Painter Announces Decision on Will Berg’s Redshirt

The Matt Painter Radio Show kicked off this week and as you’d expect questions were asked, answers were given, and news was broken. As I’m not able to listen I rely on the Twitterverse to share with me the most choice nuggets and today I saw that Matt Painter announced Will Berg will in fact be redshirting. H/T Mike Carmin from the J&C.

As Carmin notes, this isn’t a surprise. The 7’2 Swede was always thought of as a prime candidate for a redshirt especially with Zach Edey in front of him. This is a great move long term for Purdue as it allows Berg to fully recover from the hand surgery and get acclimated to Purdue basketball over the next calendar year.

With the advent of NIL money and players transferring to get more playing time or more money it’s these kind of decisions, if they bear out, that will truly keep Purdue in the upper echelon of the Big Ten Conference and college basketball world in general. Teams will have to find ways to get old and experienced despite these changes.

Berg will obviously have a huge role to play on this team going forward. Especially if Zach Edey does not complete his eligibility as we now have to think about that as a real possibility. Sure, the NBA is different now than it was 60 years ago when Edey would have been salivated over and a huge star, but he is still an extremely talented kid who towers over seven feet tall. Berg of course continues the Purdue streak of having a seven footer on the team at all times. With two seven footers on the roster, even if Berg is redshirting, it just means the streak will extend yet another year.