SB Nation - E`Twaun Moore

Wrapping up the Valpo win (With some Boilermakings Notes)

BoilerTMill — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 17:41:06 -0000

More photos » by Michael Conroy - AP

E'Twaun for 3-twaun! (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)

8-0 is 8-0. I think we are all very pleased with that result so far. With the exception of the South Dakota State game, we have dominated every "lesser opponent" and never let them hang around for a potential upset. Cal State Northridge, Central Michigan, Buffalo, and Valparaiso never had a chance with the way we started. We have reserved our slower starts for some of the bigger games (Wake, St. Joseph's) but have recovered quickly.

Maybe I had a small part in this. I questioned JJ, Robbie, and E'Twaun after the Wake Forest game about being a second half team. Since then, we have rocked opponents with dominant first halves. Maybe they took my question personally and have decided to make a concerted effort to start games better. Then again, maybe we're simply that much better than Buffalo and Valparaiso. It is probably the latter, but we'll see what happens against Alabama.

Ultimately, that is the story of this game. We played a team that we should dominate and did exactly that. Remember two years ago when we struggled with teams like Indiana State and even lost at home to Wofford? Those days seem like the distant past right now. We have come to expect easy games against lesser competition. That is a very good place to be in. Any game in which we get a Walk-on Whiteout near the end (Bubba Day, Stevie Loveless, Kyle Coleman, Dru Anthrop, and Mark Wohlford. Think about it) is a good day.

Positives from the Valpo game:

Defense on Brandon Wood - I totally forgot to mention this in the preview, but seeing Chris Kramer play against Wood was impressive. Some might think it was a case of him playing good defense against a great scorer. The thing is, Kramer is familiar with Wood. Huntington North and Kokomo are both North Central Conference opponents. Kramer's Vikings played Wood's Wildkats when Wood was a sophomore and junior. Kramer got the better of Wood both times then, and he had him last night by forcing him into four turnovers. Wood did most of his scoring very late when the game was already decided and Kramer was on the bench.

Robbie and E'Twaun from deep - They got it going early and often, finishing a combined 8 of 9 from the field. I got to see Robbie's first three and once he splashed it you could almost see the light go back on for him as he ran back up the court. He had the look of, "there it is!" in regards to finding his shot.

Keaton Grant's health - Keaton showed the knee is just fine with a great burst for a breakaway dunk in the first half. It was amazing to see him pull away from the defender like that. We need to get him involved a little more in the offense, but I am confident that his experience and leadership will come around in Big Ten play.

Offensive balance - JJ gave us 19 and 8 without really having to try that much. E'Twaun had 19 and shot 70% from the field. Hummel had 15 and hit all his threes. Keaton had 10. Kramer even had nine and six assists. As a team we shot 53% from the field with extensive time for the freshmen and subs. We were better than 45% from long range and almost 80% from the line. If we can consistently get those numbers from our starters we will win a lot of games. It shows that every single player, even Kramer, is an offensive threat. Kramer is a bit like me with his jumper. He is deadly when left open from 15-18 feet. If he steps out to 3-point land the accuracy goes away.

Negatives from the Valpo game:

Robbie Hummel's near injury - I don't think I am alone when I say that I nearly crapped myself when Robbie went up for a late second half rebound only to have his legs cut from under him and land on his spine. I am only 30 and shouldn't have that feeling for about 60 more years minimum. Evan Turner's injury is way too fresh in our minds, as is Robbie's from last year.

Boilermakings notes:

Here are some odds and ends I have found lately that weren't quite enough for a full Boilermakings, but they need to be mentioned:

Lost Letterman interview with Walter Jordan - This is a pretty good podcast with the former Boiler.

Cuanzo Martin off to a 7-0 start - Screw other coaches and their coaching trees. Gene Keady is the Godfather of undefeated teams!

Ladies lose Big Ten opener to Northwestern - This team is just decimated by injuries this year. Looks like the NCAA streak is in serious jeopardy.

Brees on Leno - Our favorite quarterback was awesome last night.

Curtis Painter now 2^nd string behind Peyton Manning - I mentioned this one yesterday, but it will be good to see him get some regular season reps after the Colts clinch everything. He won't get a start barring an absolute disaster that would cause rioting in the streets of Indianapolis (Manning getting hurt), but he will add to the Cradle of Quarterbacks title. If not for the Brandons (Kirsch and Hance) we would have a Michigan-like streak of consecutive starting QB's that played in the NFL. Will Elliott join that group?

