Though one may be overpowered,
two can defend themselves.
A cord of three (in this case, five) strands is not quickly broken.
It used to be that if a team came to Mackey, they'd be in for a street fight. Heck, even when Purdue was more of a finesse team with JJ as their leader, they were an absolute mother on the court.
But this Purdue team can't defend the other team, they can't defend home court, can't defend it's honor in the midst of disrespect (ref. Sheehey on Wednesday) and probably most-importantly, this team isn't willing to defend itself and stick together.
Painter's never been a guy to chew on officials, but this season started poorly when Painter allowed officials to dictate too much in Madison Square Garden. Purdue lost that game v. 'Nova because of its lack of fight and grit.
Purdue got pushed around by MSU in East Lansing, both during the game and after the whistle...and the end result was a 20 point defeat.
Most recently, Purdue has been pushed around by good and not-so-good teams...and due to their lack of fortitude, they haven't even competed.
It's clear that this Purdue team, as it stands won't be a thing of beauty on offense...and if you can't be pretty, it's time to get down in the dirt and get ugly...But egos seem to be standing in the way of that.
I read an article today on another Purdue site that talked about giving up on this Purdue team as a fan...you know what we think of that idea if you read this site regularly. But right now, Purdue's players seem to be extremely worried about the name on the back of the jerseys and don't care about the name on the front. Sadly for them, they're making themselves look pretty lousy by not being willing to sell out for their teammates.
I've heard people on Twitter and on message boards question whether the guys on this team liked each other and I think that's a fair question to ask. Chemistry is important in basketball...and this team has none- no cohesiveness, no common goal, on unity and their record shows that.
I simply can't believe this deep into the season that youth is the entire reason for Purdue's woes. And as much as recruiting misses hurt this program, it's really not fair to say that's the reason Purdue is losing right now.
Here's why: Of Purdue's 8 or 9 man rotation, SIX of them were four-star recruits who had offers from damned good programs...and these guys all aren't one position- a pure PG, a combo guard, a pair of SGs, a SF and a C...all highly-touted...all good as individuals...none meshing together to form a team.
Until they figure out how to play together...how to fight for something together, nothing is going to change.
7 comments:
Something has to change. Why not start with the lineup? Was mentioned in the other post, reward the guys that are selling out every min they're on the court. Ido t imagine changing the offense would be feasible at this point in the season but why does it seem that MP is changing his lineup for match ups,instead of making the other team react. This would be crazy, and a total departure but why not run AJH, Lawson, and Hale and force the other teams to adjust? That would at least shake things up and give a waaaay different look... No idea if that would even work or the logistics of it but this late in the season, and with the current record why not try something crazy.
Ironically, that opening quote of Scripture is the same that's tatted on Mr. Sheehey-- I'm not sure if that was intentional or not, but I got a chuckle from it.
That being said, this team is no joy to watch from right now. You brought up another point of actually writing something positive about Anthony Johnson. To say he's been underwhelming in his first 2 years is an understatement of what we expected from him. But I think he's trying to turn it around and I agree, he fought for his buckets today. People on H&R are killing him, and understandably so, but I think he gets more shots in the summer and even in the end of this season he can be a Travis Trice type of player... it's there, I think. But he has to be able to hit that outside jumper consistently.
Anthony Johnson had family in the crowd today from what I've heard. Maybe this made a difference.
I'm gonna try to stay pithy. Do you remember your first Feb. on campus? I do. I remember how hard it was on a California kid. Plus, the rigor of classes at Purdue. For the players, add to that a level of competition and expectation in practice that they have never experienced before. All of the freshman players are in over their heads. Painter has to be patient with them and let them learn the hard lessons. Otherwise, they will never become Purdue-type players. CK3, Kenneth Lowe, and Porter Roberts didnt come out of the box playing awesome defense. Do we as fans really believe that Patiner, Owens, Gary, and Shrewsberry all of a sudden forgot how to coach and develop players? Are you an instant gratification fan or are you willing to stick with them while they experience growing pains? It is likely we will not see the fruits of the work being done with the players for a while.
I miss Chris Kramer.
Lets see what happens the next couple of games. Painter teams always get better as the season goes along
Why didn't you give credit to the quote you used in the beginning of your post?
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