Matt Painter was surprised Eric Hunter was left off All-Defense Team
Eight years in a row, Purdue had produced at least one member of the Big Ten's five-man postseason All-Defense team.
Matt Painter felt like it should have been nine.
The Boilermaker program's streak was snapped this year, Purdue's Eric Hunter missing the cut.
"I voted for him for Defensive Player-of-the-Year," Painter said. "I thought he was the best defensive guard in our league and one of the top two or three defensive players in our league and the fact he didn't make it really surprised me."
Maryland guard Darryl Morsell was named Defensive Player-of-the-Year. Penn State's Jamari Wheeler and Illinois' Trent Frazier were the other guards who made the five-man list, along with Michigan State forward Aaron Henry and Rutgers center Myles Johnson.
"I thought all the people who made it were deserving," Painter said, "but that really surprised me. I thought (Hunter) did a great job on Marcus Carr, did a great job on (D'Mitrik Trice), I can go right down the line. He's been fabulous for us. He's been really good, and I didn't agree with that.
"When you look at some of the struggles we've had, (winning) hasn't been clean-cut for us. It's not like we've been kicking people. We've had to grind out games. We've been awful sometimes from three-point land, awful shooting the ball from the perimeter, and we've had to grind it out and guard people. And (Hunter) was the leader of that. ... Eric's really led our charge from a defensive standpoint. I'm very biased but I thought he was deserving of being on that team."
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. 2021. All Rights Reserved. Reproducing or using editorial or graphical content, in whole or in part, without permission, is strictly prohibited.