SB Nation - Nemanja Calasan

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.

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.

Purdue survives Northern Iowa, makes it 11 straight 1st round NCAA wins

BoilerTMill — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 11:00:13 -0000

11 straight first round victories. That's just amazing when you think about it, especially with all the program has been through. The last time we lost a first round NCAA tournament game was in 1993 to Rhode Island. Since then we have at least lasted past the first day in every tournament we have appeared in. It is not like we have had #1 or #2 seeds and easy game every time either. Here are some of the more notable wins in that stretch:

As the Big Ten Champions in both 1995 and 1996 we had absolute escapes against #14 seeded Wisconsin-Green Bay (49-48) and #16 seed Western Carolina (73-71).

In 1999 we barely got into the tournament as a #10 seed, and some thought we shouldn't have made it at all. We beat Texas 58-54 and #2 seed Miami 73-63 to go to the sweet 16

In 1997, 2003, and 2007 we won in the 8/9 game over Rhode Island, LSU, and Arizona.

Winning is fun!

While our second round hasn't been as impressive in that time, 11 straight first round victories is still a very impressive feat. We haven't had a bad enough game to get knocked early in over 15 years. Even programs like North Carolina, Connecticut, and Duke can't say that. Of course, Northern Iowa certainly made us work for it today.

Positives from the Northern Iowa game:

JaJuan Johnson - JJ was totally dominant early on. We had a clear advantage with our athleticism and instead of pounding the ball down low JJ showed his versatility by exhibiting his mid-range jumper. It was the type of performance early that had me praying he doesn't seriously consider the NBA this year. Playing Washington and Jon Brockman will be a major test for him physically. Brockman doesn't have his height, but he can body up JaJuan well. Of course Eglseder did just that today for a moment. I still think that we need to look for JaJuan more in moments where we need a basket to break momentum. He's the best player we have for that.

E'Twaun Moore - I would love to see E'Twaun become a more aggressive rebounder. To me, it is the one aspect of his game that he could be incredible at if he would just assert himself more. Think of how much our offense would be freed up by a rebounding guard. He only had two boards today, but I can see him getting at least five or six. On another positive note, E'Twaun got it done from the free throw line today. As the broadcasters mentioned in the final seconds, E'Twaun wanted to be on the line for those final free throws and got himself in a position to be there.

Chris Kramer - I was doing the liveblog with the Boiled Sports guys today and they were begging for Chris to shoot the ball. I do have to agree with them here. He's not an awful shooter, and if he just pulls the trigger a couple of times when he is wide open he would open things up for everyone else. I very much appreciate his defense and he is a positive here because he hit some big free throws down the stretch, but we need a little more offense from him.

Robbie Hummel - Robbie has been our most consistent rebounder in our past few games, and that will be very important against a good rebounding team on Saturday. I am confident that the offense will eventually come. He's going to get hot in a game, and if it happens against Washington that will be even better. He will be critical in that game not for his scoring, but for his rebounding. I think this was a nice game for him to set things up for the Huskies.

Poise - I will be the first to admit that it looked like things were getting out of hand in the second half. Still, we showed great poise by never letting Northern Iowa have a serious chance to tie or take the lead. You could tell we were a year older. Last year we faced a more experienced physical team in Xavier and got beat. This year Northern Iowa tried to dominate us physically and we pushed right back. Our shooting was awful, but we still did just enough to win. That's the most important thing right now. We're still playing and they are not. That's all I care about.

New records - We've been to two Final Fours, but we now have a new record for wins in a single season. The 26 wins this year has topped the old record of 25 last year. Most of that is due to the fact teams play a lot more games these days, but it is still a nice feat. Our current juniors can now seriously threaten to have 100 career wins by the time they graduate next season.

Negatives from the Northern Iowa game:

Second half offense - We didn't turn the ball over or do anything that led to momentum points for the Panthers, but we didn't exactly put them away either. Today's trend seems to be the better teams turning it on and avoiding the upsets. Villanova, Gonzaga, and Memphis have all done that today. We did just the opposite. We played our best at the beginning then had to hold on and avoid a furious charge. Part of this comes from not having any offensive flow for most of the second half. Kramer would shoot, so Northern Iowa knew they only had to guard four guys. No one else was hitting, but fortunately we were doing enough on the defensive end to survive. This has to change on Saturday.