If he does start I had better get my shotgun from my dad's house and some canned goods.

"It was like he had three guys in his pocket..."

BoilerTMill — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 16:52:35 -0000

More photos » by Michael Conroy - AP

If that is not a WTF look I don't know what is

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That is what coach Dino Gaudio had to say about Purdue's second half defense last night. He didn't even have any preamble when he began his section of the press conference after the game. After Wake Forest's Ishmael Smith torched Purdue for 10 first half points and the Demon Deacons held a 31-29 halftime lead, Purdue cranked up its defensive intensity. Smith hit just 2 of 6 second half attempts after going 5 of 9 in the first half.

"He couldn't do anything. It was like he had three guys in his pocket the entire second half." - Dino Gaudio

There is a reason that the Paint Crew, which was in postseason form all night, serenaded Wake Forest in the closing minutes with, "BIG TEN BASKETBALL clap clap clapclapclap."

I did get a chance to ask one question in the presser. (As a sidebar, I did have a "holy shit!" moment when I walked into the press room at the exact same time E'Twaun, JJ, and Robbie did. It was like, "Hi, guys." as I was 3 feet away from them. Fortunately I maintained my composure and didn't go fanboy). I asked the guys if they felt they were becoming a second half team after the way this game and the St. Joseph's game played out. Here was JaJuan's response:

"We don't want it to be that way, but it is kind of how it has been. You want to go out and have that good start but right now we feel like anything can happen in the second half."

Enough hard-hitting real journalism. Let's break this game down.

Positives from the Wake Forest game:

Purdue's hosting ability - If I hadn't been so flustered and freaking out (more on this in a moment), I could have really enjoyed sitting down and seeing the placard that said, "Purdue welcomes Travis Miller" right in the press section. Talk about a moment of vindication after working on this blog for over three years. I've covered tons of high school games since 1999, but this was like getting called up to the Majors after toiling for ten years in the minor leagues. Everything was first class on Purdue's end. I owe a big thank you to Randy at Rush the Court for setting everything up, as well as Purdue's basketball SID Cory Walton and his staff for everything on Purdue's end. Let's hope this does not turn into a cup of coffee situation and instead becomes a 10-year journeyman career.

E'Twaun Moore - I thought I saw it in the Tennessee game, but I saw it even more in person last night. E'Twaun is developing The Look. He is getting the ball in his hands specifically looking to take over the game. I wish I had remembered to ask him about this last night now. You can tell at certain moments that he wants to dominate the game, and he has the confidence now that he can do it. I absolutely love it.

Chris Kramer - Okay Paint Crew, if there are members that read Hammer & Rails I have a new chant for you. In the LiveBlog last night I mentioned that we needed a Kramer Moment. Basically, it is whenever he makes a great defensive move and causes another turnover or any great play for that matter. The next time he does it, let's get a Kramer Moment chant going. Some top Kramer moments: His swim move, the shot from his knees, His tomahawk jam against Illinois two years ago. The man keeps his legend going. He really is the Secretary of Defense, adding four more steals and a sweet assist to Robbie on a break last night.

Robbie Hummel - He'll break out of his shooting slump. That's what many of these next few games before West Virginia are for. In the meantime, I love that he continues to work hard on the glass and at the defensive end. He knows what he needs to do too. His response to going 0 for 6 from 3-point land: "That's unacceptable."

JaJuan Johnson - 21-9-3. I'll take those numbers from him any night of the week. Is there a more special moment than when he gets the ball and everyone in the building knows a thunderdunk is coming?

Rebounding - Anytime you out-rebound a bigger team it is a very good thing.

The Paint Crew - I made this comment several times last night, but that was the loudest I have ever heard Mackey Arena. Even the alumni were loud. It absolutely gave me chills and it took every fiber of my being to maintain professionalism and not go nuts with you. They thoroughly disrupted Wake's offensive flow int eh second half (though foul trouble helped as well).Someone on the GBI football board proposed a similar group for football next season, even having it including young alumni who want to get loud and crazy during games. Sign me up!

