SB Nation - Robbie Hummel

There's No Crying In Basketball!

BoilerTMill — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 18:41:52 -0000

As the proprietor of one of Purdue's most visible internet sites it does not surprise me that the video I produced immediately after Purdue's 63-60 loss to Kansas on Sunday night drew the notice of many. In it, I have an emotional thank you for Purdue seniors Ryne Smith, Lewis Jackson, and Robbie Hummel for their contributions to Purdue basketball over the last few seasons.

Naturally, an emotional video like that draws some eyes, and some of those eyes belonged to Jake Query and Derek Schultz of Indianapolis radio station WNDE:

However, things got especially emotional for Purdue blogger Travis Miller, the head honcho of Hammer & Rails. He posted this video folloiwng the game (now up to over 6,000 views!)

Things were all in good fun, however, as I later went on the show to talk about the video and even posted a response:

In the end, it was all in good fun. Everyone loves there teams, some obviously more than others. I realize that as grown man, I can take the criticism. in fact, if you criticize someone for caring enough to thank virtual strangers for four of five years of basketball entertainment that coincided with exponential growth of a site like Hammer & Rails, then that is not really my problem in the end.

Special thanks also to Derek Schultz and Jake Query for taking off with the video and having me on the show.

Scott Martin Vs. Robbie Hummel To End Their Careers

BoilerTMill — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 20:31:22 -0000

It seems like so long ago, but once upon a time Notre Dame's Scott Martin and Purdue's Robbie Hummel were high school teammates that were headed to West Lafayette to turn around the Boilermakers and their struggling program. That was in 2007. Now, in 2012, ESPN bracketologist Joe Lunardi wants them to fight to the death (of their knees) to end their long and complicated college careers.

Hummel famously has torn the ACL in his right knee twice, possibly costing Purdue at least one Final Four if not a national championship. He is winding down his fifth season in West Lafayette as Purdue fights to reach its sixth straight NCAA Tournament.

Martin has had an even stranger path. Martin was a key reserve on Purdue's 2008 NCAA Tournament team, but transferred to Notre Dame after the season. He sat out all of 2008-09 due to transfer rules, then missed all of 2009-10 when he tore his own ACL. The duo appeared to be in line for a Sweet 16 meeting last year, but Hummel was already out when Purdue was upset by VCU and Notre Dame was upset by Florida State in the NCAA Tournament's third round.

Now Lunardi has them playing each other in his latest bracket, as the Fighting Irish are a 7 seed and Purdue a 10. Purdue and Notre Dame have met only once since 1966 on the basketball floor, which was an Irish home win in the 2004 NIT. The teams will meet next season in Indianapolis in the Crossroads Classic, where Martin could still be around, as he has applied for a sixth year of eligibility.

Still, a showdown between the former high school teammates would be a bizarre ending to one collegiate career after three torn ACLs, a transfer, and a refusal of the schools to play each other for almost half a century.

The first 10,000 fans will receive a free knee brace.

Purdue Closes Exhibition Season With 65-49 Win

BoilerTMill — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 01:11:22 -0000

Purdue's two game exhibition season is over, and once again the Boilermakers earned a comfortable win over a Division II opponent. Purdue dominated Southern Indiana for 40 minutes, though showed a little rust in a 65-49 win Sunday afternoon at Mackey Arena. Junior forward Kelsey Barlow scored 12 points to lead the Boilermakers, while Terone Johnson added 10.

Perhaps most impressive was redshirt sophomore big man Sandi Marcius, who is expected to start in place of departed All-American and NBA first round draft pick JaJuan Johnson. Marcius had an impressive seven points, two rebounds, and two steals in 13 minutes of action. Marcius showed an ability to go coast to coast as well as battle down low, something Purdue will need with Johnson now playing professionally.

Robbie Hummel had a very quiet eight points and four rebounds as he continues to recover from two ACL surgeries. Purdue held Southern Indiana to 20 of 61 shooting from the field and forced the Screaming Eagles into 20 turnovers.

