Basketball team anticipates future

By Paul Trembacki
Sports Editor

Men's basketball season is only eight months away.

And soon the Boilers will begin preparing for what they hope will be a fulfilling 2001-02 season.

"This is the most important time of the season," assistant coach Cuonzo Martin said. "There's about a six-month period where you just get better as an individual and work on your weaknesses. It's hard to do that in the season; that's when you get better as a team."

The players will take a week or two off before getting back in the weight room and on the court.

After Purdue's season ended Friday night with an 85-77 double overtime loss to Alabama, Coach Gene Keady outlined what he thinks needs to happen if the Boilers are going to contend for a Big Ten title or at least make the NCAA tournament again.

"The kids have to step up with their out-of-season work ethic and take an attitude of 'We've got to learn how to win close games,'" Keady said. "We've got to learn how to take care of the basketball in critical parts of the game and start to find ways to win.

"Championship teams find ways to win."

But Keady wasn't too hard on his team, which finished 17-15 and set a Mackey Arena record with seven losses this season.

"The kids fought their hearts out," he said after the loss. "They went through a rough season. Hopefully, from this season the young kids have learned a lot and they'll build themselves up to where they can compete with this type of team."

Keady was referring to Alabama, which was deeper and more aggressive than the Boilers.

The Boilers will have more depth next season. Carson Cunningham has exhausted his eligibility, but four players will join the team next season.

Andrew Ford was a redshirt this year, but he practiced with the team each day and learned Keady's system.

Three players will be total newcomers next season. Darmetreis Kilgore, a 6-foot-5 forward, will come to Purdue from Tyler (Texas) Junior College. Matt Carroll, a 6-8, 215-pound Aurora, Colo., resident, and Brandon McKnight, a first team all-state selection from South Bend (Ind.) LaSalle High School, will be freshmen.

"One of those three is really going to have to step up and be a quality player for us," Keady said.

Cunningham, who will continue to take classes toward his master's degree in history and then pursue a Ph.D, said the Boilers will be good next season.

"I think they're definitely going to be tournament caliber, and depending on if they get a few things to go their way, I think that they can compete for a Big Ten title," Cunningham said. "Things are looking up, definitely."

In Cunningham, Purdue loses a special kid, Martin said.

But Keady said he liked the improvement he saw from players such as sophomore guard Willie Deane, junior guard Maynard Lewis, junior center John Allison and sophomore guard Kenneth Lowe.

"If all those guys make the same improvement next year that they made this year, we'll be OK," Keady said.

Martin said the Boilers ought to be motivated to improve.

"You never forget a loss like that," Martin said. "It makes you hungry for next season."

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SPORTS DESK PHONE:
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Sports editor:
Paul Trembacki

Assistant sports editor:
Anne McLaren

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