Purdue basketball coach Matt Painter welcomed a colleague to Tuesday afternoon’s practice — Texas Tech coach Pat Knight and his staff, who flew from Lubbock to West Lafayette on Tuesday morning.

Painter, a Muncie native and Delta High School standout, and Knight, who played at Bloomington North, were AAU teammates and have known each other a long time.

When they were in high school, Painter sometimes spent a summer night with Pat at Pat’s mother’s home in Bloomington to eliminate driving time from Painter’s Muncie area home to AAU tournaments in Southern Indiana.

“He is a good friend of mine, and it was good to see him,” Painter said.

“I’ve always admired what his dad (Bob) has done and what Pat has been able to do as an assistant for his dad and then taking over at Texas Tech. They always send me tapes when I ask for stuff.

“It’s what coaching is all about, sharing ideas. They just wanted to come up and see some other people do some things . . . maybe just pick up a drill.”

Painter and Knight had an opportunity to discuss a possible Purdue-vs.-Texas Tech game or two-game series at neutral sites.

They discussed a Purdue vs. Texas Tech game in Dallas, and they also talked about a Purdue vs. Texas Tech game in Indianapolis.

“They are trying to do something in Dallas with the University of Texas, and it’s kind of some preliminary talks,” Painter said. “We will see. We’re always talking about scheduling so that you don’t get yourself in a scheduling bind late in a season.”

Burke: We’ve got 21

Purdue athletic director Morgan Burke used the 2009 Big Ten Tournament championship as a reminder of how good Boilermakers basketball has been through the years.

“It should not come as a surprise, because Purdue leads the conference with 21 Big Ten championships,” Burke said. “Nobody else has 21, not even the people down south of Indianapolis.”

Of course, Burke was making reference to rival Indiana, which has 20.