Team preview: Purdue

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(Information in this team report is as of October 1.)

A gruff yet beneficent potentate recedes willfully into the golden years, but not before christening a carefully groomed successor and seeing his name stamped upon the courtyard of his dominion's castle. Is this West Lafayette or Westphalia?

After 25 years of comb-overs, fussiness and fundamentals, Gene Keady has relinquished the Purdue head coaching job. His retirement leaves only three Division I hoops mentors -- Syracuse's Jim Boeheim, Duke's Mike Krzyzewski and Eastern Illinois' Rick Samuels -- who have headed the same program for at least 25 consecutive seasons. With preparation typical of a master of the profession, Keady, a six-time national coach of the year, helped orchestrate a smooth transition of power by hiring former Boilermaker guard Matt Painter as an associate head coach in April of 2004.

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