Purdue's 7'3" C Matt Haarms Enters Transfer Portal

#3
#3
Little shocked he's leaving because he loved the staff, team and university. Not sure what's going on. He's a great rim protector but is kinda limited offensively skill wise. He'll make someone a solid center but still unclear why he's leaving. My family are big purdue folks so I'll see what I can find out tonight.
 
#5
#5
From a Purdue insider.....

First off, I am as shocked by this as much as most of you probably are.

I can't tell you anything for certain about what happened here, because I don't know. We're supposed to talk to Matt Painter tomorrow, but the likelihood of him spilling his private conversations with the kid may not be all that high. I've reached out to Haarms for comment, but more often than not in situations like this, you don't hear back.

I can only speculate.

The first portion of this that lends itself well to conjecture is simple. Trevion Williams has ascended into being Purdue's best player. He is playing as much as Purdue can get out of him. They play the same position, and the Twin Towers sort of experiment was basically a bust this season. There was a natural cap, then, on Haarms' opportunities both for minutes and stature.

The second that comes to mind for me anyway is style of play. Haarms was fantastic as a sophomore on a team that played a floor-spreading, guard-driven-style. He is a ball-screen and pick-and-roll sort of mobile big man. This season, the dynamics around him changed, the league was probably as physical as it's even been and the Boilermakers had to go back to playing WrestleMania-style Big Ten basketball. That is not Haarms' strength. Perhaps he will look for a more open style of play where his strengths in pick-and-roll, running the floor and shooting jumpers can fit a little better.

But again, I don't know. I am very surprised, because Haarms has seemed like a guy who's been all about Purdue from the day he got here. I don't want that to come off critically, because every player is entitled to find the best opportunity for himself. I'm just surprised, is all. I never got the sense that Haarms was viewing himself as a potential pro at this point, because there really wasn't much reason for him to not at least go through the NBA process last year and he did not, instead focusing on this season to come.

But there's no question that Haarms has a chance to play basketball for a very long time after college, whether it's here in the U.S. or overseas. This move might be made with that in mind. He will have elite options, I'm guessing.

He did not have a great season this past year. Injuries didn't help, style of play didn't help, level of competition didn't help (i.e. all the great big men in the Big Ten). It was a difficult season for him, and Purdue alike. Whether this happens if Purdue's coming off more of a best-case-scenario sort of season, I don't know. This could simply be about a fresh start for all we know.

It is very surprising, though. Haarms is a terrific human being and a terrific player, in my opinion, and Purdue will miss him.

Purdue was going to be very good with him next season, if you ask me, but that being said, the most important thing for the Boilermakers is for Trevion Williams to be as good as he can be.

Purdue is just going to need another big man to carry some minutes, and that then puts the onus on Williams even more. He can't be a 20-minute-per-game player anymore. Whether it's Emmanuel Dowuona, Zach Edey, Mason Gillis playing as a small-ball 5, a player to be named later or whatever, Purdue has to plug that gap.
 
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#7
#7
We don't have a scholarship for him, and I don't think he'd come here if we did, anyway.
 
#10
#10
Nah. Don't need another "finesse" big man. Need a guy who will bang in the paint and work the boards.
 
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#18
#18
One of Purdue's old assistant coaches is now HC at Ohio, thats the connection.
 
#25
#25
They were decent this year but lose a ton. Even w Haarms probably not a tourney team next year
 

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