Saturday, December 17, 2011

Purdue Gives Away Another. This Time Butler is the Recipient

I've gotten to see Butler play in person twice before today...and a few times on TV.  In each game their lack of offensive fire power coupled with ill-advised three upon three spelled their doom.  I feared they would have everything come together versus Purdue and in the closing minutes, they did just that while beating Purdue on a tip-in (with 1 second left) 67-65.

I was in Conseco...surrounded by ex-IU fans (read as Butler fans), current IU fans (read as Notre Dame football fans) and Purdue fans.  The atmosphere had the feel of an NCAA regional in which your favorite team is the highest seed- No one beside your brethren is rooting for your squad.  With Purdue holding a 10-12 point lead for much of the first half and early in the second half, I thought this one would be good for Purdue.  As Butler rallied to shrink the lead to just four about eight minutes into the second half only to watch Purdue push it back to double digits, I thought this was going to be a nice afternoon.

But, just as in the Xavier game, Purdue seemingly wilted and disappeared as Butler started hitting perimeter shots...and the once-vaunted Purdue defense seemed to be a spectator as much as I was as they watched the game slip through their hands.  I haven't watched the tape to know who was guarding Butler's shooters down the stretch...but it didn't seem to matter.  Stigall, Woods and Fromm all seemed to hit a shot or two when Butler needed them most.

Purdue had chances...plenty of them.  LewJack missed some very important free throws in the closing minutes that might have changed the outcome, Hummel looked tentative in the closing minutes, especially on offense, and Smith simply didn't get open to take shots.  On top of the Seniors, Butler shut down Barlow's ability to drive as time and again, Butler's unimpressive bigs physically beat Purdue into the loss column.

Butler's youngins under the basket outshined Purdue's as once again Carroll and Marcius struggled.  Specifically, Carroll finished with Zero points, Zero rebounds and Zero blocks in five minutes of play.  Marcius played a pretty solid first half, but didn't do much of note in the second. One thing I liked is that Painter didn't pull Lawson out of the game with four fouls as he simply must learn to play in foul trouble as he is Purdue's most-consistent power forward at this point.  His 7 rebounds and 2 blocks were critical...but I don't remember him pulling down any in the last few minutes as he played shackled by fouls.

I think Painter is at a critical juncture...and something must change for this squad.  Hummel, TJohn and LewJack's lack of consistent practices are showing down the stretch of recent games.  The team can't seem create space on the scoreboard and finish strong v. bad (or mediocre) teams like Western Carolina, Miami and Butler...and they've looked dead tired versus good teams like Alabama & Xavier.  I'm not sure if that means AJ and Barlow should play while TJohn and LewJack are shelved in an effort to get them healthy over the next 11 days.  Or maybe DJ Byrd must be thrust back into playing a PF role again like last year. I don't claim to have the knowledge of Painter and his assistants...but as an outsider, I have noticed some bad trends that aren't going away...and that's bothersome.

For the first time this season, I'm not sure if Purdue can make the NCAA tournament simply because the same issues are arising time and again.  Purdue's glaring lack of physicality and athleticism under the basket will be exploited by not just the elite of the conference, but teams like Minnesota, Illinois, Northwestern and Indiana...let alone Wisconsin, aOSU and MSU.  And at the same time, Purdue's weary legs in the backcourt might continue to have problems rotating and fighting through screens.

Have I mentioned Purdue shot 58.3% from the free throw line?  Oh yeah, they did that too...again.  That and going 6-for-29 while only scoring 19 points in the second half is a recipe for disaster...and it yielded just that: a loss to a sub-.500 team on a neutral court.

Next up, Purdue gets one more local team before heading into the B1G.  IPFW comes to Mackey on Tuesday at 6:30. It'll be aired on BTN (if we're lucky).

19 comments:

Lord Montegue said...

Theme of the day. Hoping to win but trying HARD not to loose.

some guy said...

Interestingly pathetic that you lead into your story with a lame swipe at IU fans. The story is about how Purdue got out-played and out-hustled by an inferior opponent. Typical Purdue basketball. Again.

I also noted your story further down the page on sportsmanship and your link to the UK-based site with the fictional account of UK fans attending the IU vs. UK game a week or so ago.

