LewJack Out Indefinitely

I really hope this isn't a sign of another injury-filled season for Purdue basketball because if this team is healthy, they could do some things.

Lewis Jackson will be sidelined "indefinitely" after undergoing surgery today on his foot for last week's injury that kept him out of the opener against Cal State Northridge.

Foot problems are never good for basketball players. Say goodbye to Lewis for at least a month, but probably longer.

Addendum:
LewJack out until after February...at least.

How Bad Do They Want It?

Purdue's 2009-2010 basketball season launches this evening. This season marks thirty years since the last time Purdue was in the Final Four, something many IU fans would throw in our faces if they could count to thirty.

There's not much else to say. You've seen previews everywhere. We've linked to many of them. We've contributed to some of them. And at this point, like in any highly anticipated season, it's all talked out. It's time to hit the floor and see how badly they want it. Tonight's opponent, Cal State Northridge, is kind of immaterial. Not that we shouldn't respect them, but the season is about so much more than that.

It's no longer a hope to get through the non-conference with a respectable record. It's no longer hoping for an above-.500 record in the Big Ten. It's no longer about hoping to make the NCAA tourney. Or about hoping for better than a middling seed. No, ladies and gents, this year it's about so much more.

We often try to keep our expectations tempered around here. We try to be realistic, which is just another way to say we try not to get our hopes and dreams crushed. Maybe it was Kyle Orton's fumble or Duke not letting Gene Keady get to the Final Four. I don't know. But somewhere along the way, talking about the Final Four became something off in dreamland... far away, and viewed as unreachable.

That is no longer the case. Sure, there are many teams that could take Purdue down. But these are the guys we're heading into the battle with and I know that I am pretty happy with the heart of this crew and their leader.

Last year, we thought right away that the preseason top ten talk was a bit premature. This team was a year away, we thought. Well, that "year away" is here now. And it's impossible not to be amped.

The future is bright, as we've discussed. Matt Painter is building a program and has the potential to build it higher in his first ten years on the job that the godfather, Coach Keady, did in nearly three times that. And so one of the best parts of this season coming up is that it's not an all-or-nothing kind of year. Yes, we want big things. No, the program doesn't take a step back if those big things aren't accomplished. That's good news. That's progress. That's how you build a perennial powerhouse.

So get ready for a fun ride. We're going to be freaked at times, when they suffer one of their weird, stinker losses. And we're going to be flying high at times, when they make us proud. Overall, though, this season has the potential to be one of the best experiences many of us have had as Boilermakers. Enjoy every minute of it.

Choo-choo!

Boilermakers Roll; Hope Speaks At Halftime

Purdue won its second and final preseason tuneup tonight, 74-52, and, frustratingly, nothing is available online about it. Fortunately, though, regular reader Paul (Irish Cowboy) has been deputized to provide you with better than a lazy media recap. Paul was there and he'll make you feel like you were, too. Take it away, Paul....

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Well, let's just say our shooting suffered from a case of the Mondays. Granted, I can see why Kentucky Wesleyan has won a couple of DII titles, because they certainly played hard, played well, and played some pretty good defense. But in the end, we have better, bigger players. Here's my thoughts, numbered for some reason:

1. Patrick Bade looked much more comfortable, to the tune of 12 points comfortable. He didn't really force anything (except one attempted dunk near the end of the game) and played ok defense.


2. My roommate, for whom this was the first look at the new Boilers, thought that DJ Byrd was a sophomore. 'Nuff said.


3. John Hart came in and tried to rush and force things for a while, but then settled down a little bit and hit a three. He also had a dominating block on a fast break.


4. You heard it here first, Wohlford might be the new 'bobby buckets'. He plays very hard, plays great defense, and though I can't recall him taking a shot in a game, when he's shooting around before the game/at the half I can't recall him missing a three either.


5. Chin-up Kelsey Barlow, you're the future. He looked like he knew this was his last shot for a while and tried to play very hard, but ended up fouling out. I still love his size and athleticism.


