Well Boilermakers the season is not over yet, Purdue has been selected to play in the prestigious CBI! Previous winners include, Pittsburgh, Oregon, Oregon State, VCU and Tulsa. Although it's not the big dance, it's more games for the Boilermakers to play, and as a young squad that is desperately needed.
The Boilers will be facing the Western Illinois Leathernecks who finished their season in the Summit league at 22-8 and a 13-3 record in conference play.
The Leathernecks have an RPI of 132 and a SOS of 295, compared to Purdue's RPI of 122 and SOS of 55 this season.
As far as quality wins, well the verdict is still out on that one, they are in the CBI for a reason.
Their leading scorer is 6'8" Terell Parks who averages 12.7 points, 2.5 blocks and 9.6 rebounds per game.
Guard Ceola Clark III is their resident Robbie Hummel in his sixth season with the program averaging 12.5 points per game.
Looking at the quality of opponent this looks like Purdue should stomp the Leathernecks, but in cases such as these effort comes into play greatly, something that has been in question with this team. If Purdue comes out and plays hard and as a team, this shouldn't be a question, but if there is another "Nebraska" performance, the Leathernecks could pull the upset.
Although upset with the CBI, as I'm sure a lot of you are, this is another opportunity for this team to grow. Not to compare jackasses to thoroughbreds, but some other school's rebuilding years are a lot worst than this one.
What's important is that this team gets more time to grow and mold together. It is the perfect opportunity to get that bad taste out of their mouth after the poor performance against Nebraska and it would be great to set the tone for next season with a few more building blocks.
Although a bit embarrassing, this is something Purdue fans need to embrace, for this season. More games is something that is needed desperately and no matter how bad the tournament is or what the school is, another notch in the belt will be helpful down the road.
The game is Wednesday night at 7pm, if you can make it, I'm sure Matt and the boys would love your support.
20 comments:
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I already gave my opinion on Purdue's participation in the CBI in the previous post's comments. The interesting question is now: do you only play players that will be part of the team next year? This means DJ, Dru, and anyone who will be on the outside next season when the new guys come in (ie. Sandi, AJ, etc.). Will be fascinating to see how Painter plays this.
huh. 15-17 gets you into a tournament these days. To think that in my lifetime, it's gone from the #4 team in the country getting no postseason bid at all (1973-74 Maryland) to a sub-.500 team limping into one of four tournaments.
Well, they're in ... and if I didn't already have about four things going on Wednesday, I'd probably drive up for it. You don't get to see this kind of thing too often.
I hope Painter uses it as practice for the guys who've earned it. If that gets the Boilers a game against Vermont or Santa Clara, so much the better.
Let's get one thing clear: it is NOT an embarrassment for this team to be playing in the CBI. Purdue's season would be over without this invite and a chance to play as many as 6 more games should be welcome for a team that could greatly benefit from more playing time together.
I would hope that fans will do what they typically do when Purdue plays at home: show up and root for a Purdue victory, whether it is an exhibition, pre-season, Big 10 or post-season game.
Anything less than 10,000 at Mackey would be the embarrassment in my mind, and honestly, we should ALWAYS have a full house.
And let's not get ahead of ourselves: we should expect that the other teams in this tournament are just as good (or as bad, depending on your view) as Purdue if they were invited to it. Playing in the CBI isn't beneath a team that lost to teams that won't be playing any post-season basketball. Every one of these teams could beat Purdue.
This is Purdue's chance to prove that they won't.
You're wrong -- This is embarrassing. Purdue had all season to "mold together." Playing barely D1 schools in a tournament that no cares about is not going to fix what's wrong with this team. They don't deserve this. Give the seniors their send off and then go use your fancy new practice facility. That'll get this team better.
This is embarrassing. It's time to turn the page, this team doesn't deserve post season play. Just make it end already!
