J and I will be back to our old tricks in the near future as both of our future-Boiler offspring have now arrived.
Thanks very much, John!
Beautiful Beginning to a new decade
It is a beautiful day/year/decade to be a Boilermaker. Today’s thumping of West Virginia by our old gold and black was a great start for what promises to be a special 2010 for Purdue basketball. Going in I felt that we would have an advantage simply because of the fact that West Virginia had played so many trying games in the past few days. With what the Mountaineers have been through lately, I figured they’d have to be gassed (Ebanks, in particular, had chalked up 85 minutes over the last two games). However, I was concerned about their size against ours. While they don’t have any giants, I was fearful of matching up with a team full of guys Hummel’s size. Their wealth of pure talent was concerning to me, too. I’m all for our brand of team-oriented basketball, but you have to at least sweat a little bit knowing that a few lottery picks are coming to Mackey. But, by the end of the day we showed the world that size and NBA ability aren’t everything, and that a great basketball TEAM can make a group of future basketball professionals look like they couldn’t even hold their own at the co-rec.
The key today was that we made West Virginia play our game, taking them out of their comfort zone. We systematically wore them down with defensive pressure until they broke, causing 17 turnovers along the way. We ran our offense smartly and efficiently. We used our discipline and experience to maintain focused intensity for 40 minutes. We rotated our bench into the game very effectively, avoiding too much trouble after Hummel and Kramer picked up some early fouls. All in all, I feel that the Boilers came away with a complete, dominant, and well-balanced victory.
As for a few of my thoughts throughout the game...-West Virginia had no answer for Jajuan Johnson. They seemed content to stick a short guy on him after switching on screens, giving him easy access to the hoop. Whoops. Today showed me that the key to us playing like the number 4 team in the nation is having Johnson on the floor and out of foul trouble. We’re a completely different team without him.If today was truly an Elite 8 caliber-game, as Jay Bilas put it, we should feel good about planning a trip down I-65 in late March/early April. Here’s hoping we can recreate this every night.
Robbie, while not the Boilermaker of the day in my opinion, had an excellent outing, going 7-8 and dropping 18. It was great to see him nailing outside shots. That’s the Robbie we need to have the rest of the season.
-Smooge was solid today, having a good game on both sides of the ball. I love that he’s finally finding some the consistency that he lacked as a younger player.
-Kramer, as usual, didn’t dominate the box score, but shut down whomever he was guarding. This didn’t go unnoticed by the announcers, but they didn’t quite have a Jimmy Dykes level of adoration for ol’ Mr. Shutdown. I’m convinced nails eat Chris Kramer for breakfast.
-Barlow continues his maturation process and is making strides every game. He’s shown he’s strong and not afraid to cut to the hoop. He just needs to finish better. The minutes Kelsey’s getting now will be invaluable to our team in the future. He will become a fine player for this team at this rate.
-I thought Ryne Smith had a pretty solid outing, knocking down shots, getting rebounds, and playing good D. He’s making the most of the minutes he’s given, despite the inordinate amount of shot fakes. I think, at this point, the other team would be more faked out by him actually shooting. But, humor aside, he’s a very important contributor to this team and is coming along well.
-The Paint Crew, while not at full strength, was a game-changer today. With their help, Mackey was the loudest today that I have ever heard it. When Hummel forced the 5 second violation, which was my favorite play of the day, by the way, it was so deafening in there that I didn’t even hear the whistle blow. Amazing job by all in attendance today.
-Bob Huggins loves windbreakers. The rest of his staff was in suits and ties while ol’ Huggy Bear looks like he just came in from a jog (erm, I mean trip to Old Country Buffet). Good coach? Sure. Good recruiter? Sure. Good dresser? Definitely not. He was also outside his box jawing with the refs an awful lot today. With all the attention that’s supposedly being paid to keeping coaches in line, he sure seems content to test the rules. We were clamoring for a T all day.
Hail Purdue!
22 comments:
I know what you mean about the we. But, since I'm still a student, I feel I can get away with it. It's just so natural.
Agreed...nice post.
