SB Nation - Keaton Grant

The TDG Big Ten Basketball Preview

GopherNation — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 16:45:15 -0000

I have intentionally held off with a Big Ten basketball preview, waiting until we could see a few games and get a feeling for how teams are adjusting to the key gains and losses from a year ago. Gopher Nation has plenty to look forward to this season. As we all know everything is returning with some key additions added. An NCAA tournament bid and likely a win or two is expected. But what about the road before the NCAA Tournament. The long and difficult Big Ten season comes first and this team has a chance to really be a factor in the B10 title race. Let's take a brief look at each team in my expected order of finish.

1 - Purdue (NCAA) - Were it not for Purdue having injury issues a year ago they could very likely be defending a Big Ten title this year. Robbie Hummel was last year's preseason B10 POY and he should not be fully healthy to lead the rest of a very talented roster. The bulk of the talent lies in the junior class for the Boilermakers and this team is athletic and deep. Injuries and other uncontrollables aside, what may be the difference between a Big Ten title and a top 2 finish could come down to coaching. Matt Painter is an excellent coach but who knows if he'll be capable of steering his team accurately to win a Big Ten regular season title. Guys like Tom Izzo, Bo Ryan, Bruce Weber and Tubby Smith have the resume of winning multiple titles. I think after this year Matt Painter adds a Big Ten regular season title to his resume.

Likely Starting lineup
PG - E'Twaun Moore
SG - Chris Kramer
SF - Keaton Grant
PF - Robbie Hummel
C - JJ Dawson

2 - Michigan State (NCAA) - I know that Michigan State is the consensus title team and for very good reason. Tom Izzo is a great coach, his team is coming off a national runner-up season and he returns the vast majority of his roster. But my gut tells me they have a great season but one that ends the regular season looking up one spot in the B10 standings. It is really hard not to like Michigan State. They too are deep, very athletic, play great defense and as I mentioned they are very well coached. But I think the one key loss will be the loss that makes the difference. Goran Suton meant a lot to the Spartans a year ago and while this team still has very talented players like Kalin Lucas, Chris Allen and Durrell Summers (with guys like Raymar Morgan and Delvin Roe off the bench); Suton will be missed. Freshman Garrick Sherman may be very good but he's not the same thing. From year to year team's take on different personalities and even the loss of just one player can change the dynamic of a team. Michigan State will be great, they'll be extremely dangerous in the NCAA Tournament but I think they fall a game or two short of Purdue this year.

Likely Starting lineup
PG - Kalin Lucas
G - Chris Allen
G - Durrel Summers
PF - Draymond Green
C - Garrick Sherman

3 - Ohio State (NCAA) - In this early season the Buckeyes have looked fairly strong. And leading their early season charge is the outstanding play of Evan Turner, who looks like the early favorite for Big Ten POY (very early, I know). Turner has notched a double-double in all four games averaging 21.7 ppg and 14.7 rpg. OSU has a lot of very nice pieces outside of Turner, which isn't surprising considering the recent string of very highly ranked recruiting classes in the Thad Matta era. OSU has some offensive weapons but they are lacking in a couple key areas. First of all they are not an overly deep team. Jon Diebler is a lights out shooter and Turner might be the best player in the conference but they can only carry them so far. Matta has been going with an eight man rotation so far this year with heavy minutes for the starting five. Secondly this team is not overly strong in the paint. Their perimeter is as good as anybody's in the conference but Kyle Madsen and Dallas Lauderdale will not strike fear into the hearts of the conference's coaches.

Likely Starting lineup
PG - William Buford
SG - Jon Diebler
SF - Evan Turner
PF - David Lighty
C - Kyle Madsen

4 - Minnesota (NCAA) - There was a time when my maroon goggles would have had me rank the Gophers one spot higher. The potential (probable?) losses of Royce White and Trevor Mbakwe greatly lessened my optimism. But then the impressive play of Rodney Williams to start the year has me thinking big things again, just not as grand as before. As we all know the Gophers are deep and defend very well. I think the improvement of the sophomores and the athleticism that Williams brings to the table makes this team dangerous. Over the course of a long season I don't think we have what it takes to finish in the top 2 but this team is good enough to beat anybody on their schedule.

Likely Starting lineup
PG - Al Nolen
SG - Lawrence Westbrook
SF - Rodney Williams
PF - Damian Johnson
C - Ralph Sampson III

5 - Illinois (NCAA) - this might be the team I know the least about but I do know enough to know that this team is well balanced and has the roster make-up that is well suited for Bruce Weber. Demitri McCarney, Mike Davis and Mike Tisdale are known quantities around the Big Ten. These guys averaged a combined 33 points, 14.7 rebounds and 7.2 assists per game last year. They compliment each other well and this year they add a couple dynamic freshmen to the backcourt in DJ Richardson and Brandon Paul. In the early goings these kids have 11.3 and 16.7 respectively, although they have yet to play any team of substance. Overall this will be a very good team that will only get better as the season goes along.

Likely Starting lineup
G - Brandon Paul
G - DJ Richardson
G - Demitri McCamey
PF - Mike Davis
C - Mike Tisdale

6 - Michigan (NCAA) - Manny Harris is such a great player who can win a game on his own and probably has the best pro potential in the conference. A lot of people would put the Wolverines as high as third on their prediction list based mostly on the talent of Harris and DeShawn Sims. But I'm not 100% sold on the rest of the team. John Beilein is a great coach and in year three he should really have his guys and his system working well. But once again I'm not sold on the rest of the roster and in this year's Big Ten a guy like Manny Harris will win you a few but on the nights when teams slow him down Michigan will be rather vulnerable. Decent depth, great scoring and not great interior size. A sixth place finish may seem very low but the difference between the 4th through 7th place teams could really only be a couple games.

Likely Starting lineup
PG - Darius Morris
G - Manny Harris
G - Laval Lucas-Perry
F - Zack Novak
F - DeShawn Sims

7 - Wisconsin (NCAA) - Rule #1 in Big Ten basketball, never underestimate Bo Ryan and the Badgers. This isn't a great Badger team but there is some talent here with Trevon Hughes, Jason Bohannon and even Jon Leuer is having a pretty good season thus far. It may be easy for Gopher fans to overlook Wisconsin since we did sweep them last year (that was fun to write), but this team is capable of not only beating the Gophers but finishing at least a few spots higher than this. Maybe this is wishful thinking or maybe I'm not sold that the talent is there, not even for Bo Ryan.

Likely Starting lineup
PG - Trevon Hughes
SG - Jason Bohannon
SF - Tim Jarmusz
PF - Jon Leuer
C - Keaton Nankivil

8 - Penn State (NIT) - The Talor Battle show will be a lot of fun to watch in Happy Valley. Penn State is perfectly demonstrates why I wanted to wait a couple weeks before I started my B10 preview. I once would have put PSU a spot or two higher, but after losses to UNC-Wilmington, Tulane and a 2-pnt win over Davidson (Steph Curry is no longer there folks) I am thinking that 7th might be too high. This team will go as far as Taylor Battle will lead them but the development of freshman Tim Frazier at PG and how well their interior rebounds is what could be the difference between another NIT run and the NCAA Tournament. Their Big Dance resume is already in bad shape, they'll will have to finish a lot higher in the conference standings to avoid the NIT again.

Likely Starting lineup
PG - Tim Frazier
SG - Talor Battle
SF - David Jackson
PF - Jeff Brooks
C - Andrew Jones

9 - Indiana (NIT) - Great recruiting class and I am a huge Tom Crean fan, but this year will be tough for a young Hoosier squad to make much noise in the Big Ten. The conference is the deepest and most talented that it has been in a very long time. Other years a hot, young team like Indiana could make a run into the top 5, but not this year. This will be the sheik team next year and this year you'll likely seen them stun a few top 4 teams along the way. But learning to play at the Big Ten level is not an easy adjustment no matter how talented you are. I wouldn't be completely shocked to see them finish higher, but not likely this year.

Likely Starting lineup
PG - Verdell Jones III
G - Jeremiah Rivers
G - Maurice Creek
PF - Tom Pritchard
C - Christian Watford

10 - Northwestern - This may have been the year for the Wildcats to make the tournament, but the loss of Kevin Coble effectively ended that dream. This is a surprisingly talented NU roster and with the way they defend and execute their precision offense they should never be taken lightly. But with Coble out for the season they'll rely on Michael Thompson and John Shurna. There are a couple intriguing freshmen to go along with Thompson and Shurna

Likely Starting lineup
PG - Michael Thompson
SG - Jeremy Nash
SF - Drew Crawford
PF - John Shurna
C - Luka Mirkovic

11 - Iowa - The outlook for the Hawkeye season is so bleak that they cannot help but surpass expectations this year. Scoring has been the problem this year for Iowa. There will be games when they are hot from behind the arc and maybe they'll get a few conference wins. But for the most part you can expect a lot of losses for Iowa (that too was fun to type).

Likely Starting lineup
PG - Cully Payne
SG - Anthony Tucker
SF - Matt Gatens
PF - Jarryd Cole
C - Brennan Cougill

I know that people hate preseason polls and predictions but at the conference level this is a lot of fun. Everyone has much hope and optimism for the season, except Iowa fans. There are eight teams capable of making a run to the NCAA Tournament (although Penn State is already on life support). The Big Ten should be a blast to watch this year.

Since I'm taking a wild stab at the standings here is my best guess at some post season individual awards.

All Big Ten First Team

PG - Kalin Lucas
SG - Manny Harris
SF - Evan Turner
PF - Robbie Hummel
F - DeShawn Sims

All Big Ten Second Team

G - Taylor Battle
G - Demetri McCamey
F - Jon Diebler
F - Damian johnson
C - JJ Dawson

Big Ten All Freshman Team

G - Brandon Paul - Ill
G - D.J. Richardson - Ill
F - Rodney Williams - Minn
F - Christian Watford - Ind
F - Garrick Sherman - MSU

Basketball 2009-10: The Returning Players

BoilerTMill — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 13:39:43 -0000

I can barely contain my excitement. Growing up in Indiana, basketball is in my blood, and I can literally feel it coming around the corner. It felt like it began this morning when ESPN released its preseason coaches poll and Purdue was rated 7^th.

So I have decided to make basketball a three part preview before next week's exhibition opener. Part 1 was up a few weeks ago talking about the huge crop of eight newcomers to the program. Today I'll hit on the returning players and what wee need from them in addition to what they already give us. Finally, I'll talk about the schedule in part three and what we can expect as a reasonable record.

The reason this team is so highly ranked is because of its returning cast. All five starters are back. A key player off the bench is back. These are all guys that have now been around for quite awhile, so much is expected of them. Lewis Jackson is the only returning starter that is not at least a junior, and big things are expected of him too.

