Three Thoughts is a new feature GoldandBlack.com will run every Monday morning in-season.

Rewind a little less than a year, to when Purdue's disappointing 2019-2020 season ended abruptly at the onset of the pandemic.

No one knew what the future had in store for the Boilermakers then, and a very reasonable expectation could have been that their struggles might continue. When veterans Matt Haarms and Nojel Eastern left, there were even more questions and even fewer answers.

Purdue's last team lacked foundational-type elements that could have been viewed as real hindrances to its ability to reverse its fortunes right away.

This season could have gone a lot of different ways, not all of them positive.