I missed watching Purdue allowing ISU's power forward to take over the game which propelled the Cyclones to a sizable lead...then the Baby Boilers narrowed the gap just to lose 83-80.
Versus Missouri State, Keaton Grant and Tarrance Crump didn't play...Painter didn't say why, but he did say that nothing illegal took place. I'm guessing it was a curfew violation...especially since Purdue was playing in Las Vegas. The sad thing is those two guys are the players that I'd expect to be goofing around and breaking rules; after all, the precedent is there.
Hummel continues to play well, but seems to have become a bit of a scorer. Kramer played well too, but, an interesting stat I just read is that no single Purdue player has scored 20 pts. or had 10 reb. in a game this year. I guess it's a good thing that they're spreading around the wealth, but it also would seem that there's not one offensive leader...something this team seems to desperately need.
Just as I said back when Purdue barely beat Lipscomb a while back, this year is going to be a long year. While I'm excited about what this team might be with a season-or-two under its belt, I'm pretty sure now that the '07-'08 campaign is going to be a rocky one. I do think my Boilers will beat a team, or two, that they're not supposed to, but they're going to lose a whole bunch of games during the conference schedule. They have yet to show that they can beat anybody on the road...and at home, even Painter says they simply lack focus. Hopefully, this work in progress will come together quicker than I foresee...but it would take a whole bunch of growing up in the next few weeks for that to occur.
After beating Florida Int'l., here's how I see the Big Ten schedule unfolding...
| Jan. 5, 2008 | Michigan | W | ||
| Jan. 8, 2008 | at Michigan State | L | ||
| Jan. 12, 2008 | Ohio State | L | ||
| Jan. 16, 2008 | at Iowa | L | ||
| Jan. 19, 2008 | Illinois | W | ||
| Jan. 23, 2008 | at Penn State | W | ||
| Jan. 26, 2008 | Wisconsin | L | ||
| Jan. 30, 2008 | Iowa | W | ||
| Feb. 2, 2008 | at Illinois | L | ||
| Feb. 5, 2008 | Penn State | W | ||
| Feb. 9, 2008 | at Wisconsin | L | ||
| Feb. 12, 2008 | Michigan State | L | ||
| Feb. 16, 2008 | at Northwestern | W | ||
| Feb. 19, 2008 | at Indiana | L | ||
| Feb. 27, 2008 | Minnesota | W | ||
| Mar. 1, 2008 | Northwestern | W | ||
| Mar. 4, 2008 | at Ohio State | L | ||
| Mar. 9, 2008 | at Michigan | W | ||
Honestly, if the season goes this way, I wouldn't see it as that bad of a year...Purdue would have three conference road wins and would probably make the NIT...but I'm not big on saying next year's our year, and neither is Matt Painter. But, this year clearly is not our year.
3 comments:
I was quite optimistic before this tournament and feel we should have won it, now we need 11 confereonce wins to get to the magic number of 20. I think 6 are almost given with as bad as Michigan, northwestern, and Iowa are this year. We would serve ourselves well by sweeping Penn State too, maning we would need to win 3 of the remaining 10 to get to 20 wins.
Iowa is terrible this year, we should win on the road there, but I think Minnesota will surprise people this year. Tey have som talent and a coach who doesnt lead with two hands around his throat. So I say the same number of wins, just different
I haven't thought they would get to 20 wins since the beginning of the season. I was thinking 18 would be good. Time in the NIT would be good for this group. Plus, if they do well in the NIT, they would get to do the pre-season NIT next year, which would also be very good for them. I just can't see 20 wins, especially if Painter has to lean on the freshmen, and especially if he has bad games coaching as well.
Give me a call tomorrow.
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