Seven months ago I said we needed to remember this moment because we would be back to avenge it.

Consider us back.

JaJuan Johnson - My regular readers know that I am trying subtle hypnosis to get JaJuan to stay in West Lafayette after this season. I am of the opinion that if he stays, we will win the 2011 national title because he will have an experienced Sandi Marcius as a backup and a young Travis Carroll to teach for the future. Having those three on the same team for one season in 2011 could help Purdue jump into the realm of the country's elite.

We know what we're going to get from JJ. He has a solid mid-range jumper. He is developing into a great low post player. No one abuses the rim on thunder dunks like him. If anyone ventures within five feet of him the ball will quickly be going the other way on a swat. Now we just need him to become a dominant rebounder. Ultimately, I can see that part of his game holding us back if he doesn't develop. We no longer have Calasan and Green to help him on the boards. Marcius' development will help in this, as will Patrick Bade's. The game at Michigan last year showed what can happen when JJ gets in foul trouble, so it is critical that we don't rely on him too much.

Seriously, how much fun is this? I can't dunk, so will someone who can please tell me?

Back to the hypnosis: It's too early, JaJuan. Education is important. You want to win a title and be a legend. You're not 21 yet so you haven't experienced Harry's or the Cactus...

Robbie Hummel - I honestly don't know how Robbie does it. He is a scorer, a rebounder, a deadly accurate shooter. He is also a tenacious rebounder and hustler. Robbie is a player that makes everyone else around him better because of the matchup problems he creates. If we have a smaller guy on him he can go inside and open up the 3-point shot for E'Twaun and Keaton Grant. If teams go big on him he draws that big man outside, opening up the middle for JJ. There really is no great way to guard him.

If Robbie can stay healthy this year Purdue has an excellent chance at a special season. Robbie single-handedly kept the UConn game in last year's tournament close. Purdue can win a lot of games with just Robbie Hummel playing well. With Hummel and everyone else playing well, it is very hard for them to lose games. We just need Robbie to be Robbie this year and stay healthy. If everyone steps up around him I don't think there is a team in the country we can't beat.

E'Twaun Moore - If 2008 was Robbie's breakout year as a freshman and 2009 was JJ's as a sophomore, the third of that "Baby Boilers" group is due this year. I think we have yet to see E'Twaun's talents as a pure scorer. I call him a scorer because he is a player that can create his own shot nearly anywhere on the floor. He is capable of taking over a game and exploding for a personal 12-0 run at any time.

E'Twaun has been far from a disappointment so far. He is a consistent scorer. We know we're getting 13-15 from him every night. What I want to see from him is the ability to just go apeshit and drop 30 on anyone at any time. I know he has it within him. We saw flashes of it last year in the losses to Oklahoma and Penn State, where he put the team on his back for long stretches. We also got a taste when he had a season high 26 on 10 of 14 shooting against IU. There was also the game at Illinois in 2008 when he went for 24 on 10 of 12 shooting. I want E'Twaun to be a bad, bad man that other teams fear. I want him to be the assassin that closes games out with absolutely backbreaking baskets. You know the type, when a team needs a stop and they defend until the shot clock runs down only to have someone drill a 17 foot jumper with a hand in his face. E'Twaun is that type of player, and this is his year.

Chris Kramer - Is he really a senior? I know I have talked about him coming back to play football next year, and that is a rumor that continues to grow legs. We still get one more year of basketball and Chris has made his goal clear: he wants his Defensive Player of the Year award back.

Kramer is the type of player where you love him if he is on your team, but hate him if you're facing him. I am convinced the man cannot feel pain. He is tenacious and drives other teams nuts with his mere presence. His scoring has gone down every year, but we don't need him to be a scorer. If he can generate a few points every night on turnovers and icing free throws that is fine with me. We have plenty of other guys that can score. Kramer generates plenty of offense through steals and assists even if he isn't the guy that actually puts the ball in the basket. We just need Kramer to be Kramer.

Keaton Grant - Any time you can have a guy like Keaton Grant come off the bench you know you're a good team. His scoring was down a little last year, but that is because he had a reduced role in the offense and was still recovering from knee surgery. With him completely healthy we have another great 3-point shooter. In 2008 he shot 44% from long range, but dipped to 35% last year with more attempts.

Keaton needs to be a shooter, plain and simple. We need him to return to his 2008 shooting form where he buried nearly every open look from beyond the arc. Part of the reason his numbers dropped could be because they moved the 3-point line out a foot, but he can still be a dangerous weapon off the bench from long range.

Lewis Jackson - I thought LewJack was the missing piece coming into last year. We needed a distributor who could force tempo and make us run at times. He filled that role perfectly, and now we just need him to mature both on and off the court. He offseason arrest for alcohol and pot was not a step in this direction. One has to think he is on very thin ice coming into this season, as he is already suspended for both exhibition games and the opener against Cal State Northridge. Honestly, it is a pretty toothless suspension. We don't need him in the exhibitions and Cal State Northridge is a game we should win regardless of who plays. Still, LewJack must learn and grow.

As a point guard, LewJack needs to improve on his assist to turnover ratio (nearly 3:2 last year, so not bad) and he needs to be a better free throw shooter. He is going to have the ball in his hands a lot at the end of games. He also will be driving the lane a lot and drawing contact, so 58% from the line won't cut it.

Ryne Smith - I have read a lot about how Smith has bulked up and is ready for more minutes this year. He is an interesting case. If you read the message board chatter after last season ended, Smith was a candidate for transfer because surely the newcomers would take what few minutes he had. It appears he has bulked up and improved his shooting stroke though.

Smith is almost exclusively a 3-point shooter. He was 6 of 21 from the field last year, but only four attempts were inside the arc. He was 5 of 17 from 3-point range, so if he has improved his stroke I know we can use him as a 3-point shooting specialist for a few minutes each night. In the college game you always have room for a kid that can just shoot the basketball, especially from long range. Smith gives us another option in this area.

Mark Wohlford - Wohlford is the only returning player that is not expected to have a huge impact on the court. The walk-on has only played in 18 career games, mostly as a final minute replacement when we've had a big lead. He has four career points. Wohlford will still be a leader though.

We have a lot of walk-ons. Bubba Day, Stevie Loveless, Kyle Coleman, and Dru Anthrop give us a virtual practice squad of players. Wohlford will likely take on a leadership role in this group, giving us essentially our own team to practice against. How can you not like that? If Wohlford has to play in a game and can give us anything at all it is gravy.

Final Analysis:

There is a reason we're ranked #7 in the preseason and on the short list for the Final Four. This is a damn good basketball team with a lot of returning talent plus some pretty good freshmen. All the parts fit each other well. That is the biggest aspect, especially in the style we play. We are not an individualistic team. We don't feature one guy that when you stop him, you stop us. We thrive on spreading around the scoring and playing team defense.

Tell me, Digger: Will you be using the highlighter to point out how wrong about Purdue you have been? If so, let me give you a few more so you don't run out.

Of course, the media doesn't like this. We'll probably piss of Digger Phelps all season long by <gasp> playing defense and doing what we need to do to win games. So what if we don't score 95 points per game. Who freaking cares! You don't need to score 95 when you can hold opponents under 60. The object of the game is to win. It doesn't matter if you win by 1 or 100. This team is built to win basketball games, and it will win a lot of them.

Basketball 2009-10: The newcomers

BoilerTMill — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 15:41:34 -0000

As promised, I do have a basketball entry in me for this week. I figured we could use some good news since we're about to get crushed by Ohio State at home. Just remember, as you hear the Buckeye fans chant O-H-I-O in our own stadium as they did two years ago: basketball practice started the day before and the first exhibition game is a few weeks away on November 3^rd.

The last two seasons have been defined by the impact that newcomers have had on the program. Two years ago it was the impact of Robbie Hummel, E'Twaun Moore, and JaJuan Johnson as freshmen. Last year the newcomers had a lesser impact, but true freshman Lewis Jackson gave us a much needed presence at the point guard position. This year we have an astounding nine players that will be making their first on the court contributions to the program. This includes four walk-ons that were good enough to grab a scholarship elsewhere, but chose to come to Purdue and walk-on. Here is what we can expect from everyone:

Instant Impact guys:

D.J. Byrd - 6'5" 214 lbs - N. Montgomery HS (Crawfordsville, IN) - Byrd is the type of player that will get better at Purdue because he will not be expected to carry the load. That has been his role at North Montgomery since I first saw him play as a freshman four years ago. Over time, I ended up seeing him play in three tournament games. Each time I saw him play he exhibited the grit and toughness we have come to expect from Purdue basketball players. I kind of look at him as a bigger, more offensively talented version of Chris Kramer. injuries could be an issue though, as he battled injuries his entire high school career.

This past season he showed he had matured as well. I covered his sectional championship game and I was impressed for many reasons. First, he was playing his first game after tearing a meniscus in his knee a few weeks earlier. He did not have his full spring or first step he normally had, but he was content to do the dirty work of rebounding and defending while his teammates did the rest. He had 12 points in the game, and all 12 came during a nine minute stretch in the middle of the game when his team needed him to dominate.

Best of all, he is a kid that never had a question that he was going to play for Purdue if he was good enough. He committed early and never wavered even as his stock rose. I can see him helping off the bench at the small forward position and giving us another "dirty work" type of player that can produce unexpected offense. He doesn't have the 3-point range of a Keaton Grant or E'Twaun Moore, but his has an excellent mid-range jumper. He is a solid rebounder as well.

Sandi Marcius - 6'9" 261 lbs - LaLumiere School (LaPorte, IN) - Losing a player like Nemanja Calasan puts a lot of pressure on JaJuan Johnson as our only true post player, but Marcius may be an upgrade in terms of rebounding and second chance points. Honestly, that is all we need from him when he is in there. We need him to clog the lane defensively, get rebounds, and get putbacks on the offensive end.

He is a tad unique from the rest of the newcomers in that he is already used to a campus setting. He has been here for a few years from his native Croatia, as LaLumiere is a private boarding school in LaPorte. As he matures, I really hope JaJuan stays for his senior season. That would give us an amazingly big front line of Johnson, Marcius, Travis Carroll, Patrick Bade, and Donne Hale for the 2010-11 season.

Kelsey Barlow - 6'5" 199 lbs - Cathedral (Indianapolis, IN) - With Barlow we get a big, bruising guard that can bang inside and distribute the ball. He will not be a starter right away, but he will be a good complimentary player to Lewis Jackson. If we use him as a point guard it will force teams to shift their defensive strategy from Jackson's quickness to Barlow's strength and size. Since the game of basketball is all about creating matchup issues it is a good idea to have as many versatile players as possible to cause those problems. That is where Barlow comes in. He can play both guard positions as well as the small forward position like Byrd. We can bring him along slowly too as a little things guy to replace Marcus Green.

