Purdue women's basketball notebook: Jordyn Poole update, future Big Ten tournament locations and more
Poole, a freshman point guard, recently received good news regarding her stress fracture and the league tournaments will be played in three time zones in the next four years
News, notes, and tidbits on this Wednesday:
• The Boilermakers won’t have Jordyn Poole for their upcoming three-game trip to Spain and Portugal, but the freshman point guard may not be sidelined for as long as originally expected.
Katie Gearlds said Wednesday that Poole was scheduled to be out until later in the season, but “the good news means it’s earlier than that.”
According to Gearlds, there’s no timeline “because it’s a bone, and you have to give it time. She’s doing exactly what she’s supposed to do, and (the doctor) saw her last week, and he thought she was further along than he thought she was going to be.”
Poole has been wearing a protective boot for at least the last two weeks but did switch out to basketball shoes to ride the stationary bike near the end of Wednesday’s workout.
One of the lingering questions heading into the 2024-25 season: When will Poole will be available?
Gearlds and her staff had penciled Poole in as Amiyah Reynolds’ backup but the Fort Wayne Snider graduate is capable of earning playing time at other positions. Poole’s quickness, ballhandling, and scoring potential are elements the Boilermakers will probably need this season, but her health is the top priority.
Again, there is no timeline for Poole’s return, but official practices begin in late September, and the first exhibition game is the last weekend in October. The Boilermakers will play their season opener before Notre Dame visits Mackey Arena on Nov. 10.
• Along with Poole, junior forward Mila Reynolds won’t play on the trip.
“She got a shot, and we had to shut her down for two weeks,” Gearlds said. “When we get back, and everyone takes a break, we’ll ramp things up with her and give her an opportunity to be ready to go when everybody else is.”
• Here’s one element Gearlds is seeing from the four transfers (Reagan Bass, Destini Lombard, Ella Collier and Mahri Petree), who bring plenty of game experience to the roster:
“They’re competitive people by nature, so their confidence carries over to everybody,” Gearlds said. “That’s been really fun to see how our younger kids have let them lead already.
“I think we told them all they would have an opportunity to come in … we had a really hungry team that was, ‘Hey, take me, show me where to go.’ That’s helped our young kids take a step faster than we even thought as a staff.”
• No surprise (if you’ve been following along) that Indianapolis will host the men’s and women’s Big Ten basketball tournaments in 2025. The last two women’s tournaments were played in Minneapolis.
The new information is Indianapolis will host the women’s event again in 2026, despite the city staging the men’s Final Four about a month later. But if there’s a city and an organization (Indiana Sports Corp.) that can pull it off, it’s Indianapolis.
The conference tournament will also make stops in Las Vegas (2027) and Detroit (2028).
The men’s tournament returns to Indianapolis in 2027 but will also head to Chicago (2026) and Las Vegas (2028).
Going to Las Vegas is due to UCLA, USC, Oregon, and Washington joining the conference. However, don’t expect Los Angeles to host Big Ten events until after the 2028 Olympics.
• Look for the rest of Purdue’s nonconference schedule to be announced after the team returns from Europe. Matchups already announced: Notre Dame (Nov. 10), UT Arlington (Nov. 24), Middle Tennessee State (Nov. 28) and South Carolina (Nov. 30) in Fort Myers and Kentucky (Dec. 14).
• Here’s a look at Wisconsin’s nonconference schedule.
• Former Boilermaker Nicki Collen received a contract extension through 2030 to remain Baylor’s head coach. Collen was a member of Purdue’s program for two seasons (1993-94 and 1994-95) before transferring to Marquette.