Saturday Roundtable - Alumni Game Requests

If it’s Saturday, no matter how late, it must be the roundtable. I send out a question to the staff and they supply the answers.

Let’s get a little looser this week. Not gonna ask you to make any predictions. The Purdue basketball alumni game is coming up in just over a month. Give me a couple players you’d love to see back in Mackey playing. Even if it’s half speed. Who do you want?

Jumbo Heroes:

So I came of age as a Purdue basketball fan during the mid 90’s. It was a great time to be a fan with Glenn Robinson and company completing their famous 3-Pete. There were a lot of good guys on those teams. Then, when I went to Purdue in 2004 I saw the last year of Gene Keady as head coach as a freshman and watched the transition to Matt Painter. So I saw the Baby Boilers and the reemergence of Purdue as a true threat. I’ve seen a lot of great basketball in my time.

I wrote about folks who have participated in the past and so I want to share that again here for those who aren’t familiar with what has been done in the past.

DJ Byrd, Brian Cardinal, Brandon Brantley, Roy Hairston, Chris Kramer, Kenny Lowe, Troy Lewis, Dave Barrett, Tim Ervin, Chris Reid, Mark Wohlford, David Teague, Ryne Smith, Matt Keifer, Bobby Riddell, Maynard Lewis, Rapheal Davis, Lewis Jackson, Frank Kendrick, Jon Octeus, Matt Waddell, Mike Robinson.

Obviously I would be thrilled to have any and all of those guys back. Given they’ve already returned I’m gonna go a little off the beaten path by providing suggestions of guys who aren’t on that list. I would love to see Carl Landry come back. He was one of the most pivotal players in Matt Painter’s second season after suffering a knee injury the prior year. Greg McQuay is a Keady era player I’d love to see back. Especially considering the tragic loss of his brother Gary to cancer back in 2002. Justin Jennings is an incredibly talented and elite level athlete who it would be fun to see play again. I feel like Marcus Green has come back in the past but I can’t remember for sure. He would be a fun guy to have back as he was a critical component to Painter’s first class that stuck as he stayed his entire time. One last player that sticks out to me is Nemanja Calasan. He was always good for one three a game.

Jed:

There is a wealth of options here that I think would really please the Purdue faithful but the obvious answer is really the Big Dog. Now, my reasoning would be for a little more than just seeing the Big Dog running up and down the court for the Boilermakers inside Makey Arena again. You see, there is a young man by the name of Gicarri Harris who happens to be the son of Glenn Robinson and is also a top 100 (247 Sports) combo guard being recruited by Purdue and Matt Painter in the 2024 class. If, let’s say, that Glenn happened to give it a go for a few times up and down the floor for the alumni game and his son was in attendance on an unofficial visit to not only watch the alumni game but also to watch the current roster scrimmage ahead of their European trip, it could also be an absolute perfect time to announce your commitment. The idea of having the Big Dog himself running up and down Mackey Arena’s hallowed floor again and then suddenly that awesome commitment video starts playing over the Mackey Arena video board with Gicarri making the announcement via his Twitter and Instagram, it would be just an incredible moment.

I’d also like to see Matt Waddell go up and down the floor a bit so that he and his son could be on the court in the same event as well. Also, Matt was my favorite player growing up and while thousands of people lined up to get Glenn’s autograph at fan appreciation day, I was lined up first for Waddell’s when I was 10 years old

Ryan:

I think you mean “let’s get more Luce” but I digress. Besides Tommy, I would really love to see Carsen Edwards, Ryan Cline, and E’twan Moore shooting daggers while Isaac Haas and Grady Eifert cleaning boards. Of course I would also love to see Robbie back playing on Cardinal court rather than announcing next to it. So many legends and it should be a great time.