Purdue will open the regular season Friday evening at home against Northern Illinois.

Big 10 Basketball Preseason Favorites

Tim's Take — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 18:07:38 -0000

The Big 10 Has announced it's preseason rankings for the 2011-12 season.

2011-12 BIG TEN PRESEASON RANKINGS
1. Ohio State
2. Wisconsin
3. Michigan State

2011-12 PRESEASON ALL-BIG TEN TEAM
Draymond Green, Michigan State
Trevor Mbakwe, Minnesota
Jared Sullinger, Ohio State
Robbie Hummel, Purdue
Jordan Taylor, Wisconsin

2011-12 PRESEASON BIG TEN PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Jared Sullinger, Ohio State

Robbie Hummel Cleared To Play

BoilerTMill — Fri, 05 Aug 2011 20:18:43 -0000

February 24, 2010 is a day that will live in infamy for Purdue fans. With the Boilermakers in form control of the Big Ten and on their way to a number one seed in the NCAA tournament junior forward Robbie Hummel tore his ACL in a game against the Minnesota Golden Gophers. He later tore the same ACL on the first day of practice for the 2010-11 season, ironically the same day Minnesota was in town for a football game against Purdue.

Purdue fans have been waiting a long time for this, but today Hummel himself confirmed the good news:

RobbieHummel4 Robbie Hummel

Passed all my tests today...I'm ready to get this going

Purdue fans have waited a long time to see Hummel on the court and will wonder what might have been had he not been injured during their last two NCAA Tournament runs.

Hummel later spoke with CBS Sports:

The Purdue senior forward – who will wait nearly two years between games after suffering a pair of torn ACL’s – told CBSSports.com on Friday afternoon that he was given clearance to play contact, 5-on-5.

The only problem?

``No one is at school," Hummel laughed. ``And I’m not going to the local YMCA."

Hummel had actually been cleared by his surgeon months ago, but has been training and rehabbing daily at Tim Grover’s facility in Chicago.

``They wanted to minimize my tendinitis and strengthen my leg," Hummel said.

Hummel had to do a series of tests – one that he wasn’t able to pass until today. It was one in which he’d jump down 3 or 4 feet off a pad and then immediately explode back into a 42-inch platform.

``He (Grover) wasn’t going to let me play until I passed everything," Hummel said. ``And I respect his opinion."

How Will Chris Wright's Injury Affect Georgetown's NCAA Tournament Seed

Mike Prada — Wed, 09 Mar 2011 20:08:04 -0000

The Georgetown Hoyas fell meekly to the Connecticut Huskies, 79-62, in their first Big East Tournament game earlier today, their fourth straight loss since Chris Wright's injury. These aren't close losses either -- the four games have seen Georgetown fall by an average of 14.25 points per game.

Wright's absence has manifested itself in ways you wouldn't immediately expect. Julian Vaughn, for example, has gone from a relatively competent big man to one who, quite literally, cannot make a shot. The Princeton offense still has created some open shots, but the defense has fallen off a cliff and those open shots are not going down. It's been a very ugly situation, to say the least.

So now, the question is obvious. With Wright scheduled to return by the beginning of the NCAA Tournament, what seed will the Hoyas earn in the NCAA Tournament? What seed do they even deserve? Should they fall all the way down to a No. 7 or No. 8 seed, as ESPN commentators suggested after the game? Is a No. 6 seed fair, which is where SBNation.com currently has them? Some thoughts and historical parallels below the jump.

We should first qualify the two Georgetown teams. With Chris Wright healthy and in the lineup, the Hoyas were 21-6 and 10-5 in the Big East, with a top-10 RPI and wins over likely NCAA Tournament teams Old Dominion (on the road), Missouri (essentially on the road), St. John's, Villanova (on the road), Louisville, Syracuse (on the road) and Marquette. They would likely have been a No. 3 seed or higher had things continued the way they did. Without Wright healthy, the Hoyas are 0-4 with the aforementioned -14.25 point differential.

