Purdue Engineering Students Attempting To Make NCAA Approved Brace for Isaac Haas

[Journal & Courier] – But when Painter was asked Monday — half-jokingly, it seemed — about whether some Purdue engineering students might try and come up with a solution, Painter said he heard “they might be trying to do that.”

The Journal & Courier confirmed that Purdue sports medicine has reached out to Purdue mechanical engineering about working on a solution. Doug Boersma, associate athletic director for sports medicine, declined comment, citing student-athlete medical privacy laws.

I couldn’t love this move more. As a famous broadcaster once said ‘last game of the year, can’t hold anything back.’ That’s what these students are doing. Isaac Haas, the 7’2″ starting center for Purdue fractured his elbow in the first game of the NCAA Tournament. In fact the injury came late in the game while up nearly 30 points, which makes it even more brutal. Haas was determined to play though, as he went through some drills at practice but the NCAA wouldn’t clear the brace he planned on wearing for the game vs Butler.

So now Purdue is taking the damn thing into its own hands. Now, even if the brace get approved (highly unlikely) there are bigger problems in terms of Haas playing. First, he has a goddamned fractured elbow. That’s sort of important, especially when it comes to, oh you know, shooting a basketball. He’s not able to just suit up and go play like it’s a regular thing. His game is predicated on jump hooks, drop steps in the post and little face up jumpers. Those are all things you need your elbow for in order to be successful.

We saw what Purdue plans on doing without Haas going forward. Freshman Matt Haarms slides into the starting spot and is expected to play close to 30 minutes per game. Grady Eifert will play a bit more, although I don’t expect him to get the 17 minutes he got against Butler. We’ll also see more of Jacquil Taylor. However, if Haas does get a brace cleared, he could possibly go out there for 5 minutes per game and just be that boost that we hear so much about.

Here’s the thing with Haas on the floor. That’s the best offensive lineup, especially as Haarms still develops who he is on the offensive side of the ball. Purdue was so successful early in the season offensively because they were able to dump the ball to Haas in the post and force teams to make a decision. If they doubled, which they did early in the year, he was excellent at anticipating the double and making the quick kick out. From there you have four shooters and guys who are all great at making the extra pass. You’d see a kick out, skip pass and one more pass for an open three. That goes away a little bit without Haas in the post.

Purdue plays 3-seed Texas Tech in the Sweet 16 in Boston next. If Haas is on the floor, these engineer students deserve their diploma right then and there.