6. JJ rebounded pretty well, but he still tried that silly shot with one foot behind the three-point line. He did drain his two 15-footers though. Overall I think the team rebounded better.


7. Chris Kramer scoring alert! A friend in the know says Kramer shot 500 three's a day over the summer. Took one attempt from three tonight and nailed it.


8. Speaking of scoring, somebody was praying that Ryne Smith would shoot his way out of this slump... ask and ye shall receive. He had 2 or 3 three's and another bucket to go with some pretty good defense.


9. KG and Kramer had a 4 minute span where they hustled and hounded and were basically migranes for the opposition as far as perimeter defense goes. It was very impressive.


10. We started off slow shooting-wise, but let's please not make that a trend like it was last year.


11. Oh yeah, that Rob Hummel dude, he can play some ball.
    

Once again, KWU certainly were no slouches so not hanging tons of points isn't necessarily too worrying, but I just hope Friday we come out hot and ready to start the season on a roll!

A football note: Coach Hope came out at halftime and talked to the audience (Video here -Ed.) and told them that he's got 21 seniors on a football team that has played very hard and that we should all be very proud of who are playing their last game in Ross-Ade Stadium this Saturday. He wants you all to be there. He says that the win on senior day this Saturday puts us in position to win again and make into contention for a bowl game. He thanked the students for their support more than once. Coach Hope is awesome, etc etc.

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Thanks, Paul! We really appreciate the assistance and thorough reporting. I also love the idea of Chris Kramer taking 500 threes a day over the summer.....and then hoisting up one, hitting it, and going, "Yep, that's enough. Don't want to go too wild."

Everything begins for real Friday night.

Choo-choo, muthas!

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UPDATE

Reader Nate checks in with this rather awesome report. Not sure if anyone else paid for the broadcast and heard this:

"I was stupid enough to purchase the broadcast so that I could get a look at our freshman players. So I shelled out my $2.99 and logged in about 10-15 minutes early to make sure it would work. The broadcast loaded up right away with static shots of the crowd and of the cheerleaders. Shortly after the video came up, you could hear the announcers (the radio broadcast guys - Larry "the drunk" Clisby and some other guy) chit chatting. They didn't realize they were on air at the time. The talked about which freshman they liked for the year and then, in a spot of total awesomeness, the cameras cut to the cheerleaders and one of the announcers says something along the lines of "not much to look at on the cheerleading squad this year" and the other guy responds with "yeah, that's definitely the second team". About five minutes later they realized that their mikes were open and said, "I hope these mikes weren't on for a long time". Then later in actual game action coming out of a timeout, someone must have told them that their comments were aired because their aired some half assed apology. The first guy says, "I hope we didn't offend anyone on the cheerleading squad, they are a skilled bunch" and the second guy says that he was glad he didn't say anything negative. It was pretty funny. "

Nate also had the following observations on the game itself:

• Hummel looked unreal and hit everything and rebounded like crazy
• the refs called a ton of charges under the basket
• the announcers mentioned that JuJuan Johnson worked out with Paul Pierce over the summer. I hadn't read that anywhere yet this year so it was cool to hear.
• Smooge looked a little off shooting the ball and clanged a lot of shots
• Ryne Smith was still too tentative shooting the ball. His defense is starting to look better though as he's not totally out of control.
• Someone on Kentucky Wesleyan fouled Smooge hard on a drive to the basket and it got chippy for a bit as Smooge shoved the guy back.

Thanks, Nate!

Boilermakers Exhibition Season Concludes Tonight But You Won't See It

Tonight, your seventh-ranked Boilermakers take on Kentucky Wesleyan in their second and final exhibition game, and you won't be able to watch.

Wait, no, that's not entirely true. You can still pay the Big Ten Network to watch the game streaming on your computer (it's always easy to follow a basketball on a streaming feed) OR you can wait until three days from now at 3 in the morning and you can watch on the Big Ten Network. No, I'm not kidding. It's the year 2009 and the Big Ten Network is "tape delaying" this game until -- I guess -- they were able to find an opening in their programming schedule. To show live Big Ten sports action. Yeah, I do not understand it, either. But don't tell me how it ends. I'll be getting up at 3 this Thursday morning to watch.

