Kudos to Purdue men’s basketball coach Matt Painter for dismissing junior power forward Gordon Watt from the program after Watt was arrested early Friday morning on suspicion of operating a vehicle while intoxicated.

Make no mistake: The Boilermakers badly needed the talents of the 6-foot-6, 225-pound Watt in the blocks to help stabilize a young front court in 2007-08. However, Painter again is demonstrating that the inmates won’t run his asylum.

Purdue is now a younger and less-seasoned team because of its coach’s refusal to look the other way.

The program itself, though, is better.