Patrick Bade - 6'8" 235 lbs - Franklin Central HS (Indianapolis, IN) - JaJuan is reunited with his former understudy as Bade joins the Boilers. Bade is kind of a poor man's version of Robbie Hummel. He plays the same position, but is probably more of a banger and rebounder than Robbie. He doesn't have the range on his jump shot, but he can come in and provide a few minutes of rebounding relief for JaJuan.

To me, that is how we will make the leap from good to fantastic. It will depend on how much heat we can take off of JaJuan Johnson. We have plenty of shooters. We will keep playing solid defense, but we have to provide more of an inside presence so teams do not key on JaJuan as our only big threat. Bade and Marcius are the critical elements there. We don't need them to be fantastic, but we do need them to contribute from the beginning.

The Mystery:

John Hart - 6'2" 195 lbs - Beech Grove HS (Beech Grove, IN) - Hart is a bit of a wild card because he is a newcomer, but he was already on campus redshirting last season. He was first-team all state and the Marion County Player of the Year in 2008, so the guy clearly knows how to play. The man can shoot, can score, and has had an entire year to acclimate himself to the system. I think he could be a major surprise for us, but I don't really see where he can fit in. Who does he take minutes from when E'Twaun, Keaton, and Kramer play his position? Also, Ryne Smith is supposed to have improved greatly in a similar position.

The Walk-ons:

Dru Anthrop - 6' 176 lbs - Central Catholic HS (Lafayette, IN) - If there is a walk on that will earn significant playing time this year my money is on Anthrop. He is a gamer and a winner. Last season he helped Central Catholic to a 20-7 season that ended with a semi-state loss. Along the way he helped beat Kelsey Barlow's Cathedral team, Patrick Bade's Franklin Central, D.J. Byrd's North Montgomery, and he twice lost to Stevie Loveless' Frankfort team. I saw him once against Zionsville and he is the real deal. He also state Mental Attitude Award in helping Central Catholic win the Class A baseball state title.

This is a kid that simply knows how to win, and that overcomes any physical shortcomings he may have. He has the best potential to be our new Bobby Buckets because he is better than Bobby. I see no reason why he can't fill Bobby's same role.

Kyle Coleman - 6'4" 197 lbs - Tipton HS (Tipton, IN) - This was a very interesting pickup. I have covered quite a few Tipton games over the past few seasons and Derek Elston (who is now at Indiana) was a major focus on that team. A major reason Elston was able to do the things he did was because of Kyle Coleman though. Very few teams at the 2A level in Indiana have the advantage of a 6'7" guy like Elston. Tipton was even better because Coleman could play inside and do the dirty work near the basket that let Elston play outside. That made Elston a dangerous mismatch against almost every team because he did not have to limit himself to the paint. Coleman will be undersized for his position in the Big Ten, but he is going to be a solid practice player that makes everyone else better.

Stevie Loveless - 6'5" 196 lbs - Frankfort HS (Frankfort, IN) - It has been a few years since I saw Loveless play, but I can definitely see him as a Kyle Coleman type in practice. Like Anthrop, he had offers at some smaller D-I schools but he chose to stay close to home and walk on at Purdue. At 6'5" he has good range on his jump shot, so he could develop into a regular contributor with time. Fortunately, we don't have to rely on him right out of the gate. We can be patient with him and let him develop. He saw action last year against Anthrop, Byrd, and Coleman as well, so there should be some chemistry there.

Bubba Day - 6' 179 lbs. - West Lafayette HS (West Lafayette, IN) - Our final player is a bit of a mystery, but he comes in as a sophomore walk-on. He is another Bobby Buckets type for more reasons than being a townie. He is a solid 3-point shooter who could eventually evolve into a specialist at that position. He has to be doing something right to make the team after sitting out for a year. Personally, I will take any player that can flat out shoot the basketball. You can never have enough of those guys on your team, and that is what Day can do.

Final Analysis:

Every single player played high school basketball in the state of Indiana. They know what it is like to play in front of passionate fans and big crowds. If you don't think that, you have never seen a team like Central Catholic play on the road.

These kids are winners too. They have played for programs that have won a bunch of basketball games in recent years. Bade was integral in taking down Lawrence North in the regional last season. Lawrence North was absolutely loaded with Division I talent, yet Bade took them down. Cathedral won at least 20 games each of the last three seasons with Barlow, but could never get past powerful programs like Lawrence North and North Central in the sectional.

We lost four very good players in Marcus Green, Chris Reid, Bobby Riddell, and Nemanja Calasan. We replaced them twofold, however. Loveless and Coleman are the practice guys that will fill in for Reid. Marcius and Bade replace Calasan. Byrd and Barlow replace Green. Day and Anthrop replace Bobby Buckets. How can we not get better in that way, especially when most of them are better players than the ones they are replacing?

Surprise Additions: Where do the new basketball recruits fit?

BoilerTMill — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 13:00:13 -0000

Purdue's 2009 basketball recruiting class became an unexpected two part act over the weekend. We already knew about Patrick Bade, Kelsey Barlow, Jeff Robinson, and D.J. Byrd. All are Indiana kids who made their decision to come to West Lafayette very early in their high school careers. In Byrd's case, I remember covering a sectional game his freshman year and there were already rumors he was all but committed then. I saw him two other times in sectional play and there is little doubt in my mind we are getting a good one.

The past couple of days have seen us pick up three news players in addition to those four. It is rare that a class grows so much well after signing day, but it is not a surprise. Dru Anthrop and Steve Loveless are both invited walk-ons, while Sandi Marcius is insurance against a possible NCAA eligibility issue with Robinson. So where do these guys fit in?

Sandi Marcius 6'10" 240 lbs, LaPorte, IN La Lumeire School - We got to Marcius late in the party, but we still won out over some decent programs according to the list on his profile. In my opinion, he is actually an upgrade over Jeff Robinson at a position of need. Losing Nemanja Calasan to graduation basically left JaJuan Johnson as our lone post presence. Robbie Hummel rarely plays with his back to the basket and Johnson still needs to work on his rebounding skills. Marcius takes care of both of those needs, and he is more likely to be ready to contribute immediately.

Purdue finally has a widebody in the paint.

Robinson played at Lawrence North, which was absolutely loaded with Division I talent this year. Still, there were many games in which he struggled to get off the bench. If Lawrence North was really that good they would have rolled through the tournament like they did in the Greg Oden days. Instead, they got knocked out 49-36 by a Franklin Central team they dominated 53-39 in the regular season. I'm sorry, but teams "loaded" with Division I talent should score 36 points in a half, not a full game. This is not a knock against Robinson, but I wasn't encouraged that he saw few minutes for them this season.

Marcius is a different type of player. He was the main guy for a prep school that attempted to play a more regional schedule instead of just the state of Indiana. Don't get me wrong, there is absolutely nothing wrong with the quality of basketball in this state. This was the first year that LaLumiere played a full varsity schedule though and they still went 14-5. They played most of the top teams in Northwest Indiana and acquitted themselves with some very nice wins. Gary West was 16-6 and won a Class 4A state title in 2002. LaLumiere beat them 74-64 late in the season. Against teams outside of Indiana the Lakers were 7-0 thanks to Marcius. He averaged 15 points and 15 boards for them.

I think he will compliment this team very well because he is more of a true center than JaJuan. JaJuan is not afraid to step outside and has a very nice 18-footer. JaJuan can draw defenses away from the basket while Marcius prefers to stay down low. He's a bruiser who is not afraid to do the dirty work inside. He also worked with a coach in Delray Brooks at LaLumiere that knows about winning. He has an international pedigree from his native Croatia, where many top-notch players play against older, more physical players as they develop. That only helps him make the jump to the Big Ten.

The coaches love his energy and enthusiasm. I love that he can create a genuine size mismatch if we play both him and JaJuan at the same time. He works on defense, which is something we know a little bit about too. I fully expect him to step in and even be an upgrade over Chally because he won't step out and shoot two random triples per game.

Dru Anthrop 6'1", Lafayette, IN Central Catholic High School - Here is what you should know about Dru Anthrop, who averaged 22.9 points, 7.1 rebounds, 3.9 assists, and 3.1 steals for Lafayette Central Catholic this season: He is a winner.

Observe:

December 19^th: Lafayette Central Catholic 83, Cathedral (with Kelsey Barlow) 73

December 27^th: Lafayette Central Catholic 65, Franklin Central (with Patrick Bade) 59

January 6^th: Lafayette Central Catholic 72, North Montgomery (with D.J. Byrd) 51

Central Catholic was 20-7 this season and won its third straight class 1A regional. For those not from Indiana, that is the smallest enrollment class in the state. Cathedral and Franklin Central are 4A. Franklin Central was undefeated at the time as well. Ironically, Central Catholic struggled the most against Loveless and his Frankfort team, losing to them twice.

Anthrop is far from afraid of playing bigger, stronger players. Part of the reason Central Catholic is one of the best 1A schools every year is that they play a schedule of much larger schools. This season alone Central Catholic took on Carmel (2^nd largest school in the state), Lafayette Jeff, Franklin Central, Zionsville, McCutcheon, and Cathedral: all 4A schools. The only time they play 1A schools is when they face the three 1A members of their conference and during the state tournament. They have gone 59-20 the last three years as well, only five of those losses were to schools their size, and three were in the state tournament at the semi-state (final 4) level.

Dru Anthrop is a gamer...

This is not your typical walk-on that will struggle to get moments in blowouts. This kid is a legitimate basketball player that led his team to some impressive wins against very good competition. I saw him play once this past season. It was the championship game of the Zionsville holiday tournament. Anthrop had 18 points against a much bigger, stronger team. He showed range from beyond the 3-point arc in that game as well as the ability to drive. Zionsville won 63-61 on a last second shot, but Anthrop really impressed me with his talent and leadership ability.

The parallels to Bobby Buckets are obvious. He is a townie that is coming as a walk-on. Anthrop has a little more size and is more of a pure scorer, but both are kids that love to shoot the basketball. We won't be asking Anthrop to contribute like buckets did as a freshman, but I don't see any reason he can't provide us some depth as a shooter and give us a few minutes off the bench every night later in his career. The only reason I don't see him playing more is because of who is in front of him. How is a walk-on going to see minutes when we can likely go nine or ten deep next season?

I do like the kid though. You have to give him credit for following a dream when he turned down offers to play at some smaller schools. I also like that he has played against nearly everyone else that is coming in this year. He should have some nice chemistry with them and he can definitely be a Buckets-level contributor or more later in his career.

