MUNCIE, Ind. — Growing up in Muncie, all Matt Painter wanted to do was play basketball.
A self-described "hooper," the current Purdue head coach played whenever, and wherever, he good. Whether it was going to park, the YMCA or in his backyard where he had a full court with floodlights, his life revolved around the game.
It was never his goal to play Division I or become a highly-decorated collegiate coach, he was just a kid from Delaware County who loved basketball.
Thinking back to it now, he laughs. Growing up, he never thought he was that good since he was always the youngest kid in his neighborhood when he went out to play with his friends and entered high school standing at less than six feet tall.