Busting Brackets
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Big Ten Basketball: Ranking the head coaches for 2018-19

By Bryan Mauro

INDIANAPOLIS, IN - MARCH 12: A general interior view of the empty court during the semifinals of the 2011 Big Ten Men's Basketball Tournament at Conseco Fieldhouse on March 12, 2011 in Indianapolis, Indiana. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images)
INDIANAPOLIS, IN - MARCH 12: A general interior view of the empty court during the semifinals of the 2011 Big Ten Men's Basketball Tournament at Conseco Fieldhouse on March 12, 2011 in Indianapolis, Indiana. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images) /
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BOSTON, MA – MARCH 23: Head coach Matt Painter of the Purdue Boilermakers reacts during the second half against the Texas Tech Red Raiders in the 2018 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament East Regional at TD Garden on March 23, 2018 in Boston, Massachusetts. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images)
BOSTON, MA – MARCH 23: Head coach Matt Painter of the Purdue Boilermakers reacts during the second half against the Texas Tech Red Raiders in the 2018 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament East Regional at TD Garden on March 23, 2018 in Boston, Massachusetts. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images) /

4. Matt Painter

Purdue, like many of the other Big Ten programs were coached at one point by a basketball legend. This time it was Gene Keady. Coach Matt Painter played basketball for Coach Keady and returned to his alma mater to take over the reigns from his former head coach. It has been a dream for Painter to coach his alma mater.

The last few years have been the best of Painters career, he has fielded teams the last two years who looked like national title contenders at some point. The team has never been able to make it over the hump exiting in the Sweet 16 two years in a row. Painter and his coaches are still trying to crack the code of making an Elite Eight.

The previous season the Boilermakers would have cruised into the Elite 8 had it not been for a key injury. Star center Isaac Haas broke his elbow in the opening round of the NCAA tournament. Haas was a huge key to the success of the Boilers as he enabled the offense to move freely and for the shooters to get open. Haas was great at clogging up the paint and dominating virtually everyone. Even though Haas has graduated the best player in the Big Ten still plays for Purdue in Carsen Edwards.

Painter is entering his 14th season at the helm for the Boilers. In that entire time he has experienced three losing seasons. Those are the only three seasons he has not made the NCAA tournament in his career at Purdue. The year before Painter took his dream job he was at Southern Illinois for a season. That season Southern Illinois won the Missouri Valley and made the NCAA tournament. Painter is a well-respected coach in the industry and the amount of other head coaches who come from the Painter coaching tree is impressive. The painter coaching tree includes Cuonzo Martin and Paul Lusk. Painter would be the best coach in many conferences as his prowess speaks for itself. However, the three coaches ahead of him are future Hall of Famers with a ton of wins under their belts already.

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