Negatives from the Wake Forest game -

My 5pm until about 7:30 - For about two and a half hours things could not have gone worse in trying to get things going. A sampling:

Leaving Indy at 5pm should give me plenty of time, but traffic slowed things by about 20 minutes on 465.
Getting the press pass and parking pass from Mackey, then actually getting parked behind Ross-Ade, was a trial. As a result, I had approximately the National Anthem to get the laptop up and running. Next time, I'll try and have everything mailed to me. It would have saved me half an hour at least.
I had to scramble down to the press room to get the wireless access code. That wa the one very small negative that it wasn't at the press row, but in Purdue's defense I thought I would have more time to get to the press room pre-game.
Cover It Live refused to let me sign in, and wouldn't e-mail me the new password. I finally had to create a new account, redo the code, e-mail it to Rush the Court, and re-input it into my Open Thread. This is why we have nothing for about the first eight minutes of the game as I was in panic mode, texting, e-mailing, and flashing between sites. This was after running full-tilt from the back of the R Lot behind Ross-Ade to Mackey.
The first half went well. Everyone was playing nice in the comments, so I turned off moderation. Then things went a little south. Purdue took over the Cover It Live chat and ruined the neutrality of it a bit. Since this was for the national (and neutral) Rush the Court it ended up being a little counter-productive. While it is awesome so many of you readers showed up to chat, I need to moderate things better next time if I am there for Rush the Court. Hence, there will be more moderation on my end instead of turning it off like I did. You guys can, however, leave plenty of comments in the Hammer & Rails open thread away from the Cover It Live. Chalk it up to a lesson learned.

This made my evening feel like an unmitigated disaster on the way home. I know I didn't really get to enjoy much of the game, but it was fun running the liveblog. I would give myself a D as far as coverage for this game and the actual assignment. The only saving grace was getting an actual question in at the press conference. Had the main reason for me being there been this site, the grade is easily raised to a C.

3-point shooting - We all know 1 for 15 isn't going to cut it. It looked like we were leaving everything short on our home rims. Ah well. The shots will start falling eventually.

Up next:

We now have a pair of wins in the bank that are growing interest, with St. Joseph's potentially joining that group if they continue to have a good year. Soon I'll be able to d the non-conference opponents tracking sheet again to see how our portfolio is doing.

I do think this is a major step forward though. One journalist asked how things were different his year from last year in terms of experience. She mentioned that we had a close loss in a preseason tournament (Oklahoma) and a loss at home in the ACC-Big Ten Challenge (Duke). Those are now wins for us this year (Tennessee and Wake) in similar circumstances. Robbie pointed out that experience was the big factor now. This team now knows it can win these types of games. That is a huge step. The difference between thinking you can win and knowing you can by actually doing it is huge. We're going to be favored in every game now until a huge West Virginia game. The only real test in that stretch will be December 12^th against Alabama.

It is now time to work on the freshmen. DJ Byrd and Patrick bade need a lot of work, plus we still don't have Sandi Marcius back. These next few games will get their legs under them and have things running smoothly for that next big test.

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?

Purdue basketball schedule fully released

BoilerTMill — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 14:03:55 -0000

I had already talked about the non-conference portion of the schedule in a previous post, but Purdue was kind enough to finally release the conference portion of the 2009-10 men's basketball schedule. There were no surprises in terms of opponents, as we already knew that we had a home and home except Northwestern and Michigan. In a way, that is a bit of a blessing. We won at Northwestern last year (playing an awful game in the process), while losing at Michigan. The reverse was true at home, but this year we go to Evanston while our only game against Michigan is in Mackey Arena. Here are some other key points:

11 Times on ESPN or ESPN2 - And this is before CBS or ESPN picks up any of the late season games that will decide the Big Ten title. Fans won't get a chance to see any of the Paradise Jam games on TV, but the December 12^th trip to Alabama will be on ESPN2. After that, every Big Ten game will at least be on Big Ten Network.

No excuse for a slow start - Last year, we began conference play with tough games against Illinois and Penn State. We lost both, digging an 0-2 hole before anything else. This year we open conference play at Iowa, which is likely going to be the weakest team in the conference. They will still be tough at home because we never play well in Iowa City, but if we are truly a Final Four caliber team we will handle this game easily.

Everything else is brutal - After Iowa, everything else will be a war. That is to be expected when six conference opponents went to the NCAA's last year and all likely got better this year. Two more went to the NIT (with Penn State winning the thing), and Northwestern may have gotten better. Indiana can't be worse than last year, and it is a rivalry with them after all. Only the second Iowa game on February 13^th provides a break. There are no gimmes this year, but at least that is the case for everyone.

Three straight home games - Michigan, Wisconsin, and Penn State all come to Mackey Arena in a row during late January. This is probably the easiest stretch of schedule solely from the standpoint of getting the games at home. These games are sandwiched in between trips to Champaign and Bloomington.

