To start out, it was already plenty weird how the whole situation was handled by pretty much every party involved. Missouri seemingly holds no secrets when it comes to a coaching search and reports about whether Matt Painter was going to go there were all over the map.

But in the following interview, it really seems like he has no interest in answering the questions. He says all the right things about Purdue showing him a level of commitment and whatnot, but when it comes to talking about the process, he’s all over the map in discussing it. Again, I’ll admit there’s a chance that this is simply how he sounds all the time, but his accounts of the events still sound a little fishy to me.

Matt Painter joined 1070 The Fan in Indianapolis with Dan Dakich to discuss how the process played out in taking a peek at Missouri, his relationship with the Purdue administration, whether this process has opened some eyes and what he’ll say to recruits who wonder if he’ll test the waters somewhere else.

On how the process with Missouri played out:

“It’s something for me, personally, that’s flattering when somebody calls and is interested. I’ve never really been through it. … When you’re happy somewhere and somebody calls you to show interest … you start to listen and you search out other people in the business that have been through it. … I reached out to a lot of guys in the business and they just said, ‘When you’ve been somewhere awhile, you’ve got to strengthen your conviction of why you should stay at Purdue.”

Did you ever feel you weren’t on the same page as the administration?:

“I think what you have to do is you have to do a better job of educating those around you of what other people in the country are doing. … You can’t just throw money at every single problem that you have. … After having some lengthy discussions, I felt there are some things, in terms of helping out our program, that are really going to help us have even more of a championship commitment.”

On having eyes opened at Purdue as to what you need to win a national title:

“I would agree with that. I would say a lot of things have changed in the landscape of college basketball. Butler is an unbelievable example. … You need good players, you need an administration that supports you and is on top of that. I feel I have that at Purdue. There’s no doubt that that’s strengthened and that got better. Purdue got a lot stronger here in the last week.”

Will that be his message to recruits when they say they saw the whole thing where he seemingly tested the waters?:

“No doubt about it. Anybody that gets in that thing and especially coaches that try to use that against another coach, that’s crazy. … Anybody can say what they want to do, but everybody’s going to listen to what someone is going to say. … I’m very happy at Purdue and I think they’ve made a huge commitment to me before this and they’ve made another huge commitment to me.”

Listen to Matt Painter on 1070 The Fan in Indianapolis here

Martin, who played college ball under Gene Keady at Purdue and went on to play a couple of years in the NBA, was an assistant at his alma mater before serving for three seasons at Missouri State. He was also rumored to be a part of several other open coaching searches, but wound up biting on the one that may have the most intrigue.

The NCAA investigation surrounding former Tennessee Bruce Pearl is well known by now, but what isn’t is what penalty the NCAA might levy against the Vols program. Martin says Tennessee officials gave him no indication that major penalties were on the way, so he’s not particularly worried about it.

Cuonzo Martin joined WGFX in Nashville with The Three Hour Lunch to discuss what the past few days was like, his early impressions of the team, why he chose Tennessee when he was rumored to be up for other gigs, where he learned his work ethic, what style of play he’ll implement at Tennessee, how current Vols players Scotty Hopson and Tobias Harris should go about evaluating whether to stay or go pro and why he’s not concerned about pending NCAA findings.

What have the last few days been like?:

“These last three days, I think I’ve probably got six hours sleep combined.”

His impressions of Tennessee when he took his Missouri State team there this year:

“They have some talented players. I think the key now, with the guys returning, is to see how they fit with what we like to do. Their success is success, but there’s more than one way to skin a cat. For us, it’s hard-nosed, man-to-man defense, a motion-style offense. … The talent is definitely there. There’s a core seven, possibly nine, guys.”

With perhaps multiple suitors, when did he know Tennessee is where he wanted to be?:

“My wife and I were constantly praying and having faith. This is a great situation. I just thought it was a great opportunity. There was a lot of speculation I would go other places, but this is where I wanted to be, this is where my wife wanted to be.”

On how he learned the work ethic that he preaches:

“I think that’s the biggest key as a basketball player. In high school, I was basically a center at 6-5, a slashing center. When I got to college I really had to develop my perimeter skills. … My  junior and senior year I shot about 5,000 3-point shots a week and developed into a really good 3-point shooter.”

What kind of style will he use at Tennessee?:

“We’ll play a hard-nosed, aggressive man-to-man and run a motion offense with about 15 set plays. The key for us is scoring the ball at a high level, but not turning it over. That’s the biggest key. We don’t want to have 15, 16 turnovers a game, we want to keep it at or under 10.”

