Hummel talks Purdue-Alabama, Painter legacy

In an interview earlier this week for Gold and Black LIVE (airs at 2 p.m. Fridays on WLFI.com/GoldandBlack.com), Purdue legend Robbie Hummel, who covers NBA and college basketball for Fox, BTN, NBC and CBS, shares his thoughts (and memories) of playing Alabama, the challenges ahead for the Boilermakers, and much more. Here is an excerpt from the interview.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ks-WEqKRfvs

Audio only

GoldandBlack.com: What do you recall from your trip to Tuscaloosa, and your comeback win at Alabame back in 2009?

Robbie Hummel: There’s a lot that I remember about it. Warming up, it is announced that (Alabama running back) Mark Ingram wins the Heisman. So, the crowd goes from not being into it, even though we’re the fifth-ranked team in the country, to very into it.
After Ingram won, they showed it on the video board, and five frat dudes had gotten into our Facebooks and found pictures of us at a Halloween party. It looked like we’d been enjoying ourselves, and they had made these life-size cutouts of all of us: (Chris) Kramer was dressed up like John Daly, I was Buzz Lightyear. Stevie Loveless as Woody the Cowboy. I remember thinking, ‘Oh S–t,’ I hope coach (Painter) doesn’t see this.
We didn’t play very well. In the first half, JaJuan (Johnson) got in foul trouble. And then in the second half, we just played so well. Kramer was dominant at the end of the game. We finally started making some shots and I had a pretty good game in the second half (game-high 23 points). But it was, it was an awesome comeback, and then to see CK impose his will. And honestly, it showed that, like, jamming the point guards was something that worked. You know, they were so worn down at the end of that game, they wanted no part of that. They really didn’t. So it was a big win for us. And certainly, Alabama was pretty talented. They didn’t have a great year, but they had some great players.

GoldandBlack.com: What about tonight’s game with Alabama? It’s going to be a huge test for Purdue, dealing with Alabama’s athleticism, right?

Hummel: How they went in there and won at the Garden (against No. 5 St. John’s) you see how dynamic their guards are. Whether it’s Labaron Philon Jr. , Aden Holloway, or Latrell Wrightsell , who’s been on the team for a couple of years now, those three guys were phenomenal. Getting to the rim, making big shots, has stood out. And then just the level of athleticism.
As a team, Alabama doesn’t have crazy size. Still, it has athletes. In terms of containing the bounce and rebounding the basketball, which has been a substantial (to date) weakness for Purdue, it’s gonna really test them. They’re gonna have to play far better than what we’ve seen.
It certainly hurts that you’re missing a guy like Trey Kaufman-Renn. . He’s an All-American, but there are still some issues. I knew we would, at times, have trouble containing the dribble, but it was surprising given the opponents. It’s fair to say it’ll have to be Purdue’s best effort of the year (for Purdue to win).

GoldandBlack.com: Talk about the amazing level of freshman talent across the country this year.

Hummel: Whether it’s Darryn Peterson at Kansas, AJ Dybantsa at BYU, or, you know, Carlos Boozer’s son at Duke, all three of those guys are big-time prospects, big-time players. And then there’s a lot of freshmen that are maybe not like considered Elite Pro prospects, but are still outstanding players, In terms of the depth of the class and how many guys can come in and impact a team, and then on top of that, the fact that we don’t have Covid fifth-year players for the first time–there’s still a lot of older players with the portal and whatnot–but that really hurt the freshman (in the past) and their ability to come right in and compete with all those (older) guys. It’s a healthy thing to get back for college basketball.

GoldandBlack.com: Talk about coach Matt Painter. He is at the top of his game. Do you see him doing this for another 20 years?

