It happened out of necessity. Liam Murphy was still recovering from shoulder surgery after transferring from North Florida. Oscar Cluff was still working out his VISA issues with the US and Australia. Daniel Jacobsen was off with Team USA overseas. When Matt Painter looked around at his remaining players at practice over the summer, he […]
It happened out of necessity.
Liam Murphy was still recovering from shoulder surgery after transferring from North Florida. Oscar Cluff was still working out his VISA issues with the US and Australia. Daniel Jacobsen was off with Team USA overseas.
When Matt Painter looked around at his remaining players at practice over the summer, he had no choice but to play Jack Benter at the four.
“He’s probably only 6-5 and a half, 6-6,” Purdue assistant coach PJ Thompson told me after Purdue’s practice last week.
Thompson is talking about Jack Benter, who once again spent a practice moving between roles at the wing and at the four. Benter, who sat out last year with a redshirt, was a point guard in high school, mostly. At Brownstown Central, Benter looked like a pure shooting guard, but the more his career progressed under his father, Dave Benter, the more was asked of him. Towards the end of his career, if Brownstown Central had the ball, it was on Benter to take it up the court, initiate the offense, and make decisions against what was usually a double or triple team.
That instinct and ability to make plays with the ball in his hands, combined with limitless range, is what makes him such a tantalizing option at the four. Jack Benter isn’t just a stretch four, he’s at the apex of stretch, where the question is whether he’s big enough to be a legitimate four in the Big Ten.
“I think JB is a guy that can play the three and the four,” Thompson said. “He’s physical. He’s probably only 6-5 and a half, 6-6, but JB has a great body. His body has changed completely. He’s really strong. He’s great in the short roll.”
Benter’s skills are without dispute. He’s a nightmare for teams to defend with a traditional big, but basketball goes both ways. Benter is looking to test cliches about the size of the dog in the fight and the fight in the dog.
At one of the earlier practices in the summer, when all the other bigs were gone, Benter was banging inside with Trey Kaufman-Renn. Then Benter was banging against the floor, and a body, maybe more than one body, was trying to dislodge Benter and his arm. The mess of weight and force caused Benter to scream in agony, loudly.
As Benter was pulling himself back together with the assistance of a Purdue staff member, Painter was walking by, at this time assured that Benter was okay. Painter cracked a wry smile, and quipped, ‘That’s the loudest I’ve ever heard him.‘
It’s true. Benter is a quiet kid, a polite kid. But when Benter’s team lost the scrimmage and had to run the suicides just a few minutes after his painful screams, he was lined back up with his team. He didn’t need his arm to run. He sprinted, hard, and nearly finished the suicide first.
“When you’re undersized,” Thompson told me, knowing a thing or two about playing at Purdue as an undersized player, “When you get to these levels it’s not always about your athleticism.”
Something something, heart and dogs, and all that on display by Benter over the summer. Not to mention Benter used that year to change his physique, to build on his already solid and wide base.
“JB’s mind should move quicker than the bigger fours in our league,” Thompson continued. “So if you’re supposed to knock out the post in front, then do it, and do it every time. And from a rebounding standpoint, you might not get it, but your guy can’t get it.”
“And on the other end,” Thompson said with a smile. “It’s good luck cause he has more game than fours of recent. No offense to them, but they don’t play the same. Think about him having game like Vince. They’re totally different players but JB can shoot deep threes. JB can side step three. JB can shoot on the move. He can play in the pick and roll. He can set picks. He’s intelligent, and like you said, he can pass.”
Thompson has no doubt Benter can play the four. That’s how special he thinks Benter is. That said, this Purdue roster is stacked. It might not be this year that Benter gets to really unleash on the court, but he’s gonna get a chance.
“Sometimes you can be ready but sometimes when you get on special teams,” Thompson said about Benter. “The thing of the thing is sacrifice. He’s sacrificing, too. Just as Braden Smith is sacrificing. Our seventh, eighth, ninth, tenth, eleventh, you name it, twelfth guy, they can all go. Everybody’s got to sacrifice.”
Category: General Sports