Steve Loveless 6'6, Frankfort (IN) High School - Loveless is another kid that is following a dream. I'm not really sure where he will fit in next season, but because of size and depth I think he is the most likely to redshirt of these three. Marcius will undoubtedly play while Anthrop could be an energy/change of pace guy off the bench. Loveless is a kid that is already eager to come to Purdue and get working in the weight room. This is good because he needs some bulk.

At 6'6" he would probably equal out to be a 2 or a 3 at the division 1 level. He is not going to immediately challenge Kramer, Barlow, Moore, Byrd, and Grant for minutes. The Journal and Courier even touts his academic credentials. The dude got a 1,500 on his SAT! Last season he averaged 23.2 points 11.9 rebounds, and 1.7 assists on the season. Much of this was against a weaker schedule than Central Catholic played, but Frankfort still had a pretty good season. The Hot Dogs were 16-7 and lost in the second round of sectionals to West Lafayette.

During the season Loveless did battle some of the state's better big men. He played well against IU-bound Derek Elston in a 60-47 loss at Tipton late in the season. Against Kokomo's Patrick Hopkins the two dueled in the paint before Kokomo won 73-71 in overtime. Of Frankfort's seven losses, six were to teams that were probably much better on paper. Only the loss to West Lafayette in the tournament (after Frankfort beat them 48-31 during the season) was a bit of a surprise, especially since it came on the Hot Dogs' home court.

Perhaps that is the one dig against Loveless, and why he wasn't a little more highly recruited. They didn't get a marquee win all year. North Central and future Purdue recruit Terone Johnson crushed Frankfort by 30. D.J. Byrd's North Montgomery team got an overtime win against them. North Montgomery and Frankfort are in the same conference, so Loveless and Byrd have battled for four years. Loveless' best wins this past season were against Anthrop and Central Catholic twice.

As I said previously, I think Loveless will need some time before we seriously see him on the floor. He did have some smaller D-1 offers, but I don't know if he has enough size yet to match the position he is going to play.

Final Thoughts:

I see this entire class of six or seven guys (depending on Robinson) and I see excellent chemistry. They are a lot like the Hummel-Moore-Johnson class in that they are very familiar with each other. They played a bunch of times against each other, and the scholarship guys know that the two walk-ons are every bit as good as a scholarship player. They pushed them during their high school careers, and even if Anthrop and Loveless don't play a minute next season they will push everyone else in practice.

Marcius, Anthrop, and Loveless haven't known as they were headed to Purdue as long as Robinson, Bade, Barlow, and Byrd, but they will compliment them very well. All seven guys will absolutely erase the depth questions that plagued us during the tournament. Here is what I project as our main lineup:

Starters:

C JaJuan Johnson

PF Robbie Hummel

SF E'Twaun Moore (more of a 3 guard)

SG Chris Kramer

PG Lewis Jackson

Top bench guys:

Keaton Grant (3-point specialist, backup PG)

Sandi Marcius (paired with JJ when we go big)

Kelsey Barlow (PG with size, shooter)

D.J. Byrd (Robbie Hummel-lite)

Patrick Bade (Robbie Hummel-lite-lite)

Top guys in blowouts/there if we need them:

Dru Anthrop (He's better than you think)

Ryne Smith (Potential 3-point specialist?)

John Hart (wild card)

The rest:

Jeff Robinson (I'm not really convinced on him)

Mark Wohlford (the consummate bench guy)

Steve Loveless (give him a year or two0

Obviously the starters are established, but our bench is going to be very young outside of Grant. Once those guys get experience, however, we're going to be VERY good. I am still looking towards the 2010-11 season as a National Championship season if everyone stays and Anthony Johnson, Terone Johnson, and Travis Carroll replace Kramer, Grant, and Wohlford. The lineup we have already gives us at least a punchers chance though. The addition of Marcius also gives us some insurance in case JaJuan goes pro early after his junior year. Marcius and Carroll is a good interior duo. Marcius, Carroll, and JaJuan is virtually unbeatable.

Review/Preview time for Boiler Hoops

BoilerTMill — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 14:01:25 -0000

More photos » by Mark J. Terrill - AP

Much more of this is in Purdue's future (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)

Browse more photos »

I hate the month of April. Historically, it has been the cruelest month in my life. If anything can go wrong, it will happen in this month. I think one reason I hate it is because it marks the end of basketball season. Since I am not a fan of the NBA, Last Tuesday night my season ended appropriately in the last hour of the month of March. The Purdue women's team fought valiantly against Oklahoma, but the Sooners were just too good in the end.

As the 2008-09 season fades into memory I wanted to take a look back at the men's team. Few teams can look at a 27-10 record and see where it could have been so much more, but Purdue is one of those teams. Did we overachieve? Did we underachieve? Did we just achieve? If you look at our preseason top 10 ranking, we underachieved. If you base it on where we finished last year, we clearly took a step forward by advancing another level in the tournament and successfully winning a championship. That is why I think we simply achieved. Placing us in the top 10 was probably about a year in advance. Still, I get the feeling it could have been more.

Missed opportunities: Losses to Oklahoma, Penn State, Ohio State, and Northwestern

I can't help but feel like all four of those games could have been wins. Even without Hummel and Kramer we were able to overcome and early deficit to build a second half lead in Happy Valley. Since Penn State won the NIT they are clearly a pretty good basketball team too. To have a game where it felt like one got away without two of our key players it is a good sign for the program. We somehow took a six man rotation (without a top scorer) into that one and nearly got a win.

The others are pretty much the same tune. Oklahoma was the first sign we could seriously compete with a top 10 team. I am confident that had we played almost anyone else in the Sweet 16 we would have won because of the lessons learned against the Sooners, but UConn was a very poor matchup for us. Against Ohio State we missed Hummel and still had one shot to win the game in regulation. Northwestern is probably the only game in which we spiked ourselves. The final 10 minutes of that game was the worst 10 minutes of the season.

Reasons for hope: Stomping Michigan State at home, beating Washington in a virtual road game, winning the Big Ten Tournament.

This is why basketball is all about matchups. We had no answer for Hasheem Thabeet and suffered because of it. Michigan State, however, beat supposedly unbeatable Louisville in convincing fashion, then did the same to UConn because of mathups. The Cardinals were the #1 overall seed, yet they had losses to Minnesota and Michigan State. These are two teams we have very convincing wins against. To me, that shows just how close we are to being a Final Four team.

Beating Washington was important on a different level. Though it was a 4/5 matchup, it was the first time we have beaten a top 4 seed in NCAA play since 2000. The Huskies were a very good team with quality senior leadership. They were the champion of a major conference, yet we controlled the game throughout.

Finally, we have the Big Ten Tournament. For three days in Indianapolis we played some of our best basketball of the season. The Big Ten was a tough conference this year from top to bottom. It will only get tougher next year as all the sophomore talent become juniors. Winning that tournament gave our guys their first taste of a championship of any kind since winning the Great Alaska Shootout over Duke in 2004. As I wrote after the title game, there is a difference between thinking you are a championship-level team and knowing it. We now know we are that type of team. Of the other 11 schools in the conference only Michigan State and some players left on Wisconsin know what that level is like. This experience will be invaluable next year.

Lookaheads to next year for each player:

Robbie Hummel - Robbie needs to get healthy and continue to work hard on the glass. His scoring will come in bursts, but we really need his rebounding effort to stay high since JaJuan isn't a strong rebounder yet. A completely healthy Robbie Hummel unbinds our offense.

E'Twaun Moore - E'Twaun was too timid at times this year. We needed him to take over in the UConn game and he was virtually a non-factor. He is our most dangerous pure scorer and showed he can be a solid rebounder as a guard. He has it in him to be so much more as a player. If last year was Robbie's spring board and this year was JaJuan's, it is only natural that E'Twaun makes the leap next.

JaJuan Johnson - JJ needs to become a strong rebounder. I think he is going to spend plenty of time in the weight room this summer and he can become a dominant force in the conference. Rebounding is the one area of his game that seems to be missing. As long as he can step out and consistently hit 17 footers there will be few teams that can guard him offensively, but he was a non-factor on the glass in too many games. A 6'10" guy should accidently get 7 rebounds a game.

Lewis Jackson - LewJack needs to work on finishing his layups. He has more quickness than most people, but he consistently botches it by not being able to finish at the rim. I love the element his speed gives our offense. With another year to work on that things should flow even more smoothly.

Chris Kramer - We saw a little bit of this during the tournament, but Chris has to become an offensive threat. His defense is invaluable, but since he rarely shoots it is almost like no one bothers to guard him. I still think his is a little timid after getting knocked out at Clemson last season. I'm not asking for much. If he can raise his scoring average to just 8 points per game it gives other teams something else to worry about.

Keaton Grant - I can see Keaton becoming a player that gets lost in the mix a bit next year when other teams are focusing on everyone else. Keaton has some scoring ability similar to E'Twaun's game, We need him to be a consistent 3-point threat as well as the new "Little Things" guy to replace Marcus Green.

Ryne Smith and John Hart - I don't know where they are going to find minutes, but if they can provide valuable depth and shooting it will help. I can see Smith becoming a 3-point specialist. I haven't seen Hart play yet, so who knows.

D.J. Byrd - I can't tell you how excited I am to have this kid coming to Purdue. He's a hard-nosed worker. He can do a little bit of everything. He's a tough kid who, most importantly, grew up LOVING Purdue. He has long known what Purdue basketball means in terms of toughness and tenacity, and he will fit in nicely. He will step into Marcus Green's role and be a better player. From the three times I have seen him play in person he has shown me that he is a tenacious rebounder and he has a nice shooting touch. He's not afraid to do the dirty work on defense either. Think of him as a hybrid of Marcus Green and Chris Kramer with better offense. He had a fantastic IHSAA regional just weeks after knee surgery. Just imagine how good he is at 100%.

D.J. Byrd is a guy that can definitely contribute immediately and will add size, depth, scoring, and tenacity.

Patrick Bade - I missed on a couple of chances to see him this season. I was expecting to cover him in the championship game of the Zionsville Tournament, but Lafayette Central Catholic pulled the upset and I missed the consolation game. I also passed on the chance to see what ended up being one of his best games in the regional championship game at Hinkle against Lawrence North. That game right there said a lot about him. Lawrence North was a team loaded with division 1 talent and Bade put on a virtuoso performance. I look for him to be Robbie's backup and he could be a very big surprise. Another bonus with bade is that he did attend the same high school as JJ. They were two years apart, but there is a familiarity already there of them playing with each other. If we go with a big lineup of JJ, Robbie, and bade the experience JJ and Bade have in playing together will reap huge benefits, as will the experience of JJ with Hummel these past two years.

