Purdue opens season with two suspended
Purdue has known for some time that junior forward Basil Smotherman would be idled by suspension to start this season, but it came to light in just the past few days that sophomore Ryan Cline would be joining him.
Both Boilermakers sat out Tuesday night's exhibition opener against Southern Indiana. They'll sit out Sunday's scrimmage against West Virginia and the season opener against McNeese State, as well.
Both were suspended for violations of team rules, known to be off-season run-ins with the authorities.
According to court records, Cline was charged in late July in Hamilton County on one count of marijuana possession; earlier that month, Smotherman drew a pair of charges in Hancock County for possession of paraphernalia and speeding.
"It is unfortunate," Coach Matt Painter said. "You want guys to flourish and take this opportunity and springboard into not just having a great career but having a great life. This is an unbelievable advantage you have on other people, having this opportunity. But there has to be some order. There just does. Sometimes these things can be a little bit of a blessing in disguise where guys have a little bit of a public humiliation. Sometimes it's something you'd rather not do, you'd rather just handle some things (privately), but it gets to a point where it's what you're going to do. If they can learn from it and be better that's what you want. You don’t want it to be as much a punishment as it is a consequence and now you learn from it, grow from it and you don't make that mistake anymore. That's our hope."
Smotherman and Cline each figure to be important reserves for Purdue this season. In their absences, teammates benefited.
"It's what we didn't have three or four years ago. We didn't have a bunch of players. Now we have a bunch of players," Painter said. "If people don't want to do what they're supposed to … other people play. They like their chops. I've got guys on this team that start and play 25 minutes and they want to play 33 minutes. I'd love for those guys to learn from this and come and help us and make us deeper, but if not I've got a bunch of guys in my locker room doing what they're supposed to, so I'm not worried about it."
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