Speaking of sportsmanship, I have witnessed exactly one middle finger being displayed in the crowd yesterday. Said finger was displayed with a vigorous "F you" by a surly Purdue fan. The object of the middle finger was an IU fan (in full red and white attire) who had been cheering for Butler to beat Purdue. Said John Purdue fan sat miserably through the first part of the IU vs. ND game and when IU went up by 10 points, grabbed his wife (40lbs. overweight; she at *3* entire tubs of popcorn during the Purdue game) and fled the scene. Without a doubt, said Purdue fan was waiting and hoping for an Irish upset so that he could taunt some IU fans...when that didn't look like it was going to happen, he fled the scene and drove his tractor back to West Lafayette.

Speaking of sportsman ship, I've attended 8 or 9 Bucket games in West Lafayette. Every single time, at least once a surly group of Purdue fans (usually students) "stepped" to us in an angry manner, hurled insults and obscenities and generally exhibited rude behavior.

I even had to be separated from a 90 lb. weakling wearing of all things a *laser tag* outfit at Harry's. He followed me around for a good 30 minutes insisting that I take off my IU sweatshirt or else, telling me how much IU sucked, how much *I* sucked, etc. I finally grew weary of his antics and told him that I was going to wait until he left, pull him into an alley and stomp him until nothing was left but a greasy spot. His equally scrawny fraternity brothers wisely pulled him away, but not before telling me that IU sucks, I suck, everyone at IU is stupid, etc.

Yep, great sportsmanship, John Purdue fan. Great job.

Pot. Kettle. Black. Or something like that...

PU03 said...

Do you know what really bothered me about the IU UK article? All of the UK fans who commented with a 'holier than thou' attitude saying that IU fans would be treated nicely in Lexington. And now here's an IU fanl whose feelings were hurt by Purdue fans (mostly college sudents at that) acting like a-holes. Guess what Some Guy, every fanbase has classless jerks in it. I've had more obscenities yelled at me by IU fans at Bucket games the last 12 years than I can recollect (including many in my face). It shows a lack of class when Purdue fans, IU fans, or any fans behave that way. I think that was the point of the IU UK article on this website. At no point did the writer ever say Purdue fans were totally innocent of that type of behavior.

Now as for the comment in the second paragraph of this article, I took it to be two things: 1) trying to state that the atmosphere was hostile for Purdue's team and 2) an attempt to be funny making fun of our in-state rivals. If that is the kind of thing that upsets you, you probably shouldn't be reading your rival team's sports blog.

some guy said...

@PU03 - if reading my comments hurt *your* feelings, then you probably shouldn't have read them. You obviously missed my point -- the writer of this article tried (unsuccessfully) to be funny at the expense of IU fans...apparently in order to deflect attention away from what *really* happened: Purdue choked. Big time. Again. The atmosphere for Purdue was not "hostile". If you would have read the article, you would have noted that the author tried to make fun of IU fans, but did state that he was surrounded by IU, Butler *and* Purdue fans. Other than IU fans (clearly dressed in red and white) Purdue probably had the second highest # of fans at the game. Butler was a fairly close 3rd and there were a few ND fans scattered around Conseco.

And why even bother with a lame swipe at IU in the article. The obviously question at hand is why Purdue has choked vs. Xavier *and* Butler. So focus on that, save the lame jokes for another time and start questioning whether Painter will ever be the guy to building a national championship caliber team at Purdue. Hint: the answer is an emphatic "NO".

Have a *great* season!

boilerdowd said...

Thanks for stopping by the site; we appreciate the traffic.

I think a great way to make an argument for the sportsmanship of a fanbase is say that the best way to respond to verbal abuse with fights in alleys...or should I say imaginary fights. Your story smacks of internet bravery. If you want a pat on the back, here you go- congrats on beating up Purdue straw man, big fella...You are a true sportsman and you represent IU well.

If you expect anything other than lousy sportsmanship from ANY student section, you probably didn't attend college or haven't been to too many road games. I've visited 20 or so road venues and students are never tame nor welcoming.

Another one of your excellent points that shows your intelligence and reading comprehension is the insinuation that the article doesn't reflect that Purdue gave the game away. Hmmm...Perhaps the title does that before the body of the story even gets into the reasons why (which are spelled out pretty clearly). You might know that if your attention span would allow you to read past the second paragraph.

I'll be on my tractor with a piece of straw in my mouth just like the co-founder of the site. Good stuff...accurate, clever, original and good stuff.

Lord Montegue said...

