Several factors in Purdue basketball freshman's choice to sacrifice season for redshirt or not
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WEST LAFAYETTE — Ask a Purdue men's basketball player to major a sacrifice in pursuit of a national championship and you'll have no shortage of volunteers.
Only one Boilermaker must confront a sacrifice in deference to his own potential, though. Freshman guard Antione West Jr. has not yet decided whether he will sit the season out as a redshirt. The choice is ultimately his, and coach Matt Painter said after the season opener West will take a couple of weeks to make it.
The all or nothing nature of the decision meant West could not play in either of Purdue's first two regular-season games. Unlike in football, where players can participate in up to four games and retain the redshirt option, West cannot play even one second without losing his.
Simple math and intense competition now collide, pitting the desire to play and win against the wisdom of pressing pause.
Were pragmatism the only consideration, West's decision might already be in. He played only three minutes in the exhibition opener against Kentucky. He stretched out to 15 minutes against UIndy collecting eight points, three rebounds, two assists and a steal. He was sixth in the scholarship guard rotation both nights.
These decisions typically play out organically over a span of weeks or months. Painter uses redshirts more than many coaches. It's becoming common for each season's roster to include a couple of players who used that option.
Yet as of May, West said redshirting had not yet been part of his conversations with the staff.
"I haven't talked to them about that, but it's definitely not a part of my plan," West told IndyStar then. "I'm trying to do whatever I can to get in there — however much work I have to put in, whatever I have to do — to get in the rotation, making sure I'm on the floor. Redshirting for me would definitely be very hard."
That's exactly what West should have said at the time. That organic process, affected by changing circumstances, had not yet begun.
Two weeks prior to that conversation, Omer Mayer committed to Purdue. Until then, West was the only guard in the incoming freshman class. With experienced options Fletcher Loyer, C.J. Cox and Gicarri Harris ahead of him — and Mayer holding extra utility as the backup point guard — West had little chance to rise in the shooting guard rotation this season.
That does not mean, though, West's decision on either side is an easy one. He impressed with his play since arriving over the summer. Already a proven scorer at multiple levels during his career at Toledo Whitmer High School, West showed up ready to play at a Big Ten level in other areas as well.
"Arguably, he's been our best on-ball defender," assistant coach P.J. Thompson said prior to the Kentucky exhibition. "He's got to grow into becoming a better off-ball defender, which is very typical for any young player. But he's terrific on the basketball.
"... He's become a better passer since he's been here and he's learning to read defenses. When he does something well, I really celebrate that, because he can score the basketball, and if we can get him to pass, your value just increases because now you're making your teammates better and generating offense for them."
How well West played this summer — and he did, showing dynamic scoring ability and proving himself defensively — did not change how crowded the backcourt had become. Purdue, though, has both an abundance of backcourt talent and the ultimate justification for keeping all hands on deck. Painter may find himself in an NCAA tournament game where foul trouble, a specific matchup or some other factor would make someone with West's athleticism and defensive skills quite useful.
Painter has cited Ryan Cline as an example of a redshirt not taken which would have paid off down the line. Yet on Dec. 1, 2015, when the freshman hit four 3-pointers in a six-minute span of the second half at Pittsburgh — lifting the Boilermakers to a valuable road victory for NCAA tournament seeding — having the Carmel grad active sure seemed like a smart decision.
Painter had to ask himself — as did West — whether keeping open that "break glass in case of emergency" option was worth wasting a year's worth of games and production. Painter asked himself the same question at the start of the 2023-24 Final Four season with that roster's only freshman: Myles Colvin. He kept Colvin active, and the wing — who transferred to Wake Forest after last season — averaged 8.6 minutes and did not play at all in eight Big Ten games.
Redshirts, when used, have generally worked out in Purdue's long-term favor. Go ask Trey Kaufman-Renn, who was recovering from injury when he arrived as a freshman. He might be an All-American as a fifth-year senior. Ask assistant coach Sasha Stefanovic, who developed into a starter on a Sweet 16 team in his fifth season.
Regret usually comes from the redshirt decisions not made, when Painter looks down the bench or onto the floor five years in the future for a skill or body he needs, only to remember that player is watching from home or the stands or a streaming feed overseas with his pro team.
Painter said he saw a "huge upside" with either decision for West, but not equally benign downsides.
"That's what makes it difficult, because it's an inexact science," Painter said prior to the opener. "How can you future trip and really know how it's going to affect? You don't.
"I do know, do you want this year for Trey Kaufman vs. the year you would have had four years ago? I know that one. But I also understand the question, because you feel like you have a team like you did two years ago that can get that far, so why not keep everything there? I think you've got to think about today, but you've also got to think about tomorrow."
West will benefit from considerations not available to either of those players. He will receive the same revenue share income whether on active status or not. That's an extra year of earnings if he stays for all five seasons.
Also, nothing changes the timeline on West's professional aspirations. At any time in the future, he can forego that revenue share income and move on to the next level.
Yet it also means sitting the bench in warm-up gear while everyone else potentially plays some of the biggest games in college basketball this season in full uniform.
The sacrifice West makes could only happen if he sees the same thing Purdue does — that in the future year protected by the redshirt, he can be an integral part in why that future team also plays for championship stakes.
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This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Purdue basketball: Will Antione West Jr. redshirt for freshman season?
