Purdue's Matt Painter Was Right About Sasha Stefanovic 5 Years Ago, and It Pays Off Now
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Back in 2017 when a fresh-faced Sasha Stefanovic was still learning his way around the Purdue campus, there was a pecking order in the Boilermakers' backcourt, and he was at the bottom.
Carsen Edwards, Dakota Mathias, P.J. Thompson, Ryan Cline and even Nojel Eastern were all far more advanced to play at the college level than the newcomer from Crown Point High School in northwest Indiana.
Playing time would have been minimal that year. So that's when Purdue coach Matt Painter sat him down and told him he thought it would be a good idea to redshirt. That's a thing for Painter at Purdue, and always has been. He thought that was a perfect path for Stefanovic, too.
"I told him I thought he could help us a lot more in 2022 than he could in 2017,'' Painter said. "And it wasn't like he wasn't a good player, because he was. But there's no question you’re going to better when you’re 22-23 years old than when you are when you’re 18 or 19. That’s an easy thing.
"And then, when you redshirt, you come into college basketball and you don’t lose your confidence. Some people are overmatched physically when they first come in and they’re deemed not good enough. That's stupid. They’re good enough, but they’re just not physically ready, and that's a real thing. You’ve just got to catch up to speed with knowing what’s going on in a program. But you don’t lose your confidence when you’re redshirting. If you don’t play and you sit the bench and you burn a year, you got the small man in your ear telling you you’re not quite good enough, and that’s not the case. When I watched him, I thought Sasha was a good player. And when you’re good, you’re good.''
It's never easy for a player to sit out for a year and not play, but Stefanovic knew it was the right thing to do, too. And so did his all-important supporting cast.
Because that's one important thing to remember about Sasha Stefanovic's basketball journey. He's never had to do this alone.
"Sasha has this great supporting cast in his life, this entourage with his mom (Helen) and dad (Lou) and brother (Dejan, a 2017 Purdue grad), and they take very good care of him,'' said Crown Point coach Clint Swan, who's had something to do with Stefanovic's development, too. He has coached at Crown Point for 16 years and was aware of Stefanovic all the way back in elementary school. "They are always there for him, so there are never any wrong decisions that get made, whether it's athletically or socially or academically.''
And the redshirting? Everyone involved thought it was a good idea, for the moment — and all the great moments to come.
"I know I thought it was a great idea, because I knew Sasha would never sulk through that year,'' Swan said. "This is a kid who's worked hard every year of his basketball life to get better at something, and I knew he would take that year to do the same thing, too.
"I have a good relationship with Matt, and I told him then at the time that I was such a huge fan of Dakota Mathias, that I would play him 40 minutes a game if I could. Those guys, they were just better at the time, because they were just older.''
Stefanovic knew it was the right thing, too.
“He was absolutely right (about redshirting),'' Stefanovic said. "I would not have made any difference as a freshman, not on that team. Just seeing that growth throughout my time here, it’s amazing. Looking back, I don’t think I was that good of a player back then. I couldn’t make an impact on that team like I can now.
"In hindsight, it’s really a tough decision to hear you’re not good enough to play right now. That conversation was tough, because when you get here, you really want to play and be a part of everything, but it’s really been the greatest thing I’ve ever done in my basketball career, understanding patience and understanding that things aren’t going to come right away. Plus, that's how things work here, and it pays off. As a fifth-year senior, it's great to be a part of this group.''
The Purdue way. It does work.
Getting better year after year
Swan knew he had something special in Stefanovic when he got to Crown Point. He started on the JV as a freshman, but after scoring 25 points or more in several 24-minute games, he was moved up to the varsity in midseason. He fit right in on some very good Bulldogs teams.
Stefanovic started for three years and went 60-22 and won 10 postseason games, reaching the regional finals two years in a row.
"By the end of his sophomore year, I thought he was one of the best players in the area,'' Swan said. "People think of him mostly as a shooter, but he's a well-rounded player. And what I liked about him was that he was always working hard on his game, either with us or during the summers, where he had a great AAU summer after his sophomore year and people started to take notice.
