Purdue figures to benefit from versatile, maybe dynamic, frontcourt

Matt Painter again believes he has one of the top frontcourts in college basketball, anchored by the new face of Purdue massive-ness, Zach Edey.

While this one, though, will again be defined by overwhelming dimensions and power, it may not necessarily be limited to it.

Make no mistake here: Edey, coming off two seasons of eye-popping per-minute productivity and now poised to carry even more of those minutes, is the Boilermakers' centerpiece, the foundation around which everything is constructed.

But while there's that immovable centerpiece, there are a lot more moveable pieces in a different sense, as youngsters Caleb Furst and Trey Kaufman-Renn could give Purdue profoundly valuable versatility and lineup malleability after years of Matt Painter's teams playing almost exclusively with "ultimate size" and all the gives and takes that come with it.

Now, when Edey leaves the floor, Purdue is expected to slide power forward Caleb Furst inside.

"The Big Ten has some of the biggest bigs and I'll be smaller than most of them," Furst said, "but I can make up for that with my quickness and ability to get into action."

Ever since he returned to full strength following springtime foot surgery, Furst's been lauded for how well he's shot the ball from the perimeter, kind of a mouthful considering he made better than 42 percent of his three-pointers as a freshman last season.

"The difference is that Caleb (at center) would have the opportunity to pop," said assistant coach Terry Johnson, who oversees Purdue's offense. "If you have a bigger 5 on him, they've got to cover him on the perimeter."

Furst would also be one of the quickest centers Painter's ever had, which could be particularly valuable in pick-and-roll and in a system that affords opportunities to slip ball screens, dive out of handoffs and roll into post-ups, similar to some of the things Purdue did with Matt Haarms at center years back.

Furst's passing has been an element of his skill set that didn't necessarily come out last season without much offense being run through him, but he'll now figure to have such opportunities this season, to handle some of the high-post offense Trevion Williams carried a year ago, as well as passing out of the post.

Obviously, all of this would be a stark contrast from Edey dump-trucking opponents to play the game feet from the rim.

While it can be presumed that Mason Gillis' track record of being an almost ideal complement to Edey might create one lineup blueprint, the possibilities for a pairing of Furst and Kaufman-Renn have Purdue more than intrigued.

That's where Purdue figures to have a more dynamic frontcourt — in the sense of it being more multi-faceted and interchangeable — than it has in years past.

Kaufman-Renn may not be quite be the shooter from long range Furst has already proven himself to be, but he can shoot the three, raising the possibility that Purdue could run legitimate five-out style of offense with five three-point-capable players on the floor for the first time since Caleb Swanigan and Vincent Edwards played alongside one another.

But Kaufman-Renn's scoring profile is more focused on and around the paint. One Purdue coach tabbed the redshirt freshman as his team's "second-best low-post scorer" behind Edey, and throughout the summer, the forward really stood out in practices scoring around the basket, driving out of face-up touches and terrorizing bigger and slower defenders.

When asked this summer whether he could see minutes at the 5 and thus favorable offensive matchups against such plodding defenders, Kaufman-Renn said, "I hope so."

Positional designation wouldn't necessarily matter as much with Furst and Kaufman-Renn playing alongside one another, since both can play inside-out. The prospect, though, of Purdue inverting its lineup and playing high-low with Furst's three-point shooting stretching a defense to the point that Kaufman-Renn gets space inside would seem appealing.

"We can use that to get the best matchups we can," Furst said.

Defensively, the two young front-court players may bring about just as much newfound flexibility, given their mobility, an issue Purdue has had to work around with players like Edey, Williams, Swanigan, Isaac Haas, etc., at center.

With Edey on the floor, Purdue will almost certainly put him in drop coverage against ball screens 100 percent of the time, as was the case last season. This season, Furst's quickness and speed, combined with his height and energy, could allow Purdue to take a different approach in its ball screen coverage, perhaps using the sophomore to hedge more screens to keep ball-handlers from getting downhill cleanly, a significant concern. Purdue's built its defense of late around protecting the lane, and is putting special emphasis this season on protecting the rim, though those things aren't really mutually exclusive.

"And Zach understands, too, that he has to become better in pick-and-roll defense," said assistant coach Paul Lusk, who coordinates the defense. I think he has gotten better at it.

"But that (flexibility is) a good luxury to have."

At both ends of the floor, Purdue should have much, much more of it in its frontcourt this season.

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