Indiana - It is a welcome sight to see the Hoosiers back on the schedule twice. Indiana should be better, but they will be playing a number of freshmen who must learn by fire in one of the toughest Big Ten seasons I have ever seen. I can't remember the last time we won in Bloomington, but it needs to be February 4^th on ESPN2. The Hoosiers come to West Lafayette on Senior Day this year, which is fine with me as long as we don't play like we did on Senior Day this year.

Final Thoughts - Honestly, if there is any team in the country that can get through this schedule with less than four losses they deserve to be a number 1 seed. Our tough non-conference schedule will prepare us for this, but it is still a grueling task. There are literally no weaknesses in this year's Big Ten. Some tough games I see for us are of course a trip to East Lansing on February 9^th. Winning at Ohio State on February 17^th would be big since we have lost our last two games there in overtime. January 9^th at Wisconsin will be tough, as no one has ever beaten Wisconsin three times at the Kohl Center, let alone in a row. Finally, January 19^th at Illinois will be a tough game as well.

Robbie and E'Twaun named Wooden Award candidates - Since there are only 50 pre-season candidates for this award, this shows how good we should be when two players are named to the National Player of the Year Ward watch list. We could have had a third in JaJuan Johnson, but this is yet another reason that JaJuan needs to be patient. Stay in school, get your degree, dominate in 2010-11 with Travis Carroll as your backup, leave a legacy...

Is my hypnosis working?

Prepare for the season another way - Buy a Defense Lives Here T-shirt! Use the code CP1NATB7H to get $3 off. I finally ordered my own and they look great!

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)

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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.

What the Enemy Thinks: Sitting Down with the UConn Bloggers

BoilerTMill — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 14:11:35 -0000

My regular readers know that the Big Ten group here takes great pride in its roundtables. While I and Boiled Sports carry the Purdue banner, we are almost literally overrun with representatives from Penn State, Ohio State, and Michigan. Today we step outside our small circle of friend to talk with three bloggers who are dedicated to following tomorrow night's opponent: Connecticut.

David Gillett publishes the Blog UConn Huskies basketball and was kind enough to give me a small space on his blog this morning.

Justin Verrier is the publisher of the UConn blog and posted my answers to his questions yesterday (as scooped by the handsome devils at Boiled Sports).

Matt Stout is a writer for the Norwich Bulletin out in Connecticut, so he is much like me in that he is a real journalist on the side fighting undercover as a blogger. He publishes Matt's UConn blog.

These three gentlemen were kind enough to sit down and talk about UConn with me this week. I presented the same questions to each one and here are their answers in roundtable form. I also did a very quick paragraph for Searching for Billy Edelin on why Purdue will win the West Region.

T-Mill: UConn is another team battling injuries, but that appeared to have little effect in the early rounds. Was this a case of true recovery, or just playing two poor opponents?

Matt: Truthfully, I don't think UConn can really be characterized as a team "battling injuries." The Huskies have essentially had one (Jerome's Dyson knee injury), though it was as significant a blow that the program has faced entering the postseason in Jim Calhoun's tenure. I think what we've seen over the two first-round wins was a recovery of that. A.J. Price's emergence as a bigger offensive force in place of Dyson was apparent in the weeks before the NCAA tournament, but he's taken that to a different level. Stanley Robinson, for the first time this season, has seemingly found a nice offensive groove, and his growing assertiveness is just a big a factor as Price's. Then of course, there's Jeff Adrien and Hasheem Thabeet, who have provided points when needed and provided the expected balance inside to Price's outside game.

Most importantly, however, with UConn's offensive improvement, the Huskies have found that swagger they needed. Dogged by questions of postseason failure for weeks, they have looked like the most impressive team in the tournament through two rounds. You can argue that others have faced tougher competition, but I wouldn't call Chattanooga or Texas A&M "poor teams." They're NCAA tournament teams and two of the best in their respective conferences. Chattanooga never really had a chance, even on paper, but UConn's ability to dominate Texas A&M speaks more to what the Huskies did than what the Aggies couldn't.

David: While UConn did lose a key part of their backcourt, they are playing some of their best ball at the right time. While Chattanooga and Texas A&M had a great year, they had no one to match-up with UConn's strong frontcourt. It didn't hurt that Price was draining shots from the perimeter, which makes this team even more deadly and both their opponents had poor shooting nights.