Will he use his experience as a pro player to help Scotty Hopson and Tobias Harris make the decision to stay or go?:

“I’ve been there. Even though I didn’t play a long time, I’ve been there. What happens when you’re a very talented player, a great player, you want to be around great players. I think, for those guys, it’s to really test the waters and get a gauge for what the NBA scouts are saying. They also have to be true to themselves and really listen to what those scouts are saying. You can’t deny the fact they say you have a glaring weakness, you have to work on it. … You don’t want them to go into the draft and it doesn’t work out for them.”

Did the NCAA troubles that Bruce Pearl left behind play any role in his decision?:

“I think it’s a great situation. I think, for us, it’s building a program and being successful. I wasn’t really concerned with the NCAA. Once I talked to Mike and these guys and they said … ‘We’ll find something out in June and we think we’ll be OK. We might get here and there, but we don’t think it’ll be anything major,’ I was fine with that.”

Listen to Cuonzo Martin on WGFX in Nashville here

VCU was a BCS league dragon slayer in the first week of the Big Dance. The Rams handed it to the Pac-10′s USC in one of the First Four play-in games. They then obliterated Georgetown in what I would call the first round and dominated Purdue to get to the Sweet 16. While other non-BCS teams like Butler and Richmond encountered a close call or two, VCU has steamrolled through three games.

Now, thanks to a wacky Southwest Region with top-seeded Kansas the only single-digit seed remaining, the Rams may not be done. They’ll take on No. 10 seed Florida State with a trip to the Elite Eight on the line on Friday.

VCU coach Shaka Smart joined ESPN 101 in St. Louis with Zach and the Coach to discuss his tournament nerves, resetting the team after such a busy week, how non-BCS teams have become such a threat to make tournament runs and the coaching carousel rumor mill.

How are his nerves at this point?:

“I was opposite. We were back in the locker room joking. We were in enjoying it. You don’t want to take this thing too seriously. It’s basketball; it’s coaching. You’re out there with college kids that are having the time of their lives, so we don’t get to nervous about it. … We’re really looking forward to this next opportunity. If you get nervous, you miss the opportunity to enjoy it.”

How does he reset the team after winning three games in one week to now going to a Sweet Sixteen matchup?:

“The biggest thing is making sure to keep our guys in the right frame of mind. … We’re not going to change anything in terms of our approach to the games. We’re still going to be an underdog and there’s still going to be people who doubt us, so we can continue to use that theme with our team. And our guys love that. They love it when people question us, when people doubt us. We use that as fuel.”

How have teams from mid-major conferences become such a threat?:

“Everyone throws around the word parity. I think a lot of the mid-level teams, or non-BCS teams, are able to make runs when they have junior- and senior-laden teams. You look at BYU with Jimmer Fredette as a senior. The reality is they may not be in a BCS league, but they might have the best player in the country. … Our team has four seniors, Butler has guys, obviously, that have as much tournament experience as anybody around. … The common denominator for these teams … is that they have experience, they have proven guys, guys that are not scared.”

On making a case for himself to perhaps land a bigger job:

“I don’t know about that. A lot of people want to talk about the coaching carousel, a lot of people want to talk about coaching jobs, but to be honest with you that couldn’t be any further from my mind. I’m one of 16 coaches that is fortunate enough to still be coaching a team in an NCAA tournament and that’s what I’m going to put 100 percent of my focus into.”

Listen to Shaka Smart on ESPN 101 in St. Louis here

This week has already been a good one for Purdue. On Wednesday night the Boilermakers knocked off Wisconsin and they will have a chance to put a bow on their week with a win over Ohio State this weekend. The last time Purdue and Ohio State got together, the Buckeyes made Purdue look like an also-ran in the Big Ten with a 23 point drubbing. You can believe that the squad from West Lafayette will have revenge on their mind on their own home court against the Buckeyes on Sunday.

Matt Painter joined 1070 the Fan in Indianapolis with JMV to talk about the win on Wednesday over Wisconsin, what happened in the first meeting against Ohio State, the play of JaJuan Johnson so far this year, and what problems Ohio State creates for his team.