"He was always adding to his game. In eighth grade, we worked on being a better passer. In ninth, it was being a better cutter. As a sophomore, he really working hard on his shooting, and became great. And as a junior, he was our third point guard on the floor, and his ballhandling got much better. He always added an element each year. And, frankly, he's done the same thing at Purdue every year, too. You can just see it in his game.''
By his junior year, he was starting to get a lot of mid-major offers — but that was it. There was only one Big Ten coach that showed any real interest — Matt Painter at Purdue.
"A lot of the Missouri Valley schools offered, Illinois State, Indiana State, Northern Iowa and them, and it was a big deal when Xavier offered,'' Swan said. "But he waited, sort of bet on himself a little bit. And when Matt Painter started coming around, I think he saw something in Sasha that some of the other coaches maybe were missing.
"I remember Matt asked me one time about a couple of the big games we had with Pike that year. They were very good, and Matt had only seen us play a couple of times against a few average teams. We beat them once, and they beat us in overtime. He asked me how Sasha did in those games, and I told him that he like 25 one night and 27 the other. Sasha always showed up huge in big games, and Matt liked that about him. Sasha was the worst in meaningless games. He might score seven one night in a blowout game, but then get 29 against a team like Merrillville when it really mattered.''
And when Painter offered, the first Big Ten school to do so, it was over just like that. Stefanovic committed immediately, and the recruiting was over.
"I've always kidded Sasha that thank God he didn't listen to me, because I thought he should have gone to Northern Iowa,'' Swan said. "I liked those coaches and what they had planned for him.
"But the truth is, Purdue was the perfect place for him. Matt Painter runs that program the right way, and you know exactly what to expect during your time there. Some people have asked me if I was ever surprised that Sasha was so successful there, and I always tell them no because I knew he would thrive in that environment. He has loved every minute at Purdue during his five years there. I tell that to Matt all the time, that he has the best commodity you could ever want, because Sasha is happiest player in college basketball. He loves Purdue, and all he wants to do is help Purdue win.''
Polar opposite basketball journeys
At Crown Point, Stefanovic grew up with Grant Gelon, and the two of them were the stars of those good Bulldogs teams, though they were surrounded with a lot of great talent, too.
Gelon was a year older, but his basketball journey is the ultimate proof in how important a perfect fit like Stefanovic has at Purdue is so important. Similar players in a lot of ways, Gelon's path through college basketball was pure hell compared to Stefanovic.
The two have always remained close friends, ever since Stefanovic was in fourth grade.
"Yeah, that year they moved him up to play with us big boys in the fifth grade,'' Gelon said with a laugh from California, where the 24-year-old is in the Air Force now, looking forward to being a pilot and an officer a few years down the road. "We played together all through elementary school, and then he joined us on the varsity almost right away too as a freshman.
"He was a great teammate to have for me, because we really pushed each other. We were really competitive, all in a good way, and it was great to have someone with me who wanted to work so hard to get better. He was the better overall player, but I could shoot with him. We had some great shooting contests.''
Gelon still texts and talks often with Stefanovic, and said it was hard to go two months without a phone during Air Force basic training earlier this season, ''because I hate missing his games,'' Gelon said. "I tell him all the time how proud of him I am, because he's had a great career there. It's been fun to watch.''
It's also hard, because Gelon's journey was the polar opposite. He never had coaches, a program or fan bases to adopt him, not like Stefanovic had.
Gelon, if you recall, was a late addition to Tom Crean's final recruiting class at Indiana in 2016. He was considered a mid-major player at best and boorish Indiana fans considered him a reach before he even set foot on campus.
He played briefly as a freshman at Indiana, making 7-of-9 shots and scoring 22 career points. Crean got fired at the end of his first season, and then when Archie Miller was hired, he basically showed Gelon the door and unceremoniously told him he had to leave Indiana immediately.
With few last-minute choices, Gelon went to State Fair Community College in Missouri for a year, then committed to Paul Lusk — the current Purdue assistant — at Missouri State, but Lusk left before he even got there. Then he decided to play at Trinity International in Chicago, but then that coach left for a Division I job, too. He finished his college ball at Bethel College in northern Indiana, a college basketball nomad with no real cherishable memories.
Quite the journey.
"Yeah, I went through a lot of wild things, but that's all the more reason why I've been so happy for Sasha and how great his career went. He's been killing it. I saw it go the other way, but I couldn't be happier for him because you can't find a better kid. He's always done everything the right way, and it's great that it's all paid off for him the way it has.''
