Braden Smith’s return to Purdue shows how bucking trend of building through transfer portal can work

In the four years since college players have been allowed by the NCAA to capitalize on their name, image and likeness, four players who earned AP First Team All-America honors have returned to play the following season.

Half of those are Purdue players.

The latest coup for Matt Painter and his staff came Monday: Braden Smith, the star guard who would have commanded big money on the transfer market or could have been selected somewhere in the 2025 NBA Draft, will run it back with the Boilermakers in 2025-26.

Smith follows former Purdue star Zach Edey on the short list of All-Americans who not only put their pro futures on hold after big seasons, but also returned to their respective schools. Of the four who returned since NIL went into effect on July 1, 2021, he’s just the second guard — joining North Carolina‘s RJ Davis, who made the same choice last season.

2024-25 CBS Sports All-America teams: College basketball’s best and most talented players

Gary Parrish

It speaks to the promise of Purdue next season (more on that in a bit!) and also the plan in place under Painter: to build the foundation by bucking trends of transfer-heavy teams and relying instead on continuity and on character. Over the last two seasons, Purdue has now secured its two biggest offseason commitments for its subsequent season’s roster by locking down a homegrown star instead of looking outward. 

The results speak for themselves, too. In the last decade, Purdue has the eighth-most wins among all college programs with 280. In that span, it has been top-two among Big Ten teams in minutes continuity — a KenPom.com stat determined by what percentage of a team’s minutes are played by the same player from last season to this season — five times.

In the last five seasons, Purdue has the fourth-most wins (tied with Duke) among all college teams behind only Houston, Gonzaga and Drake with 134. In that span, Purdue has been top-two among Big Ten teams in minutes continuity three times — including each of the last two seasons.

Most wins since 2020-21

Winning approach

Beneath the surface lies the real secret to Purdue’s success: purposeful recruitment. It has not ranked inside the top-three of the 247Sports Team Recruiting Rankings among Big Ten teams since 2011 — in fact, Purdue has ranked in the bottom three of the Team Rankings among Big Ten teams three times — with an approach that instead prioritizes specific traits and characteristics of players instead of talent. 

That has consistently landed Purdue with the right players and also consistently had Purdue among the teams with the best records in the sport. 

Here’s a little glimpse behind the scenes of what the program and Painter target via an interview in 2021— which predates the NIL era but is just as applicable to the program’s plan today as it was four years ago. 

Painter is a rare coach who likes to see prospects in season in the high school environment.

“I look at it as I get the opportunity to see kids that might mold our program down the road,” Painter says. “I need to see kids in their environment and evaluate what they are like on and off the court as much as possible.”

There are no shortcuts in Painter’s process.

And in recruiting, Painter and his staff have established the reputation of finding diamonds in the rough. Braden Smith, Purdue’s standout point guard going into his junior year, wasn’t offered a scholarship by any program close to the Big Ten level. Zach Edey flew far under the radar of the “elite” programs.

For Painter, it’s about hustling to do the homework and making sure the fit is as seamless as the talent is impressive. Here’s more from that 2021 interview:

“You have to make sure you’re doing your homework, make sure you keep digging, make sure you’re asking the right people to get the answer,” says Painter, referring to recruiting but relevant to all areas of his operation. “You have to be grateful for opportunities; you have to be humble. You have to be coachable.

“If you have those qualities, having a competitive spirit and enough skills, you’re getting somewhere. I call people with those qualities multipliers. Robbie Hummel is a multiplier, and Braden Smith is a multiplier. They are more than just one player; they make other people better.”

History of returning stars in NIL era

Two of the three players who previously returned to school after earning First Team All-America honors returned the following season with the team finishing with worse records. But Edey returned after a 29-win season to lead Purdue to a 34-5 season that culminated with a Big Ten title, a Final Four appearance and a title game appearance that finished with a loss to UConn.

In total since 2000, Smith is poised to become just the 14th player to earn First Team All-America distinction and return, joining a star-studded list that includes Tyler Hansbrough, Jay Williams, Doug McDermott and JJ Redick, among others. On that list, he will be just the sixth guard to do so — the first since Davis last season and the first guard in the Big Ten since Michigan State’s Cassius Winston did so in 2019-20.

Many not-so-happy returns

Recent AP First Team All-Americans who returned to college the following season and how their team’s fared. 

McDermott led Creighton to 55 wins after choosing to returning for 2012-13 and 2013-14; Jared Sullinger led Ohio State to the Final Four after returning in 2011-12; and Tyler Hansbrough returned in 2008-09 to lead UNC to a national title after finishing as the national runner-up the season prior, etching himself into college basketball lore.

Promise for Purdue in 2025-26

Smith is the structure on which Painter and Purdue will build its foundation for next season — but he is not the only reason to buy Boilers stock in 2025-26. In fact, Smith could return to a co-starring role in one of the most dynamic guard/center tandems in the sport, should big man Trey Kaufman-Renn opt to return.

Kaufman-Renn led Purdue in scoring (20.1 ppg) and rebounding (6.5 rpg) in 2024-25 and finished with a 27.0 Player Efficiency Rating — first among Purdue players and first among all qualifying Big Ten players to boot.

Here’s how the rest of the roster stands as of now.

Expectations for Purdue in 2025-26 will be high. And you know what?

Expectations for Purdue in 2025-26 should be high. It might have two preseason All-Americans — led by a potential preseason Player of the Year in Smith — along with potentially three preseason All-Big Ten players.

That’s good enough to have Purdue, ranked No. 4 in the Way-too-early CBS Sports Top 25 And 1 preseason rankings, pushing for a No. 1 spot heading into the 2025-26 season