Kelsey Barlow - I haven't seen or heard much about Barlow. I know he has good size for a guard and could get bigger. That is a benefit because if you can get big, strong guards that can score it can be a huge difference-maker. Just look at what A.J. Price did against us. He was able to get in the lane and muscle shots up with contact. Right now we don't have a player that can do that, but Barlow could be that guy. There will be a logjam of guys trying to get minutes at the guard positions with Kramer, LewJack, Hart, Smith, E'Twaun, and Keaton all returning. Byrd could even be a hybrid guard/forward at the three position. If anything, Barlow gives us quality depth to develop.

Jeff Robinson - If anything, Robinson is the guy that I am most not sold on. Unfortunately, he has the most size of anyone we have coming in (I am not commenting much on Marcius until we have him). We need someone who can come in and immediately give us the same minutes as Calasan if not more. Otherwise, teams will focus on JJ as our only real low-post option and force us to hit jump shots. You can have success that way, but it is a high risk/high reward proposition. The questions surrounding Robinson's eligibility are an issue as well. After working at the NCAA I know that such questions have so many variable that it is hard to speculate on. Even I were still working there I could easily find out the exact issue, but obviously couldn't say anything about it because I'd get fired. Because of that, anything you hear is merely speculation. This is my one concern because he is the one player we have in the area of most need, and he isn't really a proven player. He struggled to find minutes at Lawrence North on a team loaded with talent, and hade minute games where he didn't contribute at all. This is why I think Bade is a player that needs to develop more.

Matt Painter - I know he's not a player, but there are improvements that Painter must make himself. He just passed the 100 win mark as a coach this season, so he is successful, but has a way to go yet. Boilerdowd is big on talking about this lately, so I will just link to his rants on how Painter needs to work the refs more and learn how to attack zone defenses. In high school, my coach was renowned for his 2-3 zone. The guy is a hall of famer with more than 650 wins and two state championships. I have seen so many of his games that I can tell within the first five minutes if a team has a chance against his zone. I say this because it does indeed take proper coaching to make adjustments against zone defenses. Too many teams are content to just jack up threes when they face a zone. You have to attack it and draw the defense to you so you can kick out to open threes or create easy baskets down low. Once Painter learns how to teach this we will make a huge leap forward.

Final Thoughts:

As I write this, it is Apirl 8^th. I am on a plane flying back to Indianapolis from Miami. It is the farthest point possible from the next basketball season, yet I am so excited that I can barely contain myself. The Final Four is in Indianapolis next year. It's less than 60 miles from campus. I currently live so close that if the weather is nice, I can walk to it because it is within 2 miles. I have already resolved one thing: If the Boilers are there, I am going regardless of cost. It will only cost me a ticket, anyway, so why not?

In 2000 I was a sophomore when we made the Elite 8, making it incredibly tempting as well. The difference between 2010 and 2000 is that the expectation is there before the season even starts. When Brian Cardinal & Co. nearly went in 2000 it was a surprise. At no point in that season were we expected to be a Final Four team, yet we made the West Region Final as the higher seed against Wisconsin, knocking off Dayton, Oklahoma, and Gonzaga along the way. We were a 6 seed that pulled just one true upset along the way while someone else took out the 1, 2, 4, and 5 seeds for us. In 2010 we will go into the season likely as a top 10 team with experience and on the short list of teams to make the Final Four.

There is more than enough experience there. We know how to win a championship by winning the Big Ten Tournament. We know how to win in the NCAA's with three wins in the past two seasons. The next logical step is to threaten for a Final Four. At the very least we have to take the next step and make the Elite 8 so we at least play for a Final Four berth. The timing is right, and anything less, unfortunately, would be viewed as a step back.

Proud to be a Boilermaker

BoilerTMill — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 13:39:50 -0000

I am proud to be a Boilermaker today.

I never thought eight words would mean so much to me. When I was born, I came home from the hospital in a Purdue outfit. I can't even remember a time when I haven't watched Purdue sports. Standing in my living room last night though, with tears beginning to flow as I heard the Paint Crew members that went all the way to Arizona give us one final Bobby Buckets chant, those words gained an even more poignant meaning to me. My eyes are even getting a little misty this morning thinking about it again.

J Money gets it. There are normal people, then there are sports fans. For people like us our teams become an extension of ourselves. We live by them. We feel like we know the guys. I know that is true about this group of young men. Because of this blog I feel like I know them better than any other team. I have written almost daily about them since November. They have been what sports need to be: a pleasant distraction at times when we need them the most. They have allowed me to vent so many personal frustrations and re-direct so much pent up energy that I literally do not know what I would do without them. Dammit I am proud of these guys today.

Remember this moment, fellas. We will be back to avenge it.

Last night that Buckets chant said so much about who we are as Purdue fans. Over the course of the open thread here and the Liveblog that the UConn Blog was doing, the Husky fans continued to comment how we simply refused to go away. Even in the final minutes, with the game well decided, we did not give up. Instead of an arena filled with UConn fans cheering their team's advancement to the elite 8 what did we hear on the broadcast?

BOBBY BUCKETS!!!

Clap clap clapclapclap

BOBBY BUCKETS!!!

Clap clap clapclapclap

How can you not be moved by that? I admit we got our asses handed to us by a bigger, stronger, better team. UConn hit the shots they needed to hit. Thabeet thoroughly disrupted our offense. Price hit some very tough shots and Austrie hit some absolute back-breaking threes. Still, in face of everything, here are some select comments from UConn fans during the liveblog in the final minutes.

gxpanos: You guys play GREAT D, though, T-Mill. You'll be around in the Big 10 next year.

GoHuskiesGo: I think Purdue can dominate the Big Ten because they play BASKETBALL

GoHuskiesGo: Hey T-Mill- your kids wont die. its irritating.

Jesus Shuttlesworth: man, purdue just does not go away.

GoHuskiesGo: I'm very impressed by Purdue

Jesus Shuttlesworth: yeah, and considering they're all coming back, you have to think this team can do some damage.

Those statements just mean so much to me as does the Paint Crew last night. I will always remember that. Even in defeat we were still there, and we made my original prediction came true. At 9:25 last night, UConn did respect us.

BOBBY BUCKETS!!!

Clap clap clapclapclap

BOBBY BUCKETS!!!

Clap clap clapclapclap

Positives from the UConn game:

All of the above - Well, obviously. Last night was the first time this season where I really felt the general youth of our team. Maybe it is because the Big Ten in general was so youthful this year. Connecticut's experience made as much of a difference as Xavier's did in last season's tournament. They had that little extra push from it. They knew when to get in a passing lane, when to change tempo. They understood all the little nuances of the game that only experience can bring. A prime example was the fast break we had when down four and LewJack was looking for the open layup. Price knew exactly where to be, intercepted the freshman's pass, and it ended up being a dunk the other way. It was a four point shift and psychologically was a killing blow. The ability to get the lead under three almost became a mental barrier, and that (other than Keaton's second half layup that rimmed out, failing to cut it to one) was our best chance.

Robbie Hummel (first half edition) - Robbie kept us alive last night. Nothing was falling early on except for Robbie's shot. I don't know if it was the atmosphere of essentially shooting in a warehouse or what, but that was about the worst possible start we could have had last night. UConn basically won that game in the first six minutes by grabbing a 14-3 lead. Honestly, it could have been a whole lot more too. UConn did a great job of taking Robbie out of the second half.

Bobby, Nemanja, Marcus, and Chris - Although the circumstances were obviously not the best, all four got to play last night in the final games of their careers. Marcus had a very nice layup by collecting a tough pass on a fast break. Buckets gave us one more three to remember him. Chally had a bad night offensively, but I was very proud of the way he worked against Thabeet and got some tough offensive rebounds. Chris only got in in the final minute, but I know his contributions in practice will be missed. I know I speak for all Purdue fans when I say I love these guys, and I will miss them. Thank you.

The Paint Crew - Thank you guys for traveling last night. I am so envious of you right now it is not even funny. I remember watching the first Penn State game back in January and you guys took over their arena with a group not even 100 strong. You took over Glendale last night. I am proud to have you guys representing our University.

Negatives from the UConn game.

That one little bounce - I feel that is all we needed last night to turn the game around. The biggest moment, to me, was the open drive Keaton Grant had to the basket. We were down three at the time and we had actually pulled Thabeet away from the rim. Keaton had an easy layup, but it just barely rimmed out. We had been unable to get it under three despite several chances at that point, and if that shot drops it cuts it to one. That came with 15:35 left, and UConn went on an 8-0 run after the miss. We never got it to three again.

Hasheem Thabeet - He was the difference last night. He completely disrupted our offensive flow. We were afraid to attack him, and when we did attack he showed how smart he was by not fouling on a block. This was honestly a very poor matchup for us because of his size. He is a true 7'3". Many guys that are that tall aren't nearly as athletic as Thabeet is. I know I was impressed. I think without his disruptions we have a real shot because every time he was away from the basket or on the bench we looked good offensively. Yes Austrie hit three daggers threes. Yes Robinson was tough down low. Yes Price hit some tough drives, but it was Thabeet's physical presence that made the biggest difference. He played 36 minutes last night when he normally only averages 32. UConn needed him that badly. I have a feeling that facing a super-sized player like Thabeet will be our weakness, but fortunately not many teams have him.

36.4% - That was our shooting percentage last night. We shot 6 of 23 from the three point line, and one of those makes was from Buckets in the last 20 seconds. It was the one night we could not afford to have a poor shooting night. Thabeet played a large role with blocks or "influences", as I like to call them. Defensively we did everything we needed to do. If the game is close I think we keep them around 60 points because free throws in the last five minutes pushed it out. UConn didn't have a made field goal in the last six minutes, but they hit 15 of 18 free throws in that time.

Up next:

I know the future is very bright for us. Next year can easily be a Final Four year, with 2011 being a year in which I think we will have our best chance ever at a National Championship. There are many factors in thinking that. I think the talent we have coming in is better than the talent we have leaving. I think another year of experience will greatly help us, especially if we can bulk up in the weight room. It will help LewJack running the point especially. I also think that the Big Ten, with all its young sophomore talent, will only get tougher, and that will make us even better come tournament time.

I know a lot has been made about the Big East being a mega-conference, but they have delivered in this tournament. They won all three games they were a part of last night, making an all-Big East Final Four a real possibility. There is something to be said about conference toughness, and that could be the Big Ten next year. UConn was clearly the better team last night. I was very impressed with their defense, but I think that can be us in a year or two because most of the time JaJuan is going to be as big of a matchup problem for other teams as Thabeet was for us.