Love the IU fan trolling around on his rivals blog. I can tell you I have never commented on the IU blog site, don't even know what it is. Maybe what should have been said was it was a shame that a UK fan had a negative experience on our campus. I am disappointed to hear that Purdue fans acted in a poor fashion and apologize for that. Should never happen. As for the commentary on this site about the Butler game, I think it was pretty straightforward about how Purdue lost the game and also accepted the fact that IU fans were against us (I think I read that somewhere, in a very tasteful and respectful fashion 'No one beside your brethren is rooting for your squad.') So Some Guy, keep living in your fantasy world that IU is Camelot and keep remembering those good times, much like the Italians (Romans for those who miss my reference) do when they remember they once ruled the world .... sometime long ago.

Unknown said...

I'm mostly pissed that this Purdue team sucks so bad at shooting FTs. They'd probably be 11-1 if they could hit 70% like past years.


I don't care where you go, if you're attending a rival's football or basketball game the crowd is hostile and unwelcoming. I attended an MVC school also and the road crowds were not so welcoming there either, though the number of insults I heard thrown my way were less than my experiences at road games rooting for Purdue.

Mark said...

I think Painter is to blame for this trend, and here is why:

1. Hummel, Jackson, and TJ are hurt, and they are not practicing every day. As such, they are not in shape. Therefore, their time on the court should be adjusted in such a way to reflect their lack of conditioning. Instead, when the games have been close and they are clearly struggling...we leave them in or sub them for 30 seconds. Unbelievable.

2. In each of our losses, we have gone "cold." Painter sets up plays off dead balls or time outs giving the ball to Robbie Hummel for a one-on-one take it to the hole. This is NOT Robbie Hummel's forte nor is it this team's forte. Robbie has always done better letting the game come to him...not forcing it. Motion offense!

3. In each of our losses, when we went cold, we went with our defensive line-ups. That's nice in theory, but 60 pts. will not win a game. We need offensive production. AJ and Byrd need more playing time when we're struggling. Both can bring offense to the game if they are used correctly. I feel like Painter's shortchanging AJ has hurt his confidence as he doesn't look the same as he did against other, better teams.

4. Painter has seemed to want to run the clock with a lead 8 minutes to go. In football this works, in basketball, it is disaster...as is evidenced by our work on the court.

5. Painter seems like the answer is "If we just do it harder, it'll work." Sometimes, the other team adjusts and shuts down what worked. At this point, a great coach adjusts, too. Painter, like Tiller, seems hell-bent that HIS (same as always) way will always work. The great ones have multiple things to throw at the other team.

6. There is no excuse for our poor FT and shooting percentages. CMP has always had teams that struggle shooting. The FT's are new and surprising. He needs to rectify these. Keady always found ways to turn a pure shooter into a terrible shooter until their senior year. I would hate for Painter to do the same. There are ways to develop shooters without shutting them down for 3 years of their career.

As to the IU troll, I have enjoyed seeing IU fans trash multiple UK fans who were injured or experienced bad moments in Bloomington. Before you get busy pointing fingers, you might want to control your fanbase. Chanting ACL, calling Robbie names, cheering Bolden tearing his ACL are the epitome of classless...and these are by more than one person...In two cases, a significant number of fans at games. This is the fanbase rabid for Bobby, the foul-mouth, kid choking, chair throwing maniac who was praised until he started losing...Most of us have little respect for your kind. We know what and who you are, and quite frankly...we chuckle.

ATL_Boilers said...

I don't have much to add about the actual game that hasn't been said...

Why would an IU fan spend a minute of his time on the blog (albeit an excellent one) from another school - especially an instate rival? I've been to a few of the other B1G blogs over the years but that has always been when you guys do the writer exchanges and share links... beyond that my time is too valuable to get lost in the inane banter, and one-upmanship that is the internet.

I kind of understand the jabs about sportsmanship, but the rest of it seemed a little pointless... the Purdue fan's wife eating 3 buckets of popcorn, really? We haven't heard enough of that about Purdue over the years (and ALL of the IU women are 10s, I guess).

some guy said...

@Boilerdowd - enjoy that piece of straw in your mouth. "Good stuff...accurate, clever, original and good stuff"....were you referring to your lame attempt to make fun of IU fans? Sounds like it.

Which part of my story "smacks of internet bravery"? The John Purdue fan (with the popcorn-loving wife) giving the middle finger to an IU fan? Or were you referring to the time I was at Harry's and some drunken idiot kept pestering me? He was some pencil-neck dork who apparently had been to that time honored tradition known as "breakfast club"...you know the one...the one where the Purdue students think it's somehow clever to dress up in stupid costumes, start drinking early in the morning and then stagger around like fools the rest of the day. Yep...I'm sure none of *those* students have ever mouthed off to a rival fan that dared to venture into Harry's. Nah....couldn't happen.