Justin: I think it was a little bit of both.

Chattanooga probably should have been in the play-in game, and although Texas A&M took down Mizzou in the regular season, they are a pretty bad offensive team that finished just 9-7 playing within a Big 12 that was pretty bad this year.

It was certainly a good way for the Huskies to set the tone in the tourney, and it really made everyone forget about Jerome Dyson and some of the losses recently.

But "recovery" also may be a bit much. Although they'd dropped two games to Pitt, and lost that whole soul-crushing six-overtime game to Syracuse, I don't think they've had two really poor performances in a row all season. Their toughest games just happened to coincide with the loss of Dyson.

At the same, though, I don't think anyone expected UConn to beat either team the way they did. The Huskies hadn't looked that impressive probably since blowing out Louisville in early February

T-Mill: This is a matchup of very versatile teams. It looks like you can run if you want to, but so can we. We can stop and play defense, but so can you. Which pace do you think favors which team?

Justin: I would have to say a fast one. Without Dyson, UConn doesn't have the outside shooters or anyone that can really create his own shot off the dribble in a halfcourt set.

Sure, A.J. Price can make some things happen, but after blowing out his ACL in last year's tourney, he's not the same; he just can't take over a game the way he used to. And you would think someone 7-foot-3 would be able to dominate in the post, but sadly, Hasheem Thabeet is plagued with what we call "Flubber hands" and he feels the need to put it on the floor every time even though he could just go on his tippy toes to dunk it. (Ed Note: this must be a cousin of Crisco hands, where the task of simply grabbing the basketball in open space becomes exceedingly difficult.)

But Coach Cal (what we call Jim Calhoun at The UConnBlog) talks every preseason about getting out and running. This season, I think they've done that. All seven rotation players, especially backup guard Kemba Walker, can run, and the team is at its best when they're running the floor and turning Thabeet blocks into easy transition points.

Matt: A fast-paced game favors UConn, not because Purdue can't run - and the Boilermakers can - but if the Huskies are running, that means they're rebounding and using the outlets. And if they're rebounding, then they're winning a battle that Purdue desperately needs in this game. (That also means another big game from JaJuan Johnson and a gritty effort from Robbie Hummel.)

UConn's halfcourt sets have looked 10 times more fluid and dangerous than they did even the week before in the Big East tournament, but if Purdue can force the Huskies to score the majority of their points in the halfcourt and late in the shot clock, it favors the Boilermakers. It will naturally create a lower scoring game, the same kind of contest Purdue has proven it can win in its late-season surge, and perhaps disrupt a UConn offense that has outscored tournament opponents by a combined 82 points.

Purdue is at its best when it is grinding things out. That's usually not the case in a track meet.

David: UConn wants a quick pace. The more chances they have at the basket, the better their chances of winning are. They'll use full court pressure to quicken the pace of the game. They've been really good at the half court game, but they make their runs in transition, and like to attack the defense before they settle. In the half court sets, Connecticut thrives against man-to-man defenses and plays the high-low with Adrien and Thabeet to perfection. It is in the zone that UConn tends to settle for bad perimeter shots and negates their advantage of their front court.

T-Mill: How much does the loss of Jerome Dyson effect your offense? Will it be a bigger deal agaisnt tougher competition this weekend?

David: The loss of Dyson hasn't affected their offense, as much as it has affected their defense. He was always matched up against the team's deadliest shooter and he had a knack of getting steals. If this team misses anything from Dyson's absence on offense it would be his ability to finish on the break and attack the zone with dribble penetration. Kemba Walker has emerged as UConn's best perimeter defense and Craig Austrie has put together back-to-back solid defensive games, and there has been enough time since Dyson's injury for this team to adjust for it not to make a major difference. The emergence of Stanley Robinson's offensive ability has also contributed to UConn's success without Dyson.

Justin: When Dyson went down, we all started to freak out a little. Big-time freshmen Ater Majok and Nate Miles were already forced out of the picture and backup center Charles Okwandu was ruled academically ineligible.

And for the reasons I mentioned before, it still affects the offense in a big way. But Dyson's loss has been eased somewhat by Stanley Robinson finally playing like everyone expected him to.

After almost three seasons of frustratingly inconsistent play, Robinson seems to have finally turned things around, having put up 28, 24 and 12 points the past three games. Losing Dyson hurts a lot, especially in a huge game like this. But Robinson may be able to help make up for what we lost in Dyson. Announcers point out his freakish athleticism about eight times a game, and finally, Stanley has turned it into productivity.

