JaJuan was named Big Ten Player of the Week, averaging 20 points and 8.5 rebounds this week as the Boilermakers won two games in convincing fashion to move to 21-3 on the season.With Syracuse and West Virginia -- both of the Big East -- losing home games they probably should not have in the past few days, coupled with Purdue's strong performances, the Boilermakers should find themselves at about #4 in the nation when the polls are released later today.
It's a nice time for JJ's game to be peaking.
Choo-choo.
6 comments:
Congrats JaJuan.
I doubt we'll pass Syracuse, though. But who knows what those crazy pollsters will do.
Yeah I agree. Syracuse with only 2 losses and in the hallowed Big East will probably be #4. I'm guessing the Boilers will be fifth in both polls.
AP has us 4th. /surprise
Wake got ranked, awesome.
Wow fourth in both polls. I would have been content in fifth but I guess the way the Boilers have been playing warrants their jumping of Syracuse.
BTFU
Road wins against ranked teams FTW.
And on that note, both Kentucky and Villanova join our Boilers in visiting top-25 teams this week. Kentucky, I think, has a tougher game, Saturday at Vanderbilt ... maybe it's just that I don't give the Big East as much credit. I guess it's harder to figure out relative quality when you have 200 teams in your conference. (But Pitt did knock off West Virginia, so perhaps they can take care of the Wildcats Sunday. The ones in third, that is.)
Never mind the polls. A win at Ohio State would all but assure the Boilers of a road to the #1 seed in the Big Ten tournament (and a #1 seed in the NCAAs if they win out) ... OSU still has to visit Michigan State, and if games between top teams go to the home team from that point, Purdue will be the lone team with three conference losses.
Even a loss might be survivable if coupled with a win at home over Michigan State. That would simply make a jumble of four-loss teams at the top rather than Purdue followed by the four-loss teams.
First, Illinois. That's a must-win game. Any hopes of a Big Ten title rest on a minimum of 14 conference wins, I think, and with OSU and MSU on the schedule, there's no room for a home loss to the Illini.
Check out Northwestern's remaining schedule: Penn State, Wisconsin, Iowa, Penn State, Chicago State, Indiana. That's a 22-9 record, plus the #6 seed in the conference, which means another win over Penn State. 23-10 would look really nice, but I wonder if they'll have to win two or three conference tournament games to get in.
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