On the defense they played against Wisconsin:

“I thought we did a good job of staying into Jordan Taylor and not letting him get his head up. He’s an explosive scorer and he’s a guy that can carry his team as you saw in his performance against Ohio State. He just flat got into a groove and makes tough shots. I think that’s something as a coach that bothers you because most of the time when you make a guy shoot over you or you make guys shoot contested shots, the percentages say the guy is going to miss them and the guys that don’t miss them are very few and far between and he’s one of them, but we didn’t let him get his head up. He had three or four of his field goals late in the game and that was key. Jon Leuer has done a great job against us. He’s had 23 and 24 in the two games we’ve played and that’s a tough matchup for us. We play a little undersized. At times we will play some bigger guys but we wanted to stay with a certain offensive lineup which was effective against them, but he kinda exploited us a little bit. Not kind of exploited us, he did. He’s a great player. He’s six foot ten, he’s skilled, he’s athletic, he has an in between to his game, at times can shoot threes, and drive you so he puts you in a bind no matter who we put on him. For the most part I thought our guys did a pretty good, we had a couple times in the game where we really could’ve pushed the game out a couple of times in the first half and we weren’t able to do that, but they’re a good team. They’re one of the top ten teams in the country for a reason.”

What happened in the first meeting against Ohio State:

“I just didn’t think we did a very good job of competing against Ohio State. It was probably the one game this year where we flat got it stuck to us. I said at the time they stole our spirit. I think a lot of times you get interviewed as a coach after the game and you’re talking through a lot of emotion, but after you watch it on tape it’s exactly what they did. We have to go out and play harder. I think you can get into some strategy with how you play a team especially with a great team like Ohio State, but you first have to compete and play at a high level. That’s what we’re going to strive to do, is just to play better, defend better, and do a better job in transition, but if they’re just going to whip us off the dribble all night it’s going to be a long night again. Anytime our guys have gotten challenged this year they have done a good job of responding. Hopefully we can bounce back from that and I think we’re a lot better team than we were a couple of weeks ago.”

On JaJuan Johnson

“He’s been really consistent. He had 20 and 10 last game and it was probably an average game. For him he’s really raised his own bar and is a guy who on a nightly basis is going to give you those kinds of numbers. He’s averaging 20 and 8 for the season so he’s been great for us. He scores the ball in a variety of ways. He plays in the low post, he’s got a good mid-range game, he can face up and shoot it and drive it, he’ll play out of the pick and roll, he’ll get some offensive rebounds, and he’ll get out in transition. He gets his points from a variety of areas on the court and he’s a tough matchup. He’s got a great attitude, he’s a very coachable kid, and he just keeps getting better every single game.”

His thoughts on the matchup against Ohio State this weekend:

“There’s some very good matchups. Obviously Jared Sullinger is a good player, William Buford is a big guard that gives you a lot of problems, the freshman (Aaron) Craft is a guy that can break you down off the dribble, (Jon) Diebler is one of the best shooters ever in the Big Ten and it looks like he’s going to break the Big Ten record for the most threes, David Lighty is the most successful player in the history of Ohio State. He has the most wins, which just happened for Jajuan and E’Twaun this past game. They have the most wins now in Purdue history. You keep going. They have a bench with DeShaun Thomas and Craft and even though it’s not a deep bench, both of those guys are really like starters. Obviously (Dallas) Lauderdale is a great shot blocker and he’s a guy that has had some success against us in the past.”

Listen to Matt Painter on 1070 the Fan in Indy here

Senior forward Robbie Hummel tore his right ACL for the second time in less than a year during the Boilermakers’ first full practice, an injury that many thought would derail their shot at winning a Big Ten championship. Many, before that, had them pegged as the favorite to do so.

Well, a couple weeks into the conference season and they appear to still be a favorite. Purdue is one of just two Big Ten teams that hasn’t lost a conference game yet. The Boilermakers have won 10 games in a row, the last nine by double figures, and will take that streak to Minnesota tonight. Ten of their next 14 games come against teams that are currently ranked, and that doesn’t include an awkwardly scheduled trip to West Virginia this weekend.

Purdue coach Matt Painter joined 1070 The Fan in Indianapolis with JMV to discuss his team’s play thus far in the Big Ten season, the breakout of Ryne Smith, the game with Minnesota tonight on ESPN and the weird game this weekend at West Virginia.

If he’s liked what he’s seen from his team during early Big Ten play:

“I think we’ve made some improvements. We still have a long ways to go. We’ve gotten better from a defensive standpoint, kind of following the scouting report and understanding what we want to do. … You just hope your guys can continue to improve while you’re winning games. A lot of times guys look at the wins like nothing wrong happened.”

