ROSEMONT, Ill. — Purdue stars Braden Smith and Trey Kaufman-Renn walked into the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center together Thursday, both in dark suits with white shirts, ready to tackle what should be their final Big Ten Media Day in advance of what is expected to be their last season of college basketball.
They looked sharp.
They sounded confident.
In the previous three seasons, they have already helped the Boilermakers win two outright Big Ten regular-season titles and one Big Ten Tournament championship while making three straight appearances in the NCAA Tournament, one of which resulted in a trip to the 2024 national title game. Either could have left Purdue after last season and still finished their college careers with more wins and accolades than most.
But neither did.
Because they’re not satisfied.
In fact, when asked about his expectations for the upcoming season, Kaufman-Renn, an obvious All-American candidate in Purdue’s frontcourt, didn’t shy away from the idea that he wants this to be his best season yet. And given that he and Smith, the latter of whom is an obvious national player of the year candidate in Purdue’s backcourt, have already won conference championships and played in the title game of the NCAA Tournament, there’s really only one way to make this their best season as Boilermakers, and that’s by winning the NCAA Tournament in April for what would be the first time in program history.
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