work ethic and when you love basketball, those guys are successful at Purdue."

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