On the breakout of Ryne Smith, who scored in double figures just one before conference season but has done so in four straight league games:

“He’s a confident player and he’s never really go on track in terms of shooting the basketball. He’s worked hard to get on the court and learn our system defensively and physically be able to guard people. Now he’s put himself in that position where he’s able to do that. Making shots on top of that gives him a lot of confidence.”

On the game tonight with nationally ranked Minnesota:

“Obviously from a physical standpoint, they could be the most physical team in our league. They’ve got two 7-footers. … They’re the best rebounding team in our league right now. I think that’s going to be a challenge for us. … They have some very good balance with their team.”

Purdue will play at West Virginia on Saturday in an oddly scheduled nonconference game:

“I like playing West Virginia because I know he’s one of the best coaches in the country and you know they’re going to play hard. I think this is the first time we’ve had an opponent kind of sandwiched in on one of our bye weeks during conference play. We’ll see.”

Listen to Matt Painter on 1070 The Fan in Indianapolis here

Purdue started the season with high expectations and a 14-0 start to the season had them looking like the team to beat in the Big Ten. However, after getting off to such a great start, the Boilermakers slipped midway through the season, dropped three straight conference games and looked vulnerable. Well, since that time, Purdue has ripped off nine straight conference wins and they have their eyes on not only a Big Ten Conference Title but a number one seed in the NCAA Tournament. While they may not get the kind of recognition of Kentucky or Kansas or some of the teams from the Big East, the Boilermakers already have five wins against top 25 teams and have a chance to notch another win against one of the top teams in the country this weekend when they play host to Michigan State.

Matt Painter joined 1070 the Fan in Indianapolis with Dan Dakich to talk about the play of his team since the three-game losing streak, what it means to have one of the best defensive players in the country on his team to guard some of the players in the Big Ten, and the ability to have a number of players that can step up at any time and carry his team.

On the poor start that the team had to conference play:

“We hit a little bit of a wall. We had some success to start the season but we still weren’t a dominating or an overpowering team. We really let some things slip on the defensive end and rebounding. Since that three game losing streak our guys have really done a better job on the court and in the class. You also have to have your stars step up and make plays. I think at different times I don’t think a lot of people in the country have a center, a forward, and a guard who can all step up late in the game and score the ball for you. The fact that (Keaton) Grant stepped up the last two games here and made shots is really the icing on the cake for us. It really allows those guys to sit out there and make an open shot and that’s what we struggled with. We struggled with people outside of (Robbie) Hummell (E’Twaun) Moore and (JaJuan) Johnson just consistently making an open shot so it’s great to see Grant step up and make some plays.”

On whether or not he is upset about the play of last year’s Defensive Player of the Year in the Big Ten Chris Kramer:

“It kinda just happened and then we’ve stuck with it. The thing is every guy you have mentioned and you can throw Kalin Lucas on top of it, if he has to birddog those guys the whole game it wears him down and we’re trying to wear them down. Then late in the game, Kramer is fresh. Nobody is stopping Evan Turner, I really believe that. You can slow him down and maybe you can force him into more jump shots. And a guy like Kalin Lucas and (Demitri) McCamey, they are tough players and you gotta keep bringing people at them. But you can stop some other guys. We put Kramer on some of those other guys and we can shut those guys down instead of having Kramer start on those other guys and struggling a little bit and then the other guy getting off and Evan Turner getting off and then it’s a crazy cycle so that’s what we’ve been doing lately.”

On the ability of E’Twaun Moore to hit big shots:

“Especially if you look at his points late in the game. He really stepped up and made some plays down the stretch and made some tough pull-ups in key times.”

On who they want the ball in the hands of at the end of the game:

“We’ve had some games this year where some things have worked for us and we’ve ran some motion and put guys on defense and tried to play. I’ve switched from doing that because that’s how we’re gonna go down. If you’re gonna beat us we’re gonna go down with the ball in his hands. But more times than not, he steps up and makes the right play.”

Listen to Matt Painter on 1070 the Fan in Indianapolis here

This year’s Sweet Sixteen is full of huge college programs in the top conferences and the three other schools from smaller conferences are all tourney staples in Memphis, Xavier, and Gonzaga. The rest of the 16 has a record five teams from the Big East, three from the Big 12, two from the Big Ten and ACC, and one from the Pac-10. Some people may miss the Cinderella stories of George Mason or Davidson, but the truth is these are some legendary programs.

Think of all the success these sixteen teams have had. Seven coaches have won a title, nine programs have won a title since 1985, and all but Pitt, Xavier, Missouri, Purdue and Gonzaga have been to a Final Four. And it’s not like those five programs have been shabby.