Actually, no, we would like to know what happens and that's why we'd like to ask for a volunteer to do what Paul did for us last week and go to the game and report back what you see. Fire an email to BoiledSports@gmail.com and if you just say something like "Purdue won" then you win a kick in the gonads.

Oh, and there's no pay for this assignment. Hey, it's an exhibition game, after all.

Indy Star Purdue Hoops Preview

Man, these guys look tough. Kramer is peering into your soul. Hummel has sneakers the size of a schooner. E'Twaun looks chiseled (did he do some pushups right before the shoot, like I would?).

The Indy Star puts forth a preview article, fortunately not written by Terry Hutchens.

Seth Davis of SI Sees Potential Elite Eight in Purdue's Future

What, Seth? I let you into one of my practices and you say we won't make the Final Four?!

We meant to share this link late last week with SI shared it with us (yeah, I'm name-dropping, as though SI and BS trade emails all the time), but Seth Davis spent some time watching practice (hey, give him credit for actually showing up before writing his opinion) and he has a pretty detailed and fair take on the Boilermakers.

Seth breaks down the key guys and what he thinks Purdue's chances are and while he calls them a "bona fide Final Four contender," he seems to think the train will stop at a regional final.

We shall see, Seth.

(Thanks to Boilergal for the reminder.)

STF Puts Boilermaker Hoops at #10

As we see these (and as you all share them with us -- thanks Sean!), we'll do our best to keep you in the loop. For whatever you think preseason rankings are worth, another respected site's opinion is in and Storming the Floor has our Boilermakers at #10.

They also pulled a quote from us wherein we were in a salty, mocking mood -- but maybe we're in that mood most of the time?

Purdue hoops are getting lots of respect and that's a nice thing. But I frankly don't care where they're ranked right now and for the first time in many years, I'd actually prefer they be underranked. These lists mean nothing -- doing it on the floor means everything.

But you all know that already.

Choo choo.

Boilermaker Hoops Picked for Second Place; Hummel All-Big Ten

Chris Kramer laughs at your selections, Terry.

For those not following today's Big Ten basketball media day closely, the Boilermakers were a consensus pick -- for second place. I don't know about you, but I really don't care about this. In fact, if it takes any kind of a target off their backs for a little while, so be it.

Another miscellaneous tidbit, as a regular reader pointed out in the comments of another post, Smilin' Terry Hutchens did not pick JJ or Robbie for his preseason all-Big Ten team.... and sadly, that bumbling clown gets a vote. Well, the votes were tabulated and thankfully other people do realize how good Sir Hummel is and he made first team.

"Excellence Is An Expectation"

As many of you know, yesterday was media day for the Purdue Boilermakers basketball team and maybe it was a good thing that it was sort of lost among the fun of a still-glorious week of football talk. But make no mistake, expectations are higher than high for this group this year.

The quote in the title of this post is from our pal Robbie Hummel, who feels that it's okay that excellence is an expectation now. When you think about the lean years Purdue sports have had at times and how the basketball program often had to claw its way to any modicum of respect, it's actually kind of nice -- though stressful -- to be in a position where you're definitely the hunted.

The goal is clearly the Final Four in Indianapolis and I think that's terrific. Conference title would be great, another Big Ten Tourney title would be nice.... but the goal is now what we all hoped it could be. A shot at the biggest stage in college basketball, and perhaps in all of college athletics.

To hear what some of the guys had to say at media day, see the following links:

Click here to hear Coach Painter’s press conference.
Click here to hear from Keaton Grant.
Click here to hear from Chris Kramer.
Click here to hear from Mark Wohlford.
Click here to hear from Robbie Hummel.
Click here to hear from JaJuan Johnson.
Click here to hear from E’Twaun Moore.
Click here to hear from Ryne Smith.
Click here to hear from John Hart.

Purdue Basketball Promos

Continuing today's basketball-heavy day....you may recall the well-done football promo videos done by Haan Marketing and Communications back in the summer. They're at it again with Purdue basketball.