It'd be tempting to assume the Hoyas just go back to being a No. 3 seed with Wright healthy, but the selection committee won't and shouldn't see it that way. They will wonder whether Wright is fully healthy, since it will only be three weeks since he had hand surgery. They will wonder if Wright will be out of rhythm from missing so much action. Most notably, they'll wonder if Wright will even play at all or whether the Hoyas' stance on him is merely a way to prevent the massive seed drop they would get if the selection committee knew he wasn't going to play.

So if we're going to guess Georgetown's NCAA Tournament seed, we have to consider some past parallels. Here are some that immediately jump to mind.

Purdue, last season: The Boilermakers were heading towards a possible number one seed until Robbie Hummel suffered a torn ACL. The Boilermakers went 3-2, losing to Michigan State and then to Minnesota in blowout fashion in the Big 10 Tournament. The selection committee dropped them all the way to a No. 4 seed, though of course that was in part because everyone knew Hummel wasn't coming back. They ended up winning two games and falling to Duke in the Sweet 16.

St. Mary's, 2008/09: The Gaels started off 18-1 before Patty Mills suffered a broken hand (sound familiar?). St. Mary's lost four of the five games it played without Mills, then saw him return for the WCC Tournament. In the WCC Tournament, Mills wasn't 100 percent, and the Gaels were destroyed by Gonzaga in the conference title game. The committee responded by leaving St. Mary's out of the field together, despite only losing twice with Mills healthy. Not a good sign.

Wisconsin, 2006/07: Wisconsin was 26-3 when Butch suffered an elbow injury, which dropped them down to a No. 2 seed. Without Butch, the Badgers lost to UNLV in the second round.

Cincinnati, 1999/00: The consensus No. 1 team in the country lost star and eventual No. 1 pick Kenyon Martin to a broken leg in the Conference USA Tournament final, and in a stroke of guess work, the committee dropped Cincinnati down to a No. 2 seed. This was a massive risk either way because they had to project Cincinnati's performance without Martin instead of being able to see it beforehand, so this was a compromise. Cincinnati ultimately lost to No. 7 seed Tulsa in the second round.

Loyola Marymount, 1989/90: The run-and-gun LMU team was ranked in the Top 25, but were dropped to a No. 11 seed after the collapse and death of Hank Gathers in the WCC Tournament. Ultimately, LMU rallied and made it all the way to the Sweet 16 without him.

The bottom line from these examples is that Georgetown will be dropped to a seed much lower than they would have been if Wright stayed healthy. Even with him returning, the committee won't assume he'll return fully healthy. That means that a No. 7 or No. 8 seed, however ridiculous, may be a legitimate possibility.

(Thanks to Andy Glockner's article from last season for helping with many of these examples).

ESPN's Andy Katz Ranks Pitt Basketball Third in Preseason Poll

CardiacHill — Sat, 16 Oct 2010 22:16:22 -0000

ESPN's Andy Katz released his preseason basketball poll on Friday and ranked Pitt No. 4 in the nation. After Robbie Hummel's devasting season-ending injury, Katz dropped Purdue from No. 2 to No. 23. That switch moved Pitt up to No. 3 in Katz' poll.

Katz says he expects big things from Pitt despite the lack of true star players:

The Panthers don't have the star power of the aforementioned top three. But this Panthers team is like an old-school Big East team that has experienced players who have been together and found roles. The summer trip to Ireland provided more positive bonding time for Jamie Dixon's crew as it takes on the role of Big East favorite. There were no flaws this summer, making it more palatable to move the Panthers up a few spots.

It's early and I'll get into this a bit more as we get closer to the season, but Pitt's lack of star players has hurt the team in past and I expect it will again this season. Still, this ranking is something to be excited about.

Katz ranks defending champion Duke No. 1 and Michigan State No. 2.