Here’s our first batch of coaches interviews:

Jim Calhoun

Responding to a comment that he sounded noticeably excited and optimistic about his team heading into the second week of the Dance:

“Well we got a chance. That’s what I feel right now. I never lose confidence in my team but they certainly have made me – you know you have to as a coach make them believe. Now they’ve made me believe why the way they’ve reacted. And we certainly have a chance to do some special things over the course of the next couple weeks.”

Listen here to UCONN (#1 West Region) Head Coach Jim Calhoun on WFAN in New York

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Mike Kryzyzewski

Coach K talking about adjustments that needed to be made in season to better his team:

“We needed to make a change a few weeks ago because we just could not defend the point (guard) of another team well. We were turning the ball over a little too much and not getting into our offense. Moving (Jon) Scheyer to the being the ball handler and Elliot Williams as the guy pressuring the ball, its like a double change to really alleviate a problem at the point of our attack.”

Listen to Duke (#2 East Region) Head Coach Mike Krzyzewski on ESPN Radio

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Jim Boeheim

On stopping Blake Griffin:

“We try to play good team defense and be active and obviously you have to know where their best players are and you have to make it as difficult as you can for their best players.  You can’t let anybody have shots in college because anybody in college at this level at the Sweet 16 can make shots and hurt you.  So you just have to play good team defense and rebound the ball.”

Listen to Syracuse (#3 South Region) Head Coach Jim Boeheim on ESPN Radio Syracuse

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Tom Izzo

On how proud he was of his team, particularly for being so unselfish:

“Give our guys credit. You know, our assists to baskets [ratio] was 20 out of 22, and as you know, that’s what you hope for in coaching – that they’re sharing the ball.”

Listen here to Michigan State (#2 Midwest Region) Head Coach Tom Izzo on 1070 The Fan in Indianapolis

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Jay Wright

Do you see Duke as a similar team to you guys?

“Yeah, I do.  I think they spread the floor and really space well like we do. They’ve got a lot of very skilled players like we do.  Defensively, they try to be very aggressive, more in the half-court kind of like we do. They are, they’re very similar teams.”

Listen to Villanova (#3) Head Coach Jay Wright on ESPN Radio Philadelphia

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Matt Painter

On the outstanding play of Johnson thus far in the tournament, particularly scoring the basketball:

“Yeah, he’s a confident player. And if you can get him the ball in position to score, whether that’s in transition or the half court. He’s really gotten aggressive and taken his shot. Before, I think he was a little bit hesitant. I think he would defer to others at times. And now we’ve just tried to encourage him to be agressive and take his shot.”

Listen here to Purdue (#5 West Region) Head Coach Matt Painter on 1070 The Fan in Indianapolis

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Russ Pennell

To open, Pennell just emphasized how happy his guys fought through all the doubters and negativity to respond on the biggest of stages:

“We’re having a great time and these guys have been through so much. It’s just so good to see them have this success late in the season. We’ve kind of been the underdogs all year, which is weird for the University of Arizona.”

Listen here to Arizona  (#12 West Region) Head Coach Russ Pennell on KTAR in Phoenix

Against Washington on Saturday afternoon, the Boilermakers were led by JaJuan Johnson, who scored 22 big points to go along with 6 boards. More importantly, the 6’10″ sophomore blocked two key shots late to preserve the Boilers preserve a late narrow lead and escape with a 76-74 lead against a Huskies club that was playing good ball. Painter joined 1070 The Fan in Indianapolis on Monday to recap the weekend and look ahead to a regional semi-final showdown with top seeded Connecticut Thursday in Phoenix.

On what his team needs to do to limit Connecticut’s explosiveness:

“I think it’s important for us to stay in to Connecticut, get into them, be aggressive, but keep the ball in front of us and then do a good job on the glass.”

On the outstanding play of Johnson thus far in the tournament, particularly scoring the basketball:

“Yeah, he’s a confident player. And if you can get him the ball in position to score, whether that’s in transition or the half court. He’s really gotten aggressive and taken his shot. Before, I think he was a little bit hesitant. I think he would defer to others at times. And now we’ve just tried to encourage him to be agressive and take his shot.”

Listen here to Purdue (#5 West Region) Head Coach Matt Painter on 1070 The Fan in Indianapolis

View West Region bracket coverage on CBS Sportsline

View highlights of Purdue vs. Washington