Matt Painter speaks about the message he sends to his players with the No. 1 ranking

Matt Painter tries to keep his focus no matter what’s going on with Purdue basketball. In this case, the Boilermakers are No. 1 this week in the Associated Press Top 25. But Painter shared on Sirius that his approach and message stay the same no matter where the Boilermakers are ranked.

“People that speak that normally aren’t in competition because there’s another team in front of you at all times,” Painter said. “So it’s hard because they’re trying to accomplish the same thing. It’s not easy, but no matter how you feel, you can still do your job. You’re depressed, you’re anxious, you’re feeling the heat, you can still do your job. That’s what you have to do as a coach, and that’s what you have to do as a player, and don’t forget to have fun with it. And that gets lost sometimes.”

Painter also took the opportunity to offer a parallel between basketball and life.

“The more discipline you can have, the more fun you can have,” Painter said. “Young people sometimes look at discipline and hard work, like you want to work hard, you want to have that discipline, because the more success you’re going to have.”

Purdue returns to action on Thursday at Michigan in a 9 p.m. ET tipoff on FS1.

When @CoachPainter suits up this week for #SuitsAndSneakers he & @BoilerBall will do it back in the #1 spot in the nation, but even at 1⃣ the message is still the same. 🚂@CoachesvsCancer | @KrisBudden | @BenHartsock

For more information check out: https://t.co/r5ou9UCv4h pic.twitter.com/N3oubyrhMm

— College Sports on SiriusXM (@SXMCollege) January 25, 2023

Keith Farner

Keith Farner has written about college football for newspapers and web sites since 2005.