For Swan, all of Gelon's pain and suffering is a sharp contrast to what Stefanovic has enjoyed.
"Everything that Grant went through had nothing to do with Grant, and it all turned his world upside down,'' Swan said. "It's all unfortunate, and I really feel for that kid. They completely wrecked him, and he never got to enjoy a college life like Sasha has.
"That's why I said that to Matt about Sasha. He's got a kid there who's enjoyed every minute he's spent at Purdue, and that alone is a wonderful thing.''
Recruiting rankings never matter
Stefanovic was a three-star guard coming out of high school, and was the lowest ranked player in Purdue's five-man class in 2017, behind Nojel Eastern, Eden Ewing, Aaron Wheeler and Matt Haarms.
He was the ranked No. 374 in the country. And that didn't matter one bit to Matt Painter.
“If you’re good, you’re good. I don’t like to label guys. I hate the numbers. The numbers stink,'' Painter said Sunday after Purdue beat Indiana. “Anyone in this room can tell you who the top-20 players are in the country. But from 21 to 500, no one knows, right? (Current Purdue sophomore center) Zach Edey was in like the 300s. How foolish are they? (Former Purdue guard) Chris Kramer was like 430, and all those guys do is win basketball games here at Purdue.
"I don’t know what Sasha was ranked and I could care less. It’s the dumbest thing in the world. You sign with a blueblood and they go from 27 to 16, how does that work? You sign with a non blueblood and you’re 45 and then you’re all of a sudden 74. It’s ridiculous.''
Painter always believes that work ethic and heart matter more than raw talent. That's why he works so hard on the recruiting trail to get to know kids, and get to know their families. He always knew he made the right choice with Stefanovic, recruiting numbers be damned.
“When you rank guys you can’t judge what’s in their heart. When you go recruit them and spend time with them, you see that,'' Painter said. “Your evaluation is your work ethic. Do you have any baggage, because things are going to happen. But to get a guy like that, all he wants to do is help Purdue win and can make shots and can move and can pass, that’s fun.
“He’s got heavy feet but that’s OK. A lot of people have heavy feet.''
Heading to the finish line
This is Stefanovic's fifth and final year at Purdue, and going through Senior Day was emotional for him, surrounded by friends and family inside Mackey Arena, a place where he's thoroughly loved to play these past five years. Purdue lost only one Big Ten game at home that he played in during the past three years.
He's gotten better every year, going from averaging 2.4 points a game in 2019, then 9.1 and 9.3 before averaging 11.4 points per game this year. He's hit a lot of big shots for the Boilers, and he passed Robbie Hummel for seventh place on the career three-pointers made list (218) on Saturday in the win over Indiana.
It was the perfect storyline to end his career inside Mackey, beating the arch-rival once again. Stefanovic only lost once to Indiana during his five years.
The intensity of the game showed on Stefanovic's face. There were fist pumps after made threes and lots of interaction with the crowd, imploring them to get loud.
"Just watching that IU-Purdue game, you experience Sasha's greatest trait — that he just wants to win so bad,'' Swan said. ''The only thing he cares about is winning. I know it's coach-speak, and they say that all the time, but it's true with Sasha. He'll always do whatever it takes to win.''
Purdue has 25 wins this year, and enters the Big Ten Tournament as the No. 3 seed, though they are the betting favorite to win the tournament. This Purdue team has all the pieces to make a postseason run. They have size with centers Zach Edey and Trevion Williams, and a slasher in All-American Jaden Ivey.
And they have a sharpshooter in Stefanovic, who's ready to go out in style.
"No player is more ideally suited for a program than Sasha is for Purdue.'' Swan said. ''I think all of us are really proud of everything he's done there. But he's earned it too, you know. He's the one who's put in all the work. He's had a great college career at Purdue, and it's not over yet.''
No, it's not And that's what it's all about, riding off in style.
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Tom Brew is an award-winning journalist who's worked at some America's finest newspapers, including the Tampa Bay (Fla.) Times, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel and the Indianapolis Star. He also owns the book publishing company, Hilltop30 Publishing Group, and he has written four books and published 16 others.