We will learn from this game. Depending on the outcome of tonight's game we might be able to say that we have played five of this year's Elite 8 at some point in the past two seasons. Had Duke and Xavier won last night that number could have been seven. As it is, we have now played seven of this year's sweet 16 in the past two years, and only one of those teams was in our own conference. We have taken our lumps, going 3-7 against the likes of Louisville, Michigan State, Missouri, Duke, Oklahoma, UConn, and Xavier, but we will learn from these games. I am very proud of where we are, and very excited about the future, but it still doesn't mean I am not upset over losing a game we very easily could have won if a few things are different.

As for the blog, I'll still do some basketball stuff as long as the women are still playing. I am leaving for Miami on Wednesday, and I may be doing some stuff for SBNation's Miami blog the Seventh floor in that time since I am going to a baseball series down there, but I don't know yet. Through the spring I'll be talking about Purdue baseball, as well as Spring practice. I have another series idea as well that is similar to last year's Best Wins of the Tiller Era. Over the summer it will be team and unit previews as we gear up for football as well.

I do want to thank everyone for stopping by and making the midseason transition over here to SBNation so successful. I wouldn't be here if not for two groups of people: you the readers and the teams themselves. I thank you both.

Purdue: Know Your Glendale Travel Companion

Bill C. — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 14:00:10 -0000

Yesterday we looked at UConn. Today, the #5 seeded Purdue Boilermakers.

Purdue: 26-9

	Boilers	Opp
Points Per Minute	1.71	1.47
Points Per Possession (PPP)	1.06	0.91
Points Per Shot (PPS)	1.24	1.09
2-PT FG%	49.2%	41.7%
3-PT FG%	34.9%	32.8%
FT%	70.6%	67.2%
True Shooting %	54.2%	47.8%

	Boilers	Opp
Assists/Gm	15.0	12.3
Steals/Gm	7.2	5.3
Turnovers/Gm	11.6	14.9
Ball Control Index (Assists + Steals) / TO	1.92	1.18

	Boilers	Opp
Expected Offensive Rebounds/Gm	11.8	12.8
Offensive Rebounds/Gm	9.8	11.4
Difference	-2.0	-1.4

Where PU's good: Forcing turnovers, forcing bad shots, defensive rebounds, passing, ball-handling
Where PU's not as good: Offensive rebounds, overall points per possession and free throw shooting are only decent but not great

NCAA Basketball Stats

Player	AdjGS*	GmSc/Min	Line
JaJuan Johnson (6'10, 215, So.)	14.42	0.54	13.4 PPG, 5.6 RPG, 2.1 BPG, 1.3 TOPG
Robbie Hummel (6'8, 208, So.)	13.75	0.47	12.4 PPG, 7.0 RPG, 2.0 APG, 1.0 TOPG
E'Twaun Moore (6'3, 180, So.)	11.56	0.35	14.0 PPG, 4.7 RPG, 3.1 APG, 1.1 SPG, 2.6 TOPG
Chris Kramer (6'3, 205, Jr.)	7.71	0.28	5.2 PPG, 3.0 RPG, 2.5 APG, 2.1 SPG, 1.4 TOPG
Keaton Grant (6'4, 207, Jr.)	6.21	0.23	8.0 PPG, 2.9 RPG, 1.9 APG, 1.4 TOPG
Lewis Jackson (5'9, 165, Fr.)	5.34	0.23	5.8 PPG, 2.4 RPG, 3.3 APG, 2.0 TOPG
Marcus Green (6'4, 229, Sr.)	4.63	0.29	4.0 PPG, 3.6 RPG, 1.0 APG
Nemanja Calasan (6'9, 250, Sr.)	4.58	0.29	6.4 PPG, 2.9 RPG, 1.0 TOPG
Bobby Riddell (5'9, 163, Sr.)	2.23	0.32	2.3 PPG
Ryne Smith (6'3, 175, Fr.)	0.86	0.16	1.1 PPG
Mark Wohlford (6'0, 185, Jr.)	0.19	0.07	36 minutes
Chris Reid (6'9, 251, Sr.)	-0.23	-0.11	30 minutes

* AdjGS = a take-off of the Game Score metric (definition here) accepted by a lot of basketball stat nerds. It does the same thing my previous measure of choice did (it takes points, assists, rebounds (offensive & defensive), steals, blocks, turnovers and fouls into account to determine an individual's "score" for a given game), only the formula is more used and accepted. The "adjustment" in Adjusted Game Score is simply matching the total game scores to the total points scored in the game, thereby redistributing the game's points scored to those who had the biggest impact on the game itself, instead of just how many balls a player put through a basket.

JaJuan Johnson is a much more physically dominant player than his weight would suggest. He's a great shot-blocker and shooter, though I guess really his rebounding leaves a bit to be desired considering he's PU's #1 post man.
Robbie Hummel, on the other hand, rebounds particularly well considering how much time he spends on the offensive perimeter. He's one of the team's best 3-point shooters and its best rebounder. Interesting combination. Purdue's three major seniors are their #7, #8 and #9 contributors. They'll only be better next year.
One thing quickly jumps out, though, when comparing this roster to that of UConn: size. Not a lot of it here...some height, but not a lot of weight.

What does Ken Pomeroy have to say?

You look at KenPom's stats, and you start to think the Purdue-UConn game is going to be about 63-58 one way or the other. Like UConn, Purdue is a defense-first team. They are a reasonable offensively efficient team--#57 in efficiency, #19 in turnover %, high assist-to-FG ratio--but they are in the Sweet Sixteen because of defense (and anybody who watched the last minute of Purdue-Washington can attest to that). They are #5 in the country in defensive efficiency, #9 in Effective FG% allowed, #10 in 2pt% allowed, and #25 in block%.

What are Purdue's weaknesses? They're only an average FT shooting team (#109), and they don't get to the line very much at all (#243). A good passing team can pick them apart (#279 in Assist-to-FG ratio), and as you would guess from all the sophomores contributing for them, they are not high in the experience ratings (#189). And as mentioned earlier, they just do not grab many offensive boards (#265). It's rare for a team to be so great defensively and so finesse- and jumper-oriented offensively, but that's Purdue.

Keys to the Huskies-Boilers Game

Purdue's offensive rebounds. Purdue's offensive rebounding ability vs UConn's defensive rebounding ability is the single biggest statistical contrast in this game. UConn has an extreme advantage here, and the Boilers will either have to get very hot shooting the ball, or they're going to have to find some way to grab some second-chance opportunities.
The hot hand. Points will be at a premium in this game, and neither team has a true go-to scorer--Purdue and UConn both have three guys averaging double digits, and the leading scorer seems to change from game to game. If somebody gets hot, especially from 3-point land (away from the blocked shots in the paint), one nice spurt of scoring could create the necessary distance between the two teams. Will that hot hand be AJ Price? E'Twaun Moore?
Size vs Speed. UConn's a really big team, Purdue not so much. They both play very well defensively, but can Purdue compensate for such a disparity in, um, girth? Hasheem Thabeet (7'3, 265) and Jeff Adrien (6'7, 243) will win any battle of size and muscle over JaJuan Johnson (6'10, 215) and Robbie Hummel (6'8, 208).

However, Johnson and Hummel will have a significant advantage in terms of speed and range. Johnson has decent shooting range, and Hummel actually seems to prefer the perimeter by far, having made the second-most 3-pointers on Purdue's roster. The winner of this mini 2-on-2 battle will probably win the game. If Purdue's skinny bigs can draw UConn's away from the paint, Purdue's options double or triple. If not, then Purdue's going to have to sink a ton of 3-pointers to win this game.

Prediction

Nevermind how well UConn played the first weekend of the tournament. It's ancient history. What clearly resides in the present tense, however, is that Purdue has much less margin for error in this game. UConn will likely dominate the glass on Purdue's side of the court, so Purdue either finds a hot shooter or loses. Hummel or Moore or maybe Keaton Grant can take a lot of pressure off of JaJuan Johnson if they can make some 3-pointers and open up the court a bit, but in the end I just don't think Purdue matches up well. Purdue's strengths are UConn's strengths, only the Huskies seem just a bit better in every category. This will be a halfcourt dogfight, but I expect UConn to end up advancing. UConn 69, Purdue 62.

Know thy NCAA Tournament Opponent Round 3: Connecticut Huskies

BoilerTMill — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 15:18:10 -0000

I think we are supposed to be quaking in fear. All I have seen this week is how good Connecticut has looked. They need to re-seed the tournament right now because they should be the number 1 overall seed. They need to book a reservation for Detroit right now because no one in Glendale is going to challenge them. One comment on a recent post here even said:

After seeing the monster who is Hasheem Thabeet and realize you do not have the size or the strength to play with Uconn, you'll immediately see that you guys are just outclassed. The athletes are just too much to handle for Purdue this time. You can throw in all the statistics you, bottom line 7'3" and a hall of fame coach doesn't lie. Sorry boys

The funny thing is that I am not afraid. We have faced teams with "better athletes" this year and held our own. We have faced dominant big men like Blake Griffin and Jon Brockman and done just fine. Sure, people say Griffin owned us in a win, but it's hard to lose when you shoot 39 more free throws than your opponent, and we still tookt hem to overtime. We have faced Hall of Fame coaches like Krzyzewski, Izzo, and Crean (kidding!) and have come out just fine. We may have lost some of those games, but I would say only in the Duke game were we outclassed. That was months ago. We are a different team now.

Is this where we tell Bob Barker, "The Price is Wrong, bitch!"?

There is little question that Connecticut is well coached and supremely talented. We will respect them, but we are far from afraid of them.

Record: 29-4, 15-3 Big East

NCAA Tournament Appearances: 29 (missed one tournament in last 10 years)

All-Time NCAA Record: 44-27 (Champions in 1999 and 2004)

All-Time Record vs. Purdue: 0-4 (Last meeting: unranked Purdue beat #16 UConn 73-69 on 11/28/92 in Springfield, MA)

2008-09 common opponents: Wisconsin (W 76-57), Michigan (W 69-61)

Notable games vs. 2008-09 NCAA Tournament teams: Wisconsin (W 76-57), Gonzaga (W 88-83 OT), West Virginia (W 61-55), Villanova (W 89-83), Louisville (W 68-51), Michigan (W 69-61), Syracuse (W 63-49, L 127-117 6OT), Pittsburgh (L 76-68, L 70-60), Marquette (W 93-82), Tennessee-Chattanooga (W 103-47), Texas A&M (W 92-66)

2007-08 record: 24-9, 13-5 Big East (lost 70-69 to San Diego in NCAA first round, breaking streak of 14 straight wins in first round)

Blog Representation: The UConn blog, UConn Huskies Basketball, Matt's UConn blog (each will have their say later this week)

It is safe to say that this is our next shot at national recognition. Based on some early preseason rankings the teams are about equal. We have obviously fallen from that lofty perch, but Connecticut has done nothing to move out of the top five all season long. I mentioned that we will not be afraid of them, but they certainly will not fear us. They are an elite national program with the profile and wins to match. They have faced some of the country's best teams and walked away the winner more often than they have lost. A major reason Pittsburgh is a number one seed is because they have given the Huskies two of their four losses. A third came in a six overtime classic against Syracuse two weeks ago in the Big East Tournament. The only other team to beat UConn was Georgetown. The Hoyas were a Final Four team two years ago that severely underachieved this season. They aren't exactly Sisters of the Poor and Blind. Even though the loss came at UConn it is far from a bad loss. At the time Georgetown was 9-1 and ranked 8^th. Afterward they went 5-15.