And speaking of reading comprehension, you might want to note that the 2nd sentence I typed mentioned what your little internet article was really about. Apparently you got a little over-eager, couldn't wait to start typing your silly response and missed the fact that I actually *stated* what your article was about....*in the second sentence*.

And you can now go back and re-read my response to see that I stated your attempt at humor was pathetic (because it was) and only served to take away from what the *real* story was...Talk about lack of attention span, problems with reading comprehension...you might want to actually think before you type next time...otherwise it's going to look like you're describing yourself again.

Ehhh......why am I wasting my time? You obviously don't get it. Keep right up with your lame IU jokes. Keep it right up. Well played, John Purdue Boilerdowd. Well played indeed. [heh]

some guy said...

@Montague - IU fans don't have to think back to the days of the Roman Empire to savor greatness. IU ruled the college b-ball world in 1987. Admittedly, that's more than just a few years ago. But IU has indeed ruled college b-ball in the modern era. Which is more than can be said for (ahem) a lot of teams....

some guy said...

@ATL_Boilers - you stated:

"beyond that my time is too valuable to get lost in the inane banter, and one-upmanship that is the internet."

And yet here you are, wasting your (allegedly) valuable time getting lost in the inane banter and one-upmanship that is the internet.

For the love of god...do you *really* have to act so self-important and then go and contradict yourself? Have you no pride?

ATL_Boilers said...

@some guy... Read the context. I said I wouldn't waste my time on a rivals website. I didn't say anything about one from my own university. How does that a) contradict myself or b) show my lack of pride?

some guy said...

@ATL_Boilers - Definitely *my* bad on that one. Wow. Just wow. You've got me dead to rights.

I didn't realize that your time is *not* too valuable to get lost in inane banter and internet one-upmanship......as long as it's on a *blog* dedicated to John Purdue and his favorite college sports teams.

Boy oh boy....do I really have egg on my face (so to speak) right now. But how was I to know that ATL_Boilers has all the time in the world to waste as long as it's on a website dedicated to his *own university"?

SJD said...

It's kind of odd to me that someone would say they've been wasting time over and over, yet she keeps coming back and posting novel-length responses.

some guy said...

@Mark - your insults aimed towards Robert Montgomery Knight, or as you call him, "Bobby", are duly noted.

You say he "was praised until he started losing". Can you please point out when he started losing? Are you too busy chuckling at IU fans or can you actually back up what you've said?

And how about Gene Keady and his coal-black, hair-sprayed hair? Didn't John Purdue sit idly by while Morgan Burke ran Gene-o out of town? Why would John Purdue let their beloved b-ball coach get run out of town on a rail? Why would they let evil Morgan Burke toss Keady out like yesterday's garbage when Gene-o said he didn't want to leave Purdue, didn't want to stop coaching college b-ball? Why would such *loyal* and *outstanding* fans sit by and watch a coach who toiled for most of his career in IU's shadow be given the *bum rush* out the door? Why, Mark? Why did the John Purdue fans let Gene Keady get run the hell out of town when he practically got down on his knees and begged to stay?

And you think no one chuckles at *you* and your ilk? You'll turn on Painter like a pack of starving hyenas as soon as it suits you. You aren't fooling anyone....

J Money said...

If my team hadn't had a winning season in four years, hadn't beat my rival in four years and had been embarrassed by a coach who repeatedly broke NCAA rules, I might wait a little while before acting superior.

But I'm not an IU fan.

Run along, some guy. There are IU sites that desperately need commenters.

some guy said...

@ J Money - I'm not surprised that you might not have a bit of swagger in your step right now. But I know that you're a John Purdue fan and you're so used to middle of the road, mediocre sports teams that you don't dare to let yourself get excited lest your fragile little ego get crushed. Again.

Speaking of sites that desperately need "commenters", I don't see an excess of "commenters" here. What's up with that? And nice touch with the "Please Donate" button on the front page of your site. Classy. Very classy.

boilerdowd said...

We're a small independent site...only 65,000 hits in November and have been here for just over five years. Staying independent has made it tougher to pick up sponsorship. We really appreciate the readers we have.
We really like that you've made coming on here a part of your day recently.

I think it's fair to say we don't have a ton of comments on this site; but when we meet a Purdue fan in Germany, New Jersey, California, Arizona, Iowa, Chicago or the Indy area that visits and appreciates the site, we like that quite a bit.

Is it funny to you that Purdue was named after a person?

No matter. Merry Christmas.