3-point shooting - We weren't hitting the three, but fortunately we did go away from it for most of the game. Chally hit one early, but that was about the only time we were shooting well. I am honestly surprised we shot better than 40% from the game. It certainly felt like we shot better Sunday against Ohio State, but the numbers don't lie. Of course, you have to separate the halves. In the first half we were 48%. In the second half we were 31% and had one field goal in the last nine minutes. Someone needs to tell the guys the last eight minutes of the game do count.

Up Next:

The important thing is that we are moving on. Everyone wants this next game because it means we went one more step nationally than we did last season. I have had enough of scarring higher seeds in the second round of the NCAA's. I want to get one of those games. What better time than now? We've got to have more consistent offense against Washington and we will have to continue working hard on both ends of the floor.

We survived another slugfest today, but that is nothing new. We have been in slugfests all season long. That's the nature of Big Ten play, so what is one more. We're going to have to play better against Washington, but I know we will rise to the occasion.

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.

It's Banner time!

BoilerTMill — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 03:30:19 -0000

Much like Purdue's basketball season, today had its ups and down. I got in the car and heard the new HURT song when I started driving to Marion, which rocked. A St. Patrick's Day race in downtown Indy delayed me from getting my coffee, which sucked. My breakfast sandwich from Dunkin's rocked, but I got pulled over on the way to Marion. Kokomo lost, but Purdue won in the ultimate up and down. Both were in games against rivals that had already beaten my respective teams this season. In the end the Purdue win triumphed over everything, even the difficult Marion loss. I am very happy that I can sit on my couch with laptop in hand exhausted and sated, knowing that the morning will bring the Big Ten HoopsDay 5k and the potential to hang a new banner in Mackey Arena.

It has been a relief the past two nights to see the team that we all expected to see for the past few months. It's amazing how just a few minors tweaks can make us look like an entirely different team. We're hitting our shots again. We're disrupting teams on the defensive end. When we're hitting shots from outside it frees things up for JaJuan in the paint. The motion offense we run actually has motion in that regard. Things are running so smoothly right now that we will be very dangerous in the big tournament next week if it keeps up.

It was a fun day to be JaJuan Johnson

Positives from the Illinois game:

Robbie Hummel - For the second straight game he gave us the play we have desperately needed from him. Robbie has become the type of guy that is essential to our offense because he opens things up for everyone else. This is because of Robbie's versatility. He play virtually anywhere on the floor, a trait that no one else has on our team. JaJuan is primarily and inside guy. E'Twaun is a shooter and a slasher. Keaton is strictly a shooter, but can occasionally drive. LewJack pushes tempo and distributes. Robbie can do all of these, and that allows everyone else to do what they do best. Best of all, Robbie's back is holding up nicely with games on consecutive games.

Chris Kramer - Chris' offensive play gets back to a key point for our offense. When we get surprise offense him, such as 8-10 points when he usually only has a couple, that is another thing that opens things up everywhere else. Kramer is also a guy that gets what I like to call momentum points. For example, his authoritative dunk last night was worth just two points, but it had untold value in terms of setting tone and gaining momentum. Since many of Kramer's baskets come from steals created by his defensive play they lend themselves to getting the crowd involved. They also motivate the rest of the team and play a vital role in giving us confidence.

JaJuan Johnson - It was a doubly good day for JaJuan. He had a Chevy Player of the Game level of performance. Later in the evening his old high school, led by future teammate Patrick Bade, won its first ever regional title by taking down state power Lawrence North in a shocking upset. JaJuan is another guy that provides momentum points because you have to be clinically dead if you don't get out of your seat when he thunderdunks like he does. If he can ever become a dominant rebounder he will have a completely unstoppable game. When our defense contains the perimeter like we have in the past two games it allows JaJuan to eliminate everything within five feet of the basket. Just wait until we get to the NCAA Tournament and we start plying teams that haven't seen him yet.

Defense - Illinois is an up and down offensive team. When they are hitting they look very good, but today was one of those days, especially in the first half, where Illinois was completely disrupted by our defense. A large reason for that is the loss of Chester Frazier, who clearly makes them go. After Meacham made those two early 3-pointers we made the necessary adjustments and Illinois did virtually nothing for the rest of the half. It's easy to win when you hold a team scoreless for the last eight and a half minutes of the half.