It is not a stretch to say those were a couple of UConn's worst games this season. If you match common opponents we only have two games of comparison, but they are two solid games. UConn defeated Wisconsin by 19 very early in the season to win the Paradise Jam down in the Virgin Islands. Michigan then played a strange non-conference game at Connecticut during a conference bye and hung with the Huskies before losing 69-61 in January. The Wolverines actually led by a point at halftime and were within five in the final minutes. We went 3-1 against those same foes, so we are certainly capable of competing.

Our biggest challenge on Thursday night will be rebounding. Connecticut's offense is very balanced with four players averaging in double figures (though Jerome Dyson and his 13.2 points per game is out for the season), but their rebounding is what keeps them in games. It is absolutely imperative that we limit them to one shot per possession as much as possible. 7'3" Hasheem Thabeet (13.7 ppg, 10.7 rpg) and 6'7" Jeff Adrien (13.9 ppg, 10.2 rpg) each average double-doubles every night. Thabeet is a natural shot blocker with his size, adding 4.4 blocks per contest. Hummel and Adrien are similar in size, but Thabeet has an advantage even over JaJuan Johnson. Beating them on the boards will be a matter of out-working them and getting in the proper position. We cannot be lazy. Every time a shot goes up we need to shove a butt right in their stomachs and get the right position. Boxing out is absolutely critical because we cannot win this game if Adrien and Thabeet are constantly beating us on the glass. Both of them are excellent offensive rebounders with more than 100 second chances on the season.

Thabeet is obviously an imposing physical presence, but the advantage we have is that JaJuan can draw him out of the lane. He is not nearly as effective away from the basket as JaJuan is. When we have the ball it will be important to attack the basket when JaJuan has the ball against him in the high post. This can eliminate his shot blocking defensive presence as well as his rebounding ability. Offensively we just have to keep him off the glass and keep their guards from penetrating.

6'2 senior guard A.J. Price is Connecticut's leading scorer at 14.6 points per game. He is also an excellent distributor with 4.8 assists per contest. The guy is an excellent scoring, slashing guard and is capable of dropping 30 points on anyone. He can play on the perimeter or drive. He has made nine 3-pointers already in this tournament and is shooting almost 50% from the field. As much as we need to concentrate on Thabeet and Adrien, Price is the catalyst that runs the Connecticut offense. Kramer will likely draw the assignment against him, but I can see us switching up defenders on him like we did against Stephen Curry, Kalin Lucas, and Talor Battle. He is a similar type of player to them, but he is probably better than all of them with more size.

Dyson's injury means Connecticut's bench is shorter than it has been most of the year. He hasn't played since a win over Syracuse on February 11^th though, so they have had plenty of time to adjust. 6'1 freshman Kemba Walker (8.7 ppg, 2.8 apg) is a promising young talent that helps run the show in the backcourt with Price. 6'9" forward Stanley Robinson (8 ppg) could be a major factor as well. If Connecticut goes big with Robinson, Thabeet, and Adrien it will be difficult to match their size.

Connecticut normally goes with just a seven man rotation. 6'3" senior guard Craig Austrie (7ppg) and 6'9" junior forward Gavin Edwards (4 ppg) round out their rotation. No one else plays more than four minutes per night. It is a smaller core than some of the teams we have recently faced, but let's face it, they are really, really good. We can't expect to tire Connecticut out. They are just fine with running and can comfortably score almost 80 points per night.

As with most number one seeds, it is difficult to find a weakness in Connecticut's game. They share the basketball (almost 16 assists per night), they rebound well, they don't turn it over much, and they are rarely in foul trouble. Things may be different if we can get them into a Big Ten slugfest, but they only average 13 fouls per game. Because of their short bench it could give us a big advantage if we can get them into foul trouble. That is why positioning is important on rebounding. If we can get proper position and grab a few over the back calls it can change the game's entire dynamic.

Getting them into a Big Ten slugfest does not mean an automatic win, either. Connecticut can play some defense. Holding a team under 60 points is pretty common for them. Their size allows them to adjust well to a slowdown pace because they can pound teams into submission with Adrien and Thabeet inside. We may actually be better suited running against them because it doesn't allow Thabeet to set up in the low post and swat everything away. Still, I would attack him directly. We must show we don't have any fear of going against him and draw some early fouls if we can.

This is going to be a tough one for us. I know we don't fear them, but that can only go so far. I am confident we can give them a game, but we will have to continue playing as a team with each piece complimenting the others. JaJuan has to draw Thabeet away from the basket on the offensive end and avoid foul trouble on defense. Robbie has to keep putting in work on the glass. If he can score more that will be a huge boost. We need Marcus to do all the little things when he is in there and avoid foul trouble. The same is true with Chally. Against dominant big men in Griffin and Brockman we were competitive, but battled foul trouble the whole game. Keaton and E'Twaun need to hit some threes to draw out their defense. Moore must also create his own shots and seize the moment. I saw it in his eyes out in Portland. I can feel E'Twaun has a big scoring game coming very soon. Kramer and LewJack need to lock in on Price and essentially make his life a living hell every time he has the basketball the same way they didn't let Kalin Lucas even call plays.

Teams beat Connecticut, not individuals. The last two times Connecticut has lost in NCAA play they didn't lose to teams with superior talent. Indeed, Connecticut had superior talent each time. San Diego and George Mason toppled them because they played virtually flawless team basketball against an opponent that occasionally (but not always) strays into a trap of NBA individuality. I do think this UConn team is different from those UConn teams though. They have learned from those losses and don't go intot hat "me first" mode as much. The challenge we present is that we play as a team like George Mason and San Diego plus we have pretty good talent.

The biggest keys, however, are to hit some shots and not allow them to own the offensive glass. I really like our chances if we can consistently limit them to one shot per possession. Unfortunately, I am also a realist. I believe we will give Connecticut a much closer game than people expect, but in the end their size will be a little too much. UConn 73, Purdue 69

WE ARE STILL HERE! (a.k.a: the Washington recap)

BoilerTMill — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 00:52:53 -0000

I've had about 24 hours to reflect on our great win over Washington now. The glow still hasn't worn off. Not only are we still playing, but I know it is really bothering a lot of people in the media that we are still playing. You could see it yesterday if you read between the lines. We beat a team we supposedly had no chance to beat, but instead the focus was on how we almost blew the game instead of the fact we outplayed a great team. You can even already see how the previews for our sweet 16 game are going to be. Connecticut was the high scoring team on the first weekend. They won both of their games easily, but they were against the lowest seeds they could have possibly faced. We're going to be given no chance against them.

And I am fine with that.

Can we make others cry like this because they didn't think the Old Gold and Black could beat them?

We can put the white jerseys away now unless we meet Arizona in Detroit. We now fill the role of Cinderella as a five seed since 14 of the top 16 seeds are still alive. There are absolutely no expectations from this point forward.

Positives from the Washington game:

JaJuan Johnson - Coach Painter said it best in his post-game presser:

"A lot of people talk about offensive possessions and making shots. It always comes down to making stops," - Matt Painter

The other team cannot beat you if you simply prevent them from scoring. Their talent level, size, strength, speed, ability, and effort does not matter if you prevent them from putting the ball in the basket. Digger and the media do not seem to realize this. Yesterday we saw that in the final minute from Mr. Johnson. I don't care if the final score is 6-4, or1,265,788-1,265,787, as long as we have the higher number at the end it is all that matters. Yes, JaJuan's 22 points were huge, but it was his two blocks that kept us in the lead. When we absolutely needed a basket we were able to give him the ball and he got it. What will make JaJuan so valuable next week is that he can draw a shot-blocker like Hasheem Thabeet away from the basket and free up the lane. He is developing the total package for a big man, and if he stays two more years he will be unstoppable in 2011.

That only means we must do some serious subliminal work on him. This has to be an effort by all Purdue fans to remind him he is not ready for the NBA yet.

Keaton Grant - That had to be one of the quietest double-doubles I have ever seen. In true Purdue fashion, Keaton worked his butt off yesterday. He did all the little things we needed in order to win without drawing attention to himself. Many Washington fans were saying we didn't have the depth needed to hang with them. They predicted we would run out of gas. I didn't even realize we limited out normal eight man rotation to mostly six. Chally played just 7 minutes and Marcus Green was limited to four minutes because of fouls. Keaton was the bench last night, and he was phenomenal in doing so.

Lewis Jackson - I have long talked about unexpected offense. JaJuan, E'Twaun, and Robbie are clearly our primary scorers. We look to them the most, and we are a better team when we get unexpected offense from someone else. LewJack provided that offense yesterday. 11 points is big for him, and with a few more layups dropping he would have been close to 20. His quickness gave us an element few "experts" expected from us. More importantly, he was money from the free throw line. The real question here is: Who will step up in this way for the next game?

Robbie Hummel - We didn't look to Robbie that much on offense. Where he made a huge difference was on the glass. That's what I love about him and everyone else on this team. There is almost zero ego for everyone. Each player is willing to sacrifice personal glory in order to help the team win. Robbie has been our best rebounder of late. I don't care that his scoring has dropped off of late. He is doing all the little things necessary in order to win. This attitude is infectious and if we upset Connecticut, that will be reason #1.

E'Twaun Moore - Yesterday was the first time I saw flashes of the old E'Twaun. Because of that, I have big expectations for him against UConn. I could feel yesterday that he wanted to take that game over. Against Northern Iowa he wanted the ball at the end of the game as well. I know I am not the only one that sensed he has, "the look". Of everyone on the team, I think E'Twaun is most capable of getting red hot and dropping 40 on a team. I have known that since he took the Golden Child Eric Gordon to school in the 2007 Class 4A state title game. He showed glimpses of being on fire against Ohio State last week too. UConn could be that game where he simply goes off.

