Caleb Furst is a winner.

He is winning on the basketball court for Purdue.

He was a winner on the court before arriving in West Lafayette, as he won a pair of state championships at Ft. Wayne Blackhawk Christian and had a change at a third ended after the sectional due to COVID in 2020.

He is winning academically as he prepares for med school.

He is winning at life with his recent engagement to former Purdue volleyball player Maddie Chinn.

By the end of this season it is very likely that Furst will have won more than any other player in the history of Purdue basketball. Heading into tonight's game iwth Ohio State he has been a part of 107 victories over the last four seasons, and with four more wins this year he will have been a part of more wins than any other player in program history. He has already collected a pair of Big Ten championships and came within a possession of going 3 for 3 in that category heading into this season.

With all this, on Saturday in Eugene he accomplished something no other Big Ten player has accomplished: He has won at least one game in 16 different home arenas across the conference. Technically it is 17, as he was part of Purdue's 2022-23 win over Penn State on their borrowed home court of The Palestra.

Since the Big Ten expanded to 14 teams for the 2014-15 season, 26 players in the league have accomplished what I call the “Delaney Dozen” (like a baker's dozen has 13, former Big Ten commissioner Jim Delaney got us to 14) of winning at least one game in every arena in the conference. That list is littered with Purdue players, as Furst is one of 19 Boilermakers to accomplish the feat. It is especially difficult for anyone else in the conference to get the job done because Purdue as been so dominant in Mackey Arena (Only Wisconsin, Rutgers, and Indiana have won in Mackey in the last four years). The only non-Purdue players to accomplish the feat are Iowa’s Peter Jok, Wisconsin’s Brad Davison, and Michigan’s CJ Baird, Eli Brooks, Austin Davis, Isaiah Livers, and Luke Wilson. It should be noted that Matt Haarms, Sasha Stefanovic, Trey Kaufman-Renn, and Brian Waddell all have at least one of their victories for the dozen during their redshirt year.

Caleb will unfortuantely not get the chance to go 18 for 18, as Purdue does not play at USC or UCLA this season, but a third Big Ten title and another deep tournament run certainly looks possible (as he has been apart of seven NCAA Tournament wins at Purdue).

Where Furst really stands out is his ability as a critical role player for Purdue. The Boilermakers have their share of greats and All-Americans like the recently departed Zach Edey, but Furst represents the fan favorites that have taken all Purdue teams to another level. Mason Gillis was recently one of those players. Grady Eifert had that role during the 2018-19 season. Chris Kramer never averaged more than eight points per game in his career at Purdue, but he was a beloved four year player who gave it his all every time on the floor.

Players like Furst won't leave Purdue with their names in the rafters on an All-American banner, but they are just as loved by the fanbase. Right now, Furst is thriving in that "glue guy" role, and it is a testament to his perseverence.

On November 16, 2021 Furst had a breakout game. In just his third collegiate game he scored 14 points, grabbed 11 rebounds, and had two assists in a 96-52 blowout of Wright State in Mackey Arena. Furst had earned the starting job from day 1 when he arrived in West Lafayette, and he helped the Boilermakers to their first ever No. 1 ranking just a few weeks later. The sky appeared to be the limit, and among the fandom there was talk of a long, memorable career for the freshman. He was going to be a star.

Basketball is ever evolving, however, and as a result Furst has had an up and down career. Sharing a position with one of the most dominant players in the history of college basketball tends to cut into one’s minutes. Edey’s sheer dominance and stamina, plus the emergeance of Trey Kaufman-Renn, meant that minutes were few and far between by the early spring of 2024. During Purdue’s run to the national championship game Furst only played 11 minutes total in the six NCAA Tournament games, and only one of those minutes came after the second round.

In the era of the transfer portal no one would have been surprised if Furst decided to venture elsewhere for his final season in search of more minutes and opportunity. After all, Purdue had Raleigh Burgess and Daniel Jacobsen coming in as potential replacements for Edey. It is a testament to where Purdue is as a program that Furst stayed. Matt Painter has bucked the trend by filling his roster with home grown talent. Sure, he has benefitted from using the portal strategically (hello, Lance Jones), but for the most part he has taken players that will stay multiple years and grow together. These players log thousands of hours of court time together and the result has been the longest era of sustained excellence in Purdue history.

One of those players is Furst.

In year four Furst has had a career renaissance. At the start of this season it looked like Purdue’s lone senior wouldn’t have much of a role. He played just two minutes against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi in the season opener as Jacobsen drew the start as a freshman and Will Berg got the first look off the bench. While Jacobsen’s season ending injury in the second game of the season was awful, it did open the door for Furst.

It is safe to say that he has since walked through that door. Furst is playing some of the best basketball of his career. He had a career high 15 points in the win last week at Washington, and his return to the starting lineup seems to have energized his play. His 11 points in the win at Minnesota was the first time he scored in double figures in almost two years, and he is thriving in the role of being a rebounder and taking advantage of second chance opportunities.

If Purdue is to win another Big Ten championship and go deep into March it will be because of Furst and players like him. After losing Edey it was going to take some time to find Purdue's optimal starting lineup. Threee spots were locked down from day one with Braden Smith, Fletcher Loyer, and Trey Kaufman-Renn.The other two spots, one on the wing and one as a flexible big were up for grabs.

Since Furst returned to the starting lineup against Minnesota the Boilermakers have been playing their best basketball of the season. The Boilermakers have ripped off six straight conference wins, four of them away from home, and five by 18 points or more. Furst has been a tremendous role player in that stretch too. He played at least 18 minutes in all six games and has scored 44 points, grabbed 31 rebounds, and he has eight steals.

It is not just the stats that have helped Purdue during this run. It is clear that he is playing with an energy and confidence that has been missing for a while. After struggling through a stretch of the season where Purdue was the Smith-Loyer-TKR big three and not much else, Furst has emerged as their Robin to do all the little dirty work that doesn't always show up in the box score. He has become the guy that comes in for a basket off of an offensive rebound at a key time. He is the guy that rebounds hard and has significantly improved his defense.

As long as he keeps up this play, Purdue is going to keep winning because he makes the Boilermakers a deeper, more well-rounded team. It also sets an example for younger players on the roster to stick with it in Purdue's system, as it often bears huge rewards.

Furst very likely won't ever play in the NBA, but he still has a lot more winning to do over the next two months in West Lafayette.

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