Agreed, John. And don't listen to Boilerdowd -- he used to refer to my intramural team using "we" whenever my team would win. I was all like, "Step off, dude. Get me a Gatorade."
I’m convinced nails eat Chris Kramer for breakfast.
Perhaps you meant that the other way around, or that Kramer sleeps on a bed of nails.
Pundits are already playing down this win because it came at home. Painter is doing so to keep his team honest. But while home court is always worth a few points it isn't worth 15, or 25. This was definitely a win that should count much in the eyes of those following closely.
smith, needs to get through screens better, IMO, he was the only con in this game, he doesn't seem to pass well, and i'm afraid whenever he gets the ball, if he's play serious minutes next year, i'd be scared unless he drastically improves. Most of the made shots WV made were when he was guarding that person.
To Dan K.
He has it right.
The old saying is, "he's tough as nails." And describing one as being tough is, "Holy Cow, he must eat nails for breakfast!" By using a transitive law of mathematics, and by deducing with logic, one can infer that, if nails make someone/thing tough, that if the nails were to eat Chris Kramer, the toughest being alive, then the nails would be getting their "toughness" from Chris Kramer. Hence, him being tougher than nails, and the source of the nails toughness is Chris Kramer. (It's the secret of the nails...)
Clever Wadas...
Now Wadas, what are your thoughts on Barlow, Byrd, and Bade? They all seem to have their own "careless freshman mistakes" how do you think they have grown and will grow and become more of a quality bench that we need right now? What's your take on not having Lew-Jack? Is the duo of Barlow and Wohlfy enough to fill the hole?
Excellent post.
I'm always worried about home games when the students were on vacation, but a smaller version of the Paint Crew led the whole crowd and made for a great environment. Make no mistake though... Purdue would have beaten WVU at home, at WVU or anywhere today. What a great way to start 2010. I want that game in Madison... if we get it, we might hit 20-0 before losing
No love for Purdue from the media...not even on Sports Center replays...
Great game, but I think we need to also remember that we just beat a young team that played alot of games in a few days...all of which were down to the wire.
Don't get me wrong, it was impressive, but there are some factors in there.
Bring on the Big Ten!
Keith,
I think Barlow is the cream of the freshman crop so far. He's shown he can get to the rim, but he needs to finish. I love his wingspan too. My initial confidence in DJ Byrd may have been premature, but he's coming along as well. I like to see him shooting, but he's a little careless passing. I think he threw an easy one away last night. Bade, too, is making strides. Definitely the most improved of the freshman class, especially over the last few games. He has gone from completely infuriating to being a positive contributor. Although, I'd like to see less of him simply because it means JJ isn't in foul trouble.
While having LewJack definitely hurts, I think we are making the most of his absence by having the chance to throw Barlow in the mix, when he would've been warming some serious bench otherwise. Kelsey has been responding and growing. I think that, if LewJack is healthy enough to play a few games by the end of the year that Painter should go for it and not redshirt him. I believe this is is the year to go for broke and a shot at the final four, and all weapons should be at the Boilers disposal.
I think that KG is finding his stride. I didn't mention it in the post, but he was an animal yesterday and really set the tone defensively early on. While LewJack isn't replaceable, Keaton and Wohlford are filling the void adequately.
"While NOT having LewJack..."
Whoops.
I was at the game. Mackey got loud at some points (Hummel earning a 5 second violation, JJ's dunks, when Hummel was knocking down all those shots in the 2nd half), but was really quiet at other times. It should be rocking loud every time the opposing team is on offense. Overall, the decibel level doesn't even compare to the MSU game last year.
I agree that it was not as loud as usual just during regualr game-play. That will happen when the Paint Crew was probably at 30% of its usual size. However, it was still damn loud when the whole crowd was into the game. Maybe not the loudest I've heard, but I also could not hear the whistle during Hummel's five second call. I just saw him start celebrating and knew the call had been made.
It is unfortunate that the game was played on New Year's Day in regards to media coverage. I watched the 11 PM Sportscenter last night after the bowls and Purdue didn't even make it. They were on this morning about 50 minutes into the show and Jay Bilas did have some nice things to say. However, you would expect more coverage for #4 vs. #6. I can understand the bowls, but this game should come before talking about the NBA or Brandon Marshall.
