Purdue has carved a path on how you can build a program without a lot of flash and dash. They kinda play like we do, just have a little more depth.
Painter isn't going to get the respect until he gets to a Final Four, but considering how difficult it is, when you're not Michigan, , Michigan State, Ohio State and Indiana, Purdue makes you work for everything.
I know it's kinda late to rewind and connect RU to Purdue on this rebuild, but the 1st game was kinda harmless when Purdue won at the RAC 78-76, when Corey Sanders has a crazy game and it was Geos freshman year. Then we played them again in 3 games in 3 nights at MSG and Corey and Geo went wild again in a loss.
Both of those games significantly changed my mind about where RU "could" get to, when we stitched together something then vs Purdue.
In terms of Painter, I have no problem rooting for them when they don't play RU. I hope fans appreciate what we are seeing right now, we are earning respect and it takes a LONG time to do that.