Hummel: I want him to coach until he’s 75 and just obliterate all the records so that from a recognition standpoint, people (across the country) would understand how good a coach he is. But I don’t think that will happen (coaching until he is 75). Like you. I’m not saying he’s going to retire after this year. You know, if they won the whole thing, would it cross his mind? I wouldn’t be surprised if it did.
My thing is that I would, if he were asking me for advice, which he’s not, I would say, ‘Coach, you’ve built this thing from such a low level to where it is now; where this thing is a machine. Reap the benefits.’
I know he’s a big movie guy, you know, obviously, he loves the Cubs as his summer hobby, butt as long as he’s coaching with people he really enjoys and players he really enjoys and winning he’s been insulated from some, but not all not all, of the problems that come along with being a Division One high- major college basketball coach.
They have really good guys. They’ve retained players. It’s not like he’s starting over with a new roster every year. I would encourage him, man, to stick around and enjoy this thing. But he’d probably say, “Do you know how hard this is to retain all these dudes.?” So I get that. If he retired in five years, would that shock me? No, it would not I hope it’s 10 or 15 or even 20.

GoldandBlack.com: Of the many challenges in college athletics these days, is the portal the one that most needs to be resolved?

Hummel: Yeah, I think so. And, you know, after Purdue’s Sweet 16 loss to Houston, Purdue is working on retention right away. So the portal, there’s no accountability. I am probably echoing what you hear from Coach Painter, but there is value in going through struggle, right? There is value in going through hard times and coming out the other end better for it.
Coaches have had to really adjust the way they coach. You start yelling at guys, the way that it used to be with guys like Bobby Knight, (and some players will say) ‘I’m not, I’m not listening to this’ if I don’t have to sit out.
We are killing the mid-majors, and that’s a lot of people’s favorite part of the NCAA Tournament: Thursday and Friday of the first weekend. (If you are a mid-major) and you make a tournament, your team is gone. Growing up a fan of Valpo, when I was a ball boy, I would have been like, Man, this is insane. Their Sweet 16 run is impossible, , outside of maybe Bryce (Drew) staying because he’s the coach’s son.

GoldandBlack.com: You are immersed in the ever-changing world of media in general and specifically sports media. Beat writers (for example) are becoming a thing of the past, with podcasters and broadcasters at the forefront. What do you see?

Hummel: I look at the hot take stuff and I don’t like doing it. I don’t like making lists of the best because I’m like, it’s all you do is argue, and I don’t like to argue. I’m not good at it, I don’t enjoy it, so I just don’t do it.
I wish ESPN would go back and do SportsCenter the way they did in the 90s. I wish I could catch up on sports in an hour, because that’s what it was. But their data clearly shows that (a more confrontational format) this is more effective at getting eyeballs. I’m lucky that because I do games, yeah, you don’t really speak in, like, the hyperbole that, like a podcaster needs to get and let’s be honest, if you’re going to talk about, like, just boring stuff, then people aren’t going to listen to your podcast. So it’s kind of a catch-22, right?
As you mentioned, having lost out (on the proliferation of beat writers. You think about how Purdue was covered when I was playing, whether it was you guys, or Jeff Washburn, or some of the other guys that were covering the team, like they were around and they were actually writing actual articles. I give Gold and Black credit, , because you guys still do it.
A lot of these AI articles… You read a game preview, and it is awful.

GoldandBlack.com: Lastly, you dealt with pressure as a class of yourself, E’Twaun (Moore) and JaJuan (Johnson). What advice would you give to Purdue’s returning seniors?

Hummel: It would be hard to give Fletcher (Loyer), Braden (Smith), and Trey (Kaufman-Renn) advice on that, because they’ve seen it all in college basketball. The pressure they faced post Fairleigh Dickinson was probably the craziest level for a whole year, hearing about that game. Then you watch them in the tournament, because even when they won games, they weren’t even excited to advance —it was all about getting back to the Final Four.
For the new guys, it’s just about blocking out all the extra noise. And in terms of the season, it’s a long year, and I’ve always thought this about college basketball: after losses, it’s going to feel like the world is ending, and after the wins, it feels like this is a euphoric state. And I think you have to stay in a level place. It is a privilege to play college basketball and to play in those venues in the Big Ten and on national TV. You know that it is a privilege that so many guys would love to have the opportunity to do, but never get to do. So, to enjoy it but to understand, after a loss, there was no chance I was watching “SportsCenter” in the morning before going to class. But if we won, I promise you, we were all watching “SportsCenter” because it was awesome to watch that stuff.
So, live in the moment, but understand that, hey, when it’s going bad, the sun will rise the next day. It doesn’t always feel like that, but it does.