Negatives from the Illinois game:

Second half - The second half of this game seemed very lackluster to me. Instead of going for the kill we just kind of held them at arm's length and didn't allow them to get too close. We still hit some shots, but it was almost like we simply tried to conserve the lead and energy for tomorrow instead of push for more. Hopefully this strategy will pay off in the long run.

Ohio State Preview: Eleven Warriors game wrap

Tomorrow is obviously a big day for us. We get another team that is capable of playing very well or very poorly, just like Illinois. Today was a day when they looked every bit as good as their talent level on paper indicates. We have seen both already. In Columbus Evan turner and William Buford went nuts. In West Lafayette we stomped the life out of them. I think we'll see a little bit of both in this game. Ohio State will play better because they will certainly remember the 25 point loss at Mackey Arena. We will play better because we have the confidence of that win.

The same things from my earlier Ohio State preview will apply tomorrow. We have to step out and not let Turner and Buford drive. When they drive they can either finish or set up Mullens and Lauderdale for easy baskets. We have to rebound well, which we refused to do in Columbus. Robbie Hummel will be huge in this area. He has been a rebounding machine in this tournament, and he was absent in the overtime loss at Ohio State.

JaJuan and Chally have to repeat their performance from the second Ohio State game. They completely dominated Mullens and Lauderdale the second time around. We had a 32-17 rebounding edge in that game. Surprisingly E'Twaun led in rebounding that day with 10. It's time for him to get more involved in the flow of things too. I honestly feel like we're going to take this thing tomorrow. We're finally getting on a bit of a roll at just the right now. Let's go raise a banner tomorrow. Purdue 62, Ohio State 58

For now though I am exhausted. It's time fall asleep on the couch and get ready for tomorrow. I apologize for the disjointed thoughts here tonight, as I am so tired I feel like I am just repeating myself. I will be running in the 5k in the morning at 11am, then I will be trying to scalp some tickets and actually attend the game. Though I won't be online since I'll probably be at the game, the Big Ten bloggers have proposed a giant Cover It Live to participate in for the final. That will be going up some time before tipoff, so I encourage you to stop by and participate.

Big Ten Tournament Day 2

BoilerTMill — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 15:09:47 -0000

Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany has to be thrilled with the first day results in Indianapolis. The scenario to get eight Big Ten teams into the NCAA Tournament went perfectly. Michigan, Penn State, and Minnesota each had convincing wins over the teams that probably needed the automatic bid in order to dance. Only Northwestern had an outside chance at an at large bid without winning the auto-bid. Best of all, Michigan and Penn State weren't immediately eliminated with bad losses. Even ESPN's Bubble Watch agreed this morning.

There has been plenty of help around the country. Miami sucked yesterday, much to my chagrin. Kansas State is likely gone. Providence may be gone. Arizona may be gone. Boston College locking up a bid helps our seeding as that has been a nice win for us all year. If I had my way Virginia Tech and Maryland would already be out because I don't think any team that can't finish at least .500 in their league should get invited unless they get the automatic bid. For those Big Ten bubble teams that lose today they had better hope Baylor does not win the Big 12 tournament. That would steal a bid, and they absolutely have the talent to do so.

Anyone up for round 2?

#1 Michigan State (25-5) vs. #8 Minnesota (22-9) Noon

Blogcentric previews: The Daily Gopher, Spartans Weblog, Enlightened Spartan

Michigan State is obviously safe. Minnesota should be safe, but a win over the Spartans would likely take care of business. Taking care of business is exactly what Michigan State did in both meetings. The Spartans won 70-58 in Minneapolis before crushing the Gophers 76-47 in East Lansing. If Minnesota plays the way it did for much of its game with Northwestern yesterday you can expect another Michigan State blowout.

I think Michigan State has been on a mission since getting throttled by Purdue. They practically pitched a shutout in the final five minutes at Illinois to lock up the Big Ten title. They held off a determined Indiana team during the Hoosiers' final game in Bloomington, and judging by Indiana's results in their last two games it may have finally broken their spirits. The Spartans have won five straight since that night in Mackey Arena, and with Oklahoma, Connecticut, and Pittsburgh already waiting they can make a serious case for a #1 seed.