Regardless, this win is probably worth a one spot bumb in seeding come March. Great job Boilers!
I understand this is a big win for our Boiler but you guys have to understand it was New Years Day which will ALWAYS be dominated by college football. I am glad for one because this team does not need their accomplishments trumpeted in the media. They play fairly well with a chip on their shoulder and the fan base should embrace lack of major coverage. Personally, I think the amount of whining I have read on most of the Boiler blogs out there is becoming a bit much to handle.
Jason, you are being too hard on SMith. He had 7 points and 4 rebounds. That is a solid contribution off the bench.
In regards to lack of media coverage, it's now part of the DNA of being a Boilermaker. Embrace it, feed off of it.
PS - I just checked ESPN.com and we're still the top story (with picture) on the basketball home page. They haven't shuffled us off to the side yet!
It wasn't just an ordinary New Year's, either: it was Bobby Bowden's last game at Florida State (nice of WVU to give him a going-away present) and possibly Urban Meyer's last game at Florida (if he's having health issues now, an 8-win season probably would kill him). We're lucky they even had the "Game of the Decade!" quote up for a bit.
I think this was a huge win, home court or not. Yeah, maybe it would have said more about the Mountaineers if they'd won, but you can only play the games on your schedule. If Purdue doesn't have a top-10 road game until February 9 in East Lansing, well, that's what they have. (And as we saw against Iowa, sometimes the "easy" road games can be just as much of a challenge.)
smith reminds of of barret from the 80s. I am critical of him because he gets praise else were, i'd rather see wolford or barlow come in before smith. He's FG% isn't great, yah, he got some good rebounds, but it was more of him being in the right spot at the right time. Generally, I look for a player to have more positives than negatives in a game on both sides of the floor. Smith has rarely had a positive game, id be scared if he's play 20 minutes a game next year, would mean TJ or AJ aren't as good as advertised, it could also mean smith improves a ton.
Jason,
Where's all this negativity on Smith coming from? It's likely that his defense does need to improve, but it's certainly not true that he was the reason for most of West Virginia's scoring, and aside from that, I don't think your other criticisms of him hold water.
(1) His FG% is solid.
Smith has attempted 50 shots this year, 40 of which have come from behind the arc. he's hitting 35% of those, which is better than anybody on the team who has taken a significant number of threes (Wohlford and Bade are the only ones shooting a higher percentage but have taken only 14 threes together). From inside the arc, Smith is 5 of 10, a respectable percentage. All in all, his effective field goal percentage is higher than anybody on the team except for Johnson and Kramer.
(2) He doesn't turn the ball over.
Smith has 7 turnovers in 202 minutes of play this year. That's only one turnover for every 29 minutes of play. Among the regulars, only Wohlford turns the ball over with less frequency.
(3) In the game yesterday, he was crucial in our offensive breakout. He hit a big three to push the score to 49-34 and makde the nice cut to make it 53-36.
All Purdue's young guys need improvement in certain areas, but Smith has been a solid contributor this year.
More excuses:
Huggins: I don't make excuses, but we've played five games in 14 days.
Wah! Purdue played four games in 14 days. Neither team had to worry about going to class during that time. Come NCAA Tourney time you'll have to be ready to play four games in 10 days.
If you read Huggins' quote before the game you'll see how he was playing things down, prepared for a loss.
As for Ryne Smith, I thought he played a good game against the Mountaineers. He played a lot of minutes, his defense was strong, he contributed points and rebounds.
And one comment on Lewis Jackson. Sounds like Painter is going to let Jackson and his mother decide if he wants to give up a full year for the sake of contributing to a few games this year. I think he'll go for it if he is physically able, as this year and next are probably the years Purdue has the best chance to win it all, so why bank that year for later?
However, I don't think we'll see Sandi Marcius play this year. I think Painter will decide to redshirt him instead. All signs seem to point to him doing so given his reticence to play him.
It will be great to watch West Virginia Mountaineer, i have bought tickets from
http://ticketfront.com/event/West_Virginia_Mountaineer-tickets looking forward to it.
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