Can't disagree more with boilerbugle and Purdue Matt. 1) don't consider any of these teams "barely" D1. That is an ignorant comment. As for as being embarrassing and underserving...that shows a lack of appreciation for what this is: a chance to pay more basketball...and that is exactly what coaches and players want: more hoops! As a FAN, it is exactly what those of us who are basketball FANs want as well.
multigen- Are you serious? THIS is exactly what you want???
I think you might be the only person in the Purdue family with that sentiment.
Sorry, poor use of grammer or at least punctuation. Would I rather be in the NCAA than the NIT? Yes, the NIT rather than the CBI? Yes...the CBI rather than season over? Yes again...that was the point I was trying make. My ONLY concern would be what to do with the banner if we did win it...not sure exactly where that goes...
If CMP benches everyone who isn't going to be there next year - I mean literally don't even let them off the bench, regardless of the game situation and/or who worked golly gee hard in practice this week - THEN I'll buy the "real world practice / building for next year" bit. If a single senior steps foot on the floor, or if we find out later that CMP played someone he knew was transferring, then this was a horrific waste of time and money.
A lot of pretty ignorant comments being made here. Texas, and the rest are barely a D1 team? A lot of these teams have recently been NCAA tournament teams. I'll bet a number of them will be again next year. Some of them are typical teams Purdue plays pre-Big Ten season.
Who ever heard of Florida Gulf Coast before Selection Sunday, and yet they're headed to the NCAA tournament. We've seen a lot of less known schools beat better known schools. It has happened to Purdue a number of times this year and in the past.
The arrogance of some posters that this tournament is beneath them is all false bravado unless Purdue destroys each team, and who really believes that will happen based on the results this year? Any one of these teams in the CBI can beat Purdue, so don't dismiss it.
As for not playing the seniors, what kind of crazy talk is that? This season hasn't ended, and while of course these games can help the underclassmen, if a senior on the team is picked to play it will be because he will have earned that and Painter believes the team will benefit from him playing.
If you don't want to support Purdue in this tournament, that's of course your prerogative, but one has to wonder what kind of fan you really are.
I've heard of Florida Gulf Coast. It's where Adam Liddell transferred to.
They also have a double-digit victory over ACC regular-season and tournament champion Miami.
Big Dan, thanks for weighing in...but I'm not sure how anyone cannot be somewhat understanding if a Purdue fan decides not to dig his/her teeth into the next game (few games)...as someone who has put in literally 1000s of hours of unpaid free time in the last few years to support this program, I get it...and detailed that in my post earlier today.
We'll see who wants to wear that jersey now. There's absolutely no reason whatsoever to let down for this tourney...NONE...and forget this crap of benching seniors or possible transferees. The best men available should play, even though some of them should be sending out feelers to Ball State or Depaul by now. Heck, I may even drive up for the Leathernecks game. I'm waiting to close on my first house and am already tired of sleeping on everyone's couch. BTFU!
boilerdowd - Read it. It was a good post. Anyway, these times usually differentiate diehards from casual fans. Supporting a team isn't just about doing so when they're winning - it is also about doing so when they're struggling. That's when a team needs their supporters most. The team is where it is. We all hope the only way from here is up. Let's hope that path starts with this tournament.
Daniel, do you really believe everyone who posts in anger here about their beloved Boilermakers are casual fans? Do you really think because we post our actual feelings that we no longer love and support our team? For you to question my fandom or anyone else's over being terribly frustrated at this team, the coaching staff and our amazing AD is ludicrism. I've said it before and I will say it again, NOTHING gets better without a little bitching. As alumni, students and fans...we have not only earned that right, we've paid for it.
People that bitch on here about how bad this team is, obviously forgets the last 5 or 6 seasons when we were winning. We start 3 freshman that have improved from the beginning of the season and will help next years team. Im a diehard bleed gold and black and anytime I get to watch extra post season play im there. I stayed and watched an ass whoopin oklahoma state put on us this year in texas. Extra gamez never hurt, only help. And for not playing seniors or transfers, we should just let you go out and play lol you play the guys that will help you win plain and simple!!!!
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