If Michigan State plays as they have lately I have a hard time seeing Minnesota beating them. I think it will take a lackluster effort by the Spartans for Tubby and Co. to move on. The Gophers do have a win over a #1 seed-esque team in Lousiville. They dominated that game as well, so the ability is there. I like Minnesota's size because with it they can compete with Michigan State on the glass. The Gophers didn't use it well yesterday though in getting outrebounded by Northwestern. Northwestern is the worst rebounding team in the league, while Michigan State is easily the best. Michigan State 75, Minnesota 65

#4 Wisconsin (19-11) vs. #5 Ohio State (20-9) 2:30pm

Blogcentric Previews: Eleven Warriors, Bucky's 5^th Quarter,

I see two identical teams here, and that is often what you get in the Big Ten's 4/5 game. Wisconsin gets the white jerseys by virtue of their 55-50 win in Madison, which was the only previous meeting between the two this year. Both were 10-8 in Big Ten play. Both played tough non-conference schedules, but Ohio State's win over Butler is a difference maker. Wisconsin lost to Marquette, Texas, and Connecticut. Both teams are likely safe, but I think Wisconsin needs this one just a little bit more. In my mind, getting to 20 overall wins in a tough conference like the Big Ten is still a solid litmus test for an at large berth. Of the eight teams in question, Wisconsin is the only one not there yet. They would be well served not to have that strike against them as competitive as the race for bids is. That 6 game losing streak in the middle of conference play is still a mark against them, as is Minnesota's sweep of them.

Marcus Landry had a big game for Wisconsin the first time around, but Evan Turner was even bigger with 23 points. Dallas Lauderdale was ineffective and Jon Diebler couldn't get open for anything. Wisconsin also kept Ohio State off the glass, winning the rebounding battle 30-21. That helped the Badgers overcome a very poor shooting night. Wisconsin was 20 of 55 the first time around, but allowed just 3 offensive rebounds and limited Ohio State to just 38 field goal attempts. Ohio State also had 19 turnovers.

If Wisconsin puts up those defensive numbers again the Buckeyes will have a difficult time getting the win. Ohio State had to grit out wins over Iowa and Northwestern to close the season as well. Wisconsin has gotten every game it absolutely had to win down the stretch here except the loss at Minnesota. Indiana is the only team to score more than 60 against them in that span, and Wisconsin countered that by scoring 85 for the first time since the second game of the year. They are playing great defense right now, and that is why I give them a slight edge in what should be a great Big Ten-style game. First team to 60 wins. Wisconsin 61, Ohio State 55

#2 Illinois (23-8) vs. #7 Michigan (20-12) 6:30pm

Blogcentric Previews: Maize N' Brew, Hail to the Orange, UM Hoops, Michigan Sports Center

Maize N' Brew practically had a party yesterday during their Cover it Live event with Black Heart Gold Pants. The convincing win over Iowa combined with solid victories over Purdue and Minnesota to finish the year likely put the Wolverines into the Dance for the first time in 11 years. That is the longest non-Northwestern drought in the conference. If Michigan wins the rubber match with Illinois they are definitely in. The Wolverines won in Ann Arbor 74-64 while The Illini won in Champaign 66-51.

Few teams in America rely on two guys as much as Michigan relies on DeShawn Sims and Manny Harris. They combined for 45 points yesterday and Michigan won in convincing fashion. If one or both are off Michigan looks awful. If Laval Lucas-Perry helps out like he did against Minnesota, Michigan becomes that much tougher to beat. Illinois has to prevent Sims from establishing himself down low early. If they can do that it allows them to get out on Harris.

A big factor in Michigan's favor could be the status of Chester Frazier. He is one of Illinois' top defensive players and he is doubtful with a hand injury. He also is the catalyst of Illinois offense with 5.3 assists per game. The Illini offense wasn't exactly a well-oiled machine down the stretch in losses to Michigan State and Penn State. It has had a tendency to disappear at times this season, especially in the infamous 38-33 loss to Penn State.

Michigan is on a mission right now. They want to erase any lingering doubt about an NCAA bid and they can do that with another win over the Illini. I can't see Illinois functioning the same way without a player like Frazier who means so much to them on both sides of the ball. Michigan 70, Illinois 61

#3 Purdue (22-9) vs. #3 Penn State (22-10) 9pm

Blogcentric Previews: Boiled Sports, Black Shoe Diaries

Our historical performance in the Big Ten Tournament is awful. Since winning our first two games ever in 1998 we're 2-11. That's just sad. Only Northwestern has been worse, never making it to Saturday or having a first round bye. They are now 4-12 in the event, and with a loss tonight we will join them. We also played like crap in our last two games.