Bench play - I already talked about Keaton's play, but our bench out-performed theirs. Chally had a big three at a huge moment and didn't do anything wrong when he was in there. Washington, in return, got virtually nothing from its bench. Elston Turner hit a huge 3-pointer, but those were their only bench points. Outside of that they had two assists, three rebounds, and five turnovers from their four bench players. We turned what was supposed to be a strength into a weakness and basically dared Pondexter, Brockman, and Thomas to beat us as a three man team.

Negatives from the Washington game:

The entire second half against Pondexter, Brockman, and Thomas - I am 29 years old and in relatively good shape. I work out 3-4 times per week and can run a 7 minute mile. Seeing those three attack us down the stretch last night left me more exhausted than last week's Big Ten Hoops Day 5K. I give an enormous amount of credit to Washington for not folding when it looked like we were going to run away with this thing. Between the 12 and 8 minute TV timeouts of the second half they trimmed the lead from 11 to 4 and put every Purdue fan in panic mode. I even think we were playing good defense. They simply executed well. Brockman was a beast on the offensive glass and is worthy of all the praise he received before the game. The only post player better than him that I have seen is Blake Griffin. The Thomas vs. LewJack battle was everything it could be. Pondexter could be a Pac-10 POY candidate next season. This team will get better a year from now.

Layups - We need a week's worth of layup drills, like right now. I am tired of penetrating only to see the ball roll off the rim.

Up next:

We are still alive.

Look at those four words for a moment. Right now there are 342 division 1 basketball schools with another 7 going through reclassification to move to division 1. That is 349 schools. Right now, 333 of those schools have absolutely zero chance of winning the 2009 Division 1 men's basketball national championship. Indiana and their five titles cannot win it. Kentucky cannot win it. UCLA cannot win it. Arkansas, California, Cincinnati, Florida, Georgetown, Holy Cross, LaSalle, Loyola-IL, Marquette, Maryland, Michigan, North Carolina State, Ohio State, Oklahoma State, Oregon, San Francisco, Stanford, UNLV, UTEP, Utah, Wisconsin, and Wyoming are all former champions in addition to the above bluebloods. They all have no chance this year of adding to their register.

Purdue can win it.

I know the mere fact that I believe Purdue can win this tournament will instantly discredit me from being a true journalist, but I do not care. Louisville, Arizona, Kansas, Michigan State, Connecticut, Purdue, Missouri, Memphis, Pittsburgh, Xavier, Villanova, Duke, North Carolina, Gonzaga, Syracuse, and Oklahoma are the only teams left that have a chance.

Your conference affiliation does not matter.

Who says who is great in the media does not matter.

Only those 16 schools matter, and we are one of those 16.

Thursday night we play Connecticut at 7:07pm at University of Phoenix Stadium. That is the most important game of the season. Should we win, the victory needs to be viewed as just as important as our win over Arkansas-Pine Bluff, because the next game against Memphis or Missouri will then be the most important game of the season. Until around 9:15pm Thursday night, however, only Connecticut exists. That is all we can control, and it should be our sole focus.

We can beat these guys simply because we have a chance to beat these guys. That's should be our sole focus this week.

Look out UConn, here come the Boilers.

No one will give us a chance. Connecticut has won their games by 82 combined points. We have won ours by seven combined points. The 82 is the largest margin of victory for the 16 teams left. The seven is the smallest. The only thing that matters is two though.

We have two wins in this tournament, and so do they.

You WILL respect us by 9:15pm Thursday night, win or lose.

Champions once again

BoilerTMill — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 01:43:06 -0000

I was a sophomore in high school the last time Purdue won a men's basketball championship of any kind (unless you count the Great Alaska Shootout from 2003-04). That was the third of three straight Big Ten titles, but the program with the most such titles had been in a drought until today. We were more than read. The vastly pro-Purdue crowd (at least 75/25 in our favor) was in a frenzy once things started to turn our way in the second half.

Those who stay will be champions

That is the thing I will take away most from today. Purdue fans came out in force and took over downtown Indianapolis. We had a large contingent in the 5K race in the morning to witness my 93^rd place finish. I would say at least one in six of the more than 600 people in the run were in Purdue attire. At lunch restaurants were overrun with fans. The scalpers out in full force practically attacked anyone wearing Purdue attire, and fans were more than happy to relieve them of tickets. Once inside the arena the lower two bowls were almost completely full, while my ticket purchased for half price had me sitting right at center court of the balcony level. Only the upper corners of Conseco were virtually empty. I was lucky that some friends of mine had club level seats on the opposite side and two seats behind them were open, so I was able to join a very vocal Purdue contingent down there for the second half.

Even the students came in full force. They were scattered throughout the arena, but Paint Crew shirts were everywhere. The band even led chants over the Ohio State band when they were playing (complete with IU Sucks in appropriate places). We took over Conseco and made an atmosphere that was much like a home game in the second half. It was a better, louder crowd than even the two Pacer games I have been to this season. It's only natural it felt like home too. We've now played four games there and we're 4-0 for the year. The only place we've played more games in is Mackey Arena.

I'll have a lot more about the NCAA Tournament and our first round opponent in Northern Iowa later, but for now this was just a great win.

Positives from the Big Ten Tournament Championship:

The crowd - Every Purdue fan in attendance today had a lot of fun. When I left the arena after the team was finished cutting the nets down my hands hurt from clapping and my voice was raw. I wasn't the only one, either. Most of the fans stayed for the trophy presentation and net cutting as well. In the second half everyone was on their feet. This was totally unlike a game at Mackey. It seemed like all my favorite loud, boisterous, jump-around fans were there while the stay-in-your-seat alumni that Boilerdowd loves so much stayed at home to watch it on TV. Once the team started giving us energy we gave it back tenfold. You could feel those guys thrive on it and I know the crowd gave them a huge closing boost.

The crowd should have been able to trim some net today. They worked just as hard.

Chris Kramer - If the crowd was a nuclear reactor, Chris Kramer was plugged into it the entire second half. His steal and assist to LewJack at the 6:43 mark of the second half was probably the play of the game. He read the pass perfectly, played the lane, and had a beautiful dish to Lew Jack instead of forcing the issue himself. It came at a critical juncture where an Ohio State basket would have made things interesting. Instead, it pushed the lead to nine and we were able to hold it above seven for another four minutes. He also banked in a short jumper on the next possession hat was huge. Remember what I said last night about momentum points? All four of those were huge momentum points. Closing out the game with four straight free throws was only appropriate.

Chris Kramer clinches it from the line.

E'Twaun Moore - E'Twaun, JJ, and Robbie each made the all-tournament team. Each one was an MVP of one of the three wins, with E'twaun taking today's honors. I know he has been struggling lately, but Mr. Moore finally found his stroke at the right time. You could tell once his threes started falling he got a huge confidence boost and became much more aggressive with the ball. That is the E'Twaun we need because he is one of the few guys that can create his own shot. Away from the bigger, faster defenders of the Big Ten I expect him to have a field day now in the NCAA Tournament. It was his three at the 12:12 mark of the second half, his third of the half, that gave us the lead for good.

JaJuan Johnson - I will admit that JJ got some awfully lucky rolls on a few shots today, but we'll take them. I like that we once again looked to him when we absolutely needed a basket. We also had the confidence to go to him down low when we were looking for a clinching basket or two. Along with Calasan he took away Ohio State's interior game of Lauderdale and Mullens. Ohio State was shooting well on the perimeter, but they still need more of an interior game to beat elite teams. Calasan and Johnson combined for 21 while Mullens and Lauderdale combined for 7. That's also before you factor in our tournament's Most Outstanding Player.

Robbie Hummel - If you look at the scale to your left on the main page I think we can agree that Robbie has now reached at least level five: Dead male hooker. The kid has played hurt. He has gritted through a rough season that only makes me more excited for next season when he is completely healthy. The questions about his health with the short turnaround of the NCAA Tournament are officially answered after 95 minutes, 48 points, and 28 rebounds in three days. He wasn't as big off an offensive threat today. He deferred mostly to E'Twaun and JJ, but his rebounding was huge. I know this week could be a flare up, but I think we saw what can happen and how things are opened up when he is able to play at a high level.

Keaton Grant - I mention Keaton simply because of the stones he had for that dagger 3-pointer with 47 seconds left. It simply blew the roof off the place and sent the Ohio State fans streaming for the exits.

Everyone else - This was truly a team win. Chally had six boards and five points off the bench. He also made life difficult in the paint for Ohio State. LewJack played turnover-free basketball for 27 minutes of a championship game. He also had a key tie-up with Dallas Lauderdale that was very innocent, but Lauderdale acted like he couldn't believe the little man had the guts to grab the ball. It was a saavy play ebcause LewJack didn't really try to knock the ball away. He delicately placed his hand on top of the ball and ball only, and Lauderdale let him until the jump ball was called.Lewjack's only mistake on the day was an illadvised 3-point attempt just after that when we needed to run clock instead of rushing a three.

Marcus Green had a huge offensive putback for his only points. Even Bobby Buckets played some solid defense during his brief stint that allowed someone else to rest. We did not shoot the ball well, but everything else was flawless.

The seniors - This had to be especially sweet for Marcus Green and Bobby Riddell. They remember the losing. They remember coming to Indianapolis as freshmen and getting their heads handed to them. Bobby was actually the one that grabbed the trophy and carried it to the locker room. That had to be a moment for him that was about as sweet as his performance in the Penn State game at Mackey. As for Green, what perseverance! He deserved this day.

Negatives from the Big Ten Tournament Championship:

Perimeter defense - Diebler got loose too many times in the first half. Turner and Buford tried to repeat their performance from our game in Columbus. It is scary how we had so much trouble playing against their guards, but thankfully we won't have to see them again.

Field goal shooting - It didn't seem like it because we had 14 offensive rebounds to generate second chance points, but we didn't shoot well for most of the game. Having a sub-35% performance next week could mean an early ticket home even against Northern Iowa.

Up Next:

Is this a turning point? This is the first championship this still young team has formally won. It came with their 50^th victory as a group, so it was a milestone in both ways. Beating Northern Iowa will set a new high water mark for wins in a season, topping last year's record. It would also give us our 11^th straight opening round win in NCAA play. I am not a huge fan of where we ended up. I think a five was about a seed too low and I really don't like playing a major conference champ or major conference tournament champ in round 2. It is what it is though. If this team keeps playing like it did in Indy we can win those first two games.

I'll have more about Northern Iowa, Washington, and Mississippi State later in the week, but for now it is time to pick brackets and do ridiculous analysis. I think it is a very fair field, and the only mistake I saw was putting Arizona in instead of Penn State. I am Big Ten-centric though.

Speaking of picks, I am following in the steps of many SB Nation blogs and I have created a tournament challenge through yahoo. Feel free to sign up here and see if you can beat me. The group ID is 96124 and the password is: rails.