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Raleigh Burgess made a difficult, somewhat unorthodox decision to redshirt last season after not redshirting his freshman year at Purdue.
Part of this move was in reaction to Purdue’s national title aspirations. Because of Purdue’s window with its seniors closing, Matt Painter and staff went into the portal to shore up the big man position. Purdue brought in Australian big man, Oscar Cluff, while returning injured freshman Daniel Jacobsen. That made Purdue’s front court crowded, and playing time for a third big seemed improbable.
It probably didn’t hur that Burgess had chosen to not redshirt the season previously when minutes also weren’t guaranteed. He carved out a role as a backup big early in the season, aided by Jacobsen’s early season ending injury, but fell out of the rotation in January after suffering a lower leg injury that he’d attempt to play through. It severely limited his mobility and was similar to the injury he had in high school. It would require off season surgery, so taking the redshirt also allowed Burgess a full year to work on his body and recovering.
Burgess did just that. Burgess looks noticably slimmer, which should be a particularly good sign for his mobility and positional flexibility which we’ll get back to in a minute. Burgess also worked on his jump shot, changing his form to get rid of a hitch like motion and pulling it behind his head on his set shots.
Burgess came out of the state of Ohio as a bit of a tweener big. He had the ability to stretch the floor in high school and bang inside. His size leaves him right in the middle in high level college. He’s not a particularly big center and isn’t the most athletic four. Still, his skill and ball IQ, and ability to play with other bigs, could make him part of Purdue’s pursuit to follow the landscape of college basketball.
While shooting and skill overtook the 10’s on basketball courts world wide, college basketball is shifting as Purdue saw against Arizona and in the teams that made the Elite Eight last season. Teams, particularly teams that can afford to bring in any size it wants, are starting to load their front courts with bigs and play them together. While skill and shooting remain important for spacing, with the new transfer rules and NIL, grabbing experienced, brute forces to overwhelm teams physically have given programs one of the clearest paths to regular season and post season success.
Burgess’ skillset could unlock a front court next season for Purdue that might have and institute multiple centers on the court frequently as it did in the Elite Eight against Arizona.
Burgess isn’t just a shooting big man, but he moves and reads the game well. He can operate inside and out, and he’s flashed the potential to survice on other fours and fives on the defensive end. He’ll have work to do to get more physical inside. He’ll have work to do to translate his jump shot into live action. Burgess will have work to do to stay healthy for a full season.
But if you’ve been around Burgess during Purdue practices or games, you’ll know that Burgess’ energy is infectious. As a freshman, he was one of the louder forces in terms of cheering for his teammates and pushing energy in practice. It was the same last season even as he sat out. Purdue getting that kind of joy and energy back on the floor will do a team good that is trying to establish a new identity.
Burgess will help with that on and off the court. Purdue is already known as big man U. Now, it might double down on that identity, allowing Burgess to share the floor with fellow centers Daniel Jacobsen and incoming freshman, Sinan Huan.