Despite that, I like our chances tonight. While the fans have been grousing, things have been strangely quiet from Mackey Arena since the Michigan State loss on Sunday. No players have spoken. Coach Painter hasn't said much. You get the sense this team is simmering right now after having their nose rubbed in two straight dismal performances. And they should be pissed off. We're better than this, and we need to freakin' act like it.

I honestly don't see how you can have Penn State listed as the worst of the Big Ten Bubble teams. If you say that the Big Ten definitely has three locks right now Penn State went 4-2 against them. Rhode Island, Temple, and even at Iowa in double OT aren't horrible losses. They have 22 wins and I think they should be in with yesterday's convincing win over IU.

They won 67-64 in Happy Valley, but we were without both Chris Kramer and Robbie Hummel in that game. Even then, I felt like we let one get away. We were dominating in the second half and had actually built a small lead before we froze up at the end. With both Kramer and Hummel in West Lafayette we dominated, shutting out Talor Battle and winning. 61-47.

We need angry Purdue tonight. This is our fourth two game losing streak. We followed the previous three with convincing wins over Arkansas Pine Bluff, Wisconsin, and Penn State. We also showed we like the rims at Conseco Fieldhouse before the season by blowing out Davidson there. We will be the last team to take the floor in the Big Ten Tournament, but we were the only ones to play a regular season game there. I think we're going to come out angry tonight. We have a lot to prove and we're a dangerous team when that is the case. We need to keep harassing Battle and not let Cornley dominate down low. We also absolutely need Calasan and Green to show up tonight. They have been absent the last two games and need to start playing like men again. Purdue 68, Penn State 62

I'll be in and out throughout the day to comment on games. I'll also likely do a separate open thread for tonight's game at 9. I am still hoping to score some cheap tickets, so I may actually be there. If not, I may try a Cover it Live event.

Time to Wake up

BoilerTMill — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 14:31:13 -0000

This is one tough conference.

The game I expected to cover last night was assigned to someone else, so I ended up driving to West Lafayette and using my tickets. I expected a fun night where we would take care of business at home. It was senior night after all. We would assert our will, win by 10-15 points, and get ready for Michigan State on Sunday. It even looked that way in the second half. When Chris Kramer scored on a fast break thanks to the perfect pass from LewJack we were up 44-34 with about 15 minutes left. At that point I expected to slowly pad the lead, then play the final minute with the four seniors on the floor.

I'm still waiting for that.

Remember this and move on guys...

I am giving a ton of credit to Northwestern this morning. They are absolutely alive for their first ever NCAA Tournament berth and I will be pulling for them hard in Columbus this weekend and in Indianapolis next week (unless we face them). These Wildcats are fearless, they play hard, and they deserve to go to the tournament. They would already be there if not for a couple of late collapses. As long as they keep winning things are breaking their way they have a chance. Georgetown, Notre Dame, and Miami have removed themselves from the bubble discussion his week with some bad losses, so they are getting plenty of help in that department. If you are a Wildcat fan you cheer have to like hell for Butler to win the Horizon League tourney, Gonzaga or St. Mary's to win the WCC, and Memphis to win the conference USA so there are as many at large bids out there as possible.

Positives from Senior Night

The Paint Crew - Seeing the students in action this season makes me wish I was still in school. On my senior day in 2002 we played an equally bad Penn State team and there were maybe 100 students there with me. We didn't do anything special either for John Allison, Rodney Smith, Maynard Lewis, and Joe Marshall. Yesterday the Paint Crew had appropriate tributes for all four seniors. As I walked to my seats I ran into a kid that had painted a Bosnian flag on his chest. The Buckets Tribute, California flag, and dollar bills for Green were excellent as well.

The Paint Crew has gone above and beyond this season. I am a big fan of the Defense Lives Here sign, though it didn't get much use last night. To those who are returning next season, I urge you to keep it going strong. We now have one of the best student sections in the country, and you should also be commended for raising more than $2,000 in the Coaches vs. Cancer challenge against the Izzone. Please come out strong in Indy next week here at the Big Ten Tournament. I'll gladly join you if I can find tickets.

Keaton Grant - He was the one guy that really seemed on last night. Even late, he hit a critical 3-pointer that gave us one last gasp before the defensive breakdown in the final seconds. Everyone else seemed to just get stuck offensively. We couldn't even get JaJuan going down low, though much of that was due to Northwestern's defense.

Negatives from Senior Night

Officiating - I don't think it had any bearing on the game because it was not the officials' fault we went over nine minutes without scoring a point. It's also not their fault we couldn't hit free throws in crunch time. Still, these guys were terrible last night. As I shouted at one juncture, they were a vast cornucopia of suck (See Boilergal, I told you it was going in here!). During the lengthy review of the disputed 3-pointer I had my entire section laughing with comments of, "Are you guys reviewing all the calls you missed!" They would gesture, "Yes, you missed that one. That one too. Definitely that one. It's taking so long because you've missed so many!" The only one I didn't bust out was, "You might want to take a pregnancy test because you've missed 2 periods already!"

Seriously, the officiating this season in all Big Ten games has been horrible. I know Purdue fans aren't alone in thinking this either. Again, they weren't the reason we lost last night, but can we please do something about this? I am beginning to wonder if it will help or hurt so many Big Ten teams getting into the tournament just because we'll finally get away from Big Ten officials.

Rebounding - THIS is a main reason we lost last night. Northwestern is the worst offensive rebounding team in the league by far and they simply dominated the glass in the second half. We were out of position for rebounds all night long. Northwestern had 16 second chance points off of 10 offensive rebounds. 12 of those points came from 6 offensive rebounds after it was 44-34. That doesn't even count the two offensive board possession where Northwestern didn't score, but they took 1:40 off of the clock by working the shot clock down each time and rebounding their miss twice. This was simply a pathetic effort on the glass against a team that has rebounding as a glaring weakness.

Turnovers - Northwestern deserves an ENORMOUS amount of credit for not turning the ball over last night. They had just five turnovers, and three of those came in the last four minutes when we were frantically trying to come back. For a team that has had issues with holding leads this year they did not crumble even when they were down. I have nothing but respect for them now, and I do not want to face them in Indianapolis. They patiently ran their offense and attacked the slightest breakdown for easy baskets inside. I don't even think our defense was that bad. Northwestern simply ran their offense that well.

Our entire offense in the last 15 minutes - That was just brutally ugly. We stopped moving without the ball. We took horrible shots. We didn't rebound. We were hesitant to take shots that were open. We had no offensive flow. This is just a laundry list of things that took me 1,000 words to get to because I didn't want to address it. How many times did we drive in the line only to stop and turn it over because Keaton or LewJack was indecisive? We simply cannot handle Northwestern's defense this year. They have made us look silly twice now, and if I were the team that gets us in the opening round of the NCAA's I would definitely study both northwestern games. They are just a very poor matchup for us because we look totally confused against their defense.

Up next:

Well, there goes our dream of a top 4 seed unless we beat Michigan State and at least make the Big Ten Tournament final. It is my hope that every Big Ten team that makes the tournament does well because then it will show how brutal this conference is. If we get eight teams in, which is possible, we need to win six opening round games and get four to the sweet 16. Michigan State is a deserving champion and they may finish with four losses and a few close escapes. Even now, I don't think there is much doubt we're one of the three best teams in the league, yet we may finish with seven conference losses. Even had we been completely healthy all season we would still have at least four. We also had close escapes at Northwestern, Iowa, and Wisconsin. The top nine teams in this conference are tough as nails, and even Iowa has been a pest on its home floor for many teams. The same is true for Indiana. The Big Ten Tournament is going to be fun next week because every game may turn out to be an elimination game. Even Indiana has a role because I can certainly see them rising up and knocking off the #6 seed to ruin their year. They play hard and have nothing to lose. I don't even say that derisively. They had no business being in the game with Michigan State Tuesday night and they damn near won it! Whoever gets the #6 seed will not have an easy time with them.

It is also clear to me that we are the sole team that will decide our fate in March. This season feels like a step back because of the conference losses and everything. This is true even though the conference is exponential tougher this year and we've fought through so many injuries. When we are on like we have been against Ohio State and Michigan State recently I think we can beat anybody in the country. If we play like we did in the second half last night we are a first round upset waiting to happen.

This needs to be a wake up call. Northwestern is a very good team, but we flat out sucked last night. We have to move forward and refocus to play our best basketball of the season now. I have long said that I don't care if we're not playing well during the regular season as long as we play well in March. Well, that time is now here. We are more than capable of winning the Big Ten Tournament next week and making a deep run in the NCAA's. We're also more than capable of playing like crap and losing our next three games to have a very disappointing finish. It's up to us now.