One redshirt decision has been decided, Matt Painter told us on Sunday a day ahead of Purdue's opening season game.

"Jack Benter's gonna redshirt," Painter said.

Jack Benter, star guard from Brownstown Central, got sick early in the summer and missed a good portion of early work outs. The 6-5 sharp shooter, was unlikely to find a place in this year's rotation with the emergence of CJ Cox and Gicarri Harris to complement the returning starting guards, Braden Smith and Fletcher Loyer.

The Indiana State Champion will instead join a growing list of freshman that have chosen and benefited from a full year of development before starting their career in earnest under Painter.

Matt Painter also spoke about Purdue's other redshirt possibility, Raleigh Burgess, who at this moment hasn't decided one way or the other.

"We're still kinda working it out with Raleight," Painter said about the big man from Ohio who was initially thought to be a lock for a redshirt.

Purdue has two true freshman centers, Raleigh Burgess and Daniel Jacobsen, and two returning big man, Caleb Furst and Will Berg, to go around starter Trey Kaufman-Renn.

Jacobsen took over the starting position alonside Kaufman-Renn in the second half of Purdue's first exhibition against Creighton and started again in Purdue's second exhibition. It looks to be his job to lose at the moment.

That leaves Berg and Burgess as the potential big men left out of the rotation. Berg has two years experience in the system and has shown to be Purdue's most prolific rebounder and biggest body.

Burgess might be Purdue's most well-rounded big though with his ability to defend with his size, shoot from outside, and bang on the inside.

It's not an easy decision for Painter who is trying to balance what's best for his team and what's best for his player.

"You need certain individuals," Painter said. "But you don't always need them."
"Right now, like with the guys that come off our bench, especially the guys on our frontline, we just haven't had anybody besides TKR that's really separated themselves."

The murkiness has left Painter uncertain of which way to go with Burgess. There's no doubt that Painter has preferred the redshirting path in this scenario throughout his tenure at Purdue. He also said he's never regretted any player he's decided to redshirt.

But with players not separating themselves, Painter is stuck with one of his toughest decisions yet.

"It's minutes and it's consistency, not just him, but from everybody," Painter said Sunday. "You want to do what's best for your team, but you also want to do what's best for your individual and you want them to be one in itself. Sometimes it's not."

Painter will have a few games to make the decision, but it appears that Burgess has done enough to make Painter think Purdue might just need him.