Matt: I may have already tipped my hand here, but Jerome Dyson's absence was the biggest story for UConn entering the tournament (other than their previous failed attempts to win in the postseason). Between UConn's offensive explosion and Jim Calhoun's health, the loss of Dyson has largely become an afterthought. If A.J. Price continues to provide a scorching presence from the outside and Stanley Robinson's emergence isn't limited to those first two games, UConn's offense will be as dynamic as it was last weekend. If Price has a tough shooting day, then the focus will likely turn inside, where Thabeet dominated against Chattanooga but was largely forgettable against Texas A&M.

Simply, with Dyson, UConn had a bevy of offensive options. Without him, the Huskies still do. It's about how well one part of the offense complements the other - with Stanley Robinson providing a dynamic presence in both areas.

T-Mill: Much has been made about the Big East being an all-powerful conference, while the media perceives the Big Ten as slightly above the SWAC at the moment. Do you believe UConn has reason to fear the Big Ten Boilers?

Matt: Of course UConn does. The Boilermakers won a conference that sent seven teams to the tournament, and are playing their best basketball at exactly the right time. Between Johnson, Hummel and E'Twaun Moore, they have weapons, and there's no reason to believe UConn is a shoe-in to advance. When it comes down to this particular game, conference ties mean little.

But I don't think anyone will argue that with five Sweet Sixteen teams, the Big East is the country's powerhouse conference, above the Big Ten, ACC, Big XII or any other league - SWAC included. That said, UConn will be favored here not because they played in the Big East but because they're UConn, one of the country's top teams with a top-five NBA draft pick in the middle, one of the country's most experienced guards at point and weapons around them.

David: UConn has struggled in games against Buffalo and Michigan, so they have a lot to fear from Purdue. In an one-and-done scenario, especially at this level, any team can beat each other. We, as a fan base, have experienced the David and Goliath fall with George Mason and San Diego still fresh on our minds. We fear the underdogs.

Justin: Well, to be honest, we've taken our shots on the Big Ten along with everyone else.

But with that being said, I'm terrified of the Boilermakers. JaJuan Johnson appears to be the type of player that can neutralize Thabeet, and Purdue has enough shooters on the outside to attack UConn's deficiencies guarding the perimeter. Combine all that with a defense that looks and has a reputation of being really tough, and Purdue has the type of team that has a legitimate shot at derailing another Coach Cal five-year plan. (We won our other two titles in 1999 and 2004.) (Ed, Note: What is he, Joseph Stalin? Is this a purge?)

T-Mill: What scenario on Thursday would have you the most nervous? Which would have you the most confident?

David: Thabeet in early foul trouble, Price missing the outside shot, and Purdue shooters having a lights out performance. That would be a recipe for a UConn disaster. For UConn to be successful, they need to make their free throws, have their front court stay out of foul trouble, shut down the perimeter shot, and need to make at least four three pointers to keep the defense honest.

Matt: If I was a UConn fan, I would be nervous if Purdue is rebounding with the Huskies, Hasheem Thabeet gets in early foul trouble and A.J. Price hits a cold streak. On the other hand, you won't find a team or fan base more confident than UConn right now considering what it did in the first two rounds. If the Huskies continue to do what they did against Chattanooga and Texas A&M - play well early, put together a big run at some point and continue to pound the glass and the scoreboard - then Purdue will have to do something extraordinary to pull the upset.

Justin: Considering all the problems we've had to overcome this season, anything that isn't a 20-0 lead to open the game would make me nervous. And even then I would be preparing for the bottom to fall out.

Worst-case scenario, though, is Johnson having success taking it at Thabeet, Hummel and E'Twaun Moore lighting it up from outside and Purdue slowing the game down and forcing UConn to win in the halfcourt.

Best-case is for the Huskies to come out hot, establish the inside game with Thabeet and Jeff Adrien early, have Price drain a few threes to stretch the floor and then for Robinson to play like he has the past few weeks and scream obnoxiously loud on authoritative dunks (you'll get that joke soon enough).

But that probably won't happen, so I just hope this team has enough fire power and enough grit to grind out what should be a tough matchup. One I can't wait to see.

T-Mill: Thanks guys! It sounds like we are all in agreement on what each team needs to do here. It may boil down to who is on their game that night, though UConn can likely survive being off more than Purdue.

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