And here's the splash page they did (and you may have seen already) for the official Purdue Sports website:

I'll be honest -- I was more stoked by the football campaign, which is really saying something, given how ready we all are for a promising basketball campaign. That said, I still think these are pretty cool.

Boilermaker Hoops Featured in USA Today

It makes sense. Purdue is in fact in the USA. Today.

Since football season is effectively over, why not keep on talking about basketball? Not to put pressure on the guys or anything, but we're looking even more forward to hoops season now. Thank Purdue football special teamers for that.

USA Today has proclaimed the Boilermakers are "reloaded" and "ready to make a Final Four run."

Pretty heady stuff, but you should expect to keep hearing it. Remember, this is a program that was projected to be top ten last season and it might have been a bit much for the still-young Boilermakers to handle. Being manhandled by Duke on their own floor certainly added to that, followed by Robbie Hummel's balky back being a problem all season and E'Twaun Moore's play taking a step back from his freshman year. Then an 0-2 conference start had us all worried. However, they wound up making us proud in a year that included a dominating win over eventual Final Four-bound MSU in West Lafayette; an impressive run through the Big Ten Tournament; and a spot in the Sweet 16 during the NCAA Tourney.

But you don't need me to recap the fun of last season. You were all there, enjoying it just like we were. This season promises to be a rush of emotions once again, undoubtedly with highs and lows once again. Make no mistake -- it's going to be exciting between November and March in WestLaf and in the many pockets of this country where we Boiler alums exist.

So read up on USA Today's preview, take it for what it's worth, and keep listening to that train rumbling in the distance.

More coming from us....

LewJack Suspended, As Expected

We all knew this was coming and it was made official yesterday. Lewis Jackson will be suspended for three games, mainly resulting from his April joyride while drinking and smokin' the happy seed.

As Rush The Court points out, he's also being suspended as a result of playing in an "unsanctioned game." When you break things down, you note that he will be suspended for two exhibition games by Purdue and Coach Matt Painter for his unlawful driving and one regular season game for playing in an unsanctioned game.

Let's hope this was a youthful indiscretion and not a sign of things to come. Because, I'll tell you, we've been waiting a long time for a team that has legitimate hopes of a Final Four. If it gets derailed because someone goes on a drinking or smoking binge during the season, I might set fire to Boiled Sports headquarters.

The RTC Purdue Preview

Coach Painter hopes to guide the Boilermakers to Indianapolis.

The esteemed site Rush the Court has their Purdue Boilermakers preview up and they're bullish on the Boilers.

How bullish? Take this line:

Anything less than a Final Four appearance in Indianapolis will be disappointing for Matt Painter and the Purdue faithful.

Well, alrighty then. Should be a fun year.

Speaking of Hoops

Rush The Court, a super-fine college hoops site, is so excited for basketball being just three months away that they're doing breakdowns on many of the top teams in the land. Today's team was Michigan State. Why do I mention this? Because they have some cool things to say about MSU-Purdue that are sure to get you amped.

The snippets, for those too lazy to click through:

Most Difficult Conference Road Test: This one’s easy- the late February tilt at Purdue will be one of the most anticipated games of the entire college basketball season. Michigan State and Purdue, much like last preseason, will be the subject of much banter with regards to the expected conference champion in 2009-10. Purdue once again has nearly every main cog back for another run under coach Matt Painter led by preseason Wooden award finalists E’Twaun Moore and Robbie Hummel trying to lock up Raymar Morgan, scoring center JaJuan Johnson, defensive stalwart Chris Kramer, and point guards Keaton Grant and Lewis Jackson attempting to contain Kalin Lucas. Purdue features an intimidating home court, as well (Michigan State is well aware). This game could very well determine the conference title.

Most Anticipated Home Date: Since both the North Carolina and Texas games are on the road, and Gonzaga won’t be quite as feared as previous campaigns, the vote goes to Purdue. The Big 10 could very well be the best all-around conference in the land this season and these are the top two teams. I cannot possibly stress how huge these two February games will be.