Last year, Bill Self led the Kansas Jayhawks at the World University Games to the gold medal, the first for Team USA since 2005. Next year, the Purdue Boilermakers will have the opportunity to bring it home once again as they will represent Team USA at the 2017 event.
Tuesday morning, it was announced the team would be heading over to Taipei, Taiwan to represent their home country. Matt Painter’s team becomes the third collegiate program, joining Kansas in 2015 and Northern Iowa in 2007, as representatives of Team USA.
#Purdue will represent Team USA in the 2017 World University Games in Chinese Taipei. #BoilerUp https://t.co/PRAMMtO1KV
— Purdue Mens Basketball (@BoilerBall) May 31, 2016
The Boilermakers certainly have something to live up to for the 2017 event after the Jayhawks brought home the gold last year. Painter certainly has the experience with USA basketball as he was an assistant coach under Jamie Dixon at the 2009 FIBA U19 World Championships in New Zealand.
Current Purdue center Caleb Swanigan has experience in international competitions and would be a big help for Team USA if he doesn’t bolt for the NBA next year. It will also be interesting to see if Painter will fill out his roster with non-Boilermakers after two non-Jayhawks played for the team last year.
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*Featured Photo (above) credit to USA TODAY Sports
