With two minutes left, Purdue was up by five. My brother and I started to reminisce about the bad ole times...about a week ago. You know, when Purdue played in Columbus. Unlike Friday's contest, Purdue had a five point lead with just about two minutes remaining...Wait a minute! It couldn't happen (Pruitt bullies his way to a two-point bucket), it wouldn't happen (McCamey throws in a 25-footer to knot it), it can't happen (Illinois backdoors Purdue twice in a row and steps on the Boilers' throat and heart)...it happened. History repeated itself and Purdue allowed a victory to wilt into a defeat.
I feared this game and this opponent...and it wasn't simply because it was the third contest against a team that Purdue had beaten twice. Penn State wasn't scary to me, but the Weber-led Illini were. It's like beating a big brother or your Dad on the blacktop, you might beat him, but he knows your tendencies...and the healthy rivalry makes the contest all-the-more difficult.
But, this Purdue team has hit the wall that we all knew/thought they would. They did enough to finish second in the Big Ten for the regular season...but Grant & Kramer's knees are simply ailing. Giving them a week of rest simply will not make them well, at this point. It was obvious as Grant dragged his leg behind him like Quazimoto and Kramer allowed Illini offensive sets to make the stellar defensive player to look flat-out plabeian. But, their knees didn't force Painter to not call a timeout at the end of regulation...nor did they make Kramer take the last shot or force Calasan to shoot an ill-advised three in the extra set. Purdue lost this game because they allowed a worse team to be in the position to win at the end...and that is probably because their two best defenders pretty much turn into pumpkins after the 39:30 mark each game. Overtime is a killer for this team.
You'd think it'd be the Freshman to run out of gas at this time of year- not really the case. Hummel had three-straight defensive stops in the last five minutes...by himself. He also hit a vintage Ostrich three that kept Purdue in the driver's seat in those closing minutes. Smooge scored 22 and dazzled me with his stop-and-pop jumpers with good defensive pressure. Conversely, Martin & Johnson were pretty ineffective against Pruitt and Randle.Here's the deal- As the committee gets ready to hand Purdue a 6 seed (really pretty indicative of this team...Purdue's probably the 24th-best team, at this point), the road has become much more difficult to a sweet-16. And, how Grant will go is how this team will go. But the competition will probably be either an under-achieving, but talented big conference foe (K State or Va Tech) or a scrappy, over-achieving, well-coached small-conference foe (St. Mary's or Davidson). Either way, it's not going to be easy. Further, I have the same feeling about the NCAA tourney that I did about the BTT- I'm not optimistic. The wind seems to be out of our sails.
A Soothing Salve
Despite Purdue's poor effort yesterday, I have thoroughly enjoyed watching the conference tourneys the last two days. But, the reason I watch is to see the underdog rise up and defeat his opponent at the last possible second. It couldn't be much sweeter than what we all witnessed with 1.5 left in Conseco during the nightcap. Unreal. And honestly, it made me feel so great that my gray skies turned to a brilliant blue as I stayed up until 3:30 am local time watching even more contests. Ahhh...March is beautiful.Oh yeah, it was pretty great watching Gordon mope off of the court...Sure, a guy like White might deserved better, but the rest of them can eat the big steaming plate of doody that they're currently gagging down.
11 comments:
Not to be too nit-picky, but the wall you speak of is most likely proverbial.
I am still feeling good about the tournament. By your formula, we just need to avoid overtime and have the game in hand with a minute to go. We did that last night before a BS travel call and McCamey hitting a three from the concession stand. I still think we get a 5 seed and still beleive we can make the sweet 16.
Seriously Dowd, stop your damn b1tching. We lost a game to a dangerous opponent, but there is still a lot a basketball to play. And, IU is hurting a lot more than we are!!
Indeed, Mr. Anonymous. Indeed. Hurting we are. This year can't be over fast enough.
This Purdue team is at least likable. Unlike our Hoosiers ... who are about as endearing as a pile of anthrax.
Ross - I think he meant, like, "perverted" walls.
mr. anonymous, I had about ten people tell me I was over-reacting being worried about Illinois- I know they're dangerous, I thought they, like aOSU is simply too talented to be in the ship they're in at this point. That's the crux of my discussion. To tell you the truth, I could give a damn about comparisons with IU at this point...What I see is a team that is struggling to do the things that made them great earlier in the season. There's plenty of reason for concern at this point. Optimism is good, blind optimism is idiotic.
IU is a trainwreck, the players know it, the fans know it. IU was one of the most talented teams in the country this year and they are limping, at best, into the tournament. Whether or not Purdue is better or worse off really is unimportant. Purdue, is not playing well right now.
Ross- pretty nit-picky...and "irregardless" of my grammar problems, you got the point.
Travis, you honestly didn't see a travel by Kramer? I did. I think that call could be made nearly every possession during any college basketball game. Whether or not its enforced isn't the question, I think the violation was legit. The sad thing is, during both this and the aOSU game, Purdue found ways to lose, not ways to win...that's not what endeared them to so many during the month of February.
I just really want Minnesota to win out now. Make Hoffarber a household name.
Boilerdowd, touche!
Are they sliding? Yes. It seams to me (pardon my basketball ignarence) that ever since IU teams have had us figured out. And our in your face defence has been somewhat lacking.
Blindly optimistic? I guess that I got a little upset after going to my favorite message board and saw both familiar name and folks that I have never seen before talking trash about a team that both the alphabet networks and all the rags had as NIT at the most. While there is truth to what you say, I am still excited about a team that
I don't know how often you come here, but if you don't come here often, here's the deal-
We live and die with Purdue athletics, specifically men's basketball and football. We try to stay as honest as possible...We were high-as-kites when things were chugging along and now that the train's lost momentum, I'm feeling sobered. What they have accomplished this year with what is in the stable is nothing short of amazing. That's why I think Painter's the coach of the year. That said, your favorite team and mine rely heavily on two very bad knees...the situation is what it is. Can Purdue make a little run? Sure. But it's going to take Grant lighting it up again and Hummel getting involved earlier than he has recently.
I don't think the IU loss is anything more than coincidence. That loss in Bloomington didn't help teams figure things out, in fact, there's not a lot to figure out with this team. Their defense creates offense, they don't have a significant threat underneath as a result, they need the additional looks because outside shots simply aren't as high percentage as lay-ups. So, when they're turning the ball over, not shooting well AND getting beaten on defense, there is a reason to be concerned.
All that said, I too am excited they'll be playing next week.
I'm too depressed to comment on the Purdue game.
You guys might recall that I'm in Lexington, KY. My friend and I were out at BW3 to watch the Purdue game and then the UK game (which was never played that night... weirdest situation I've ever seen). We nearly had to fight people to keep the BTN on the big screen at times, but we prevailed.
At the end of the Minn/IU game, when that kid hit the improbable shot, the whole place went NUTS. Everyone started chanting "TUBBY, TUBBY, TUBBY." Much love for the Tubbster still remains in Lexington. It was one of the coolest college BB experiences I've had outside an arena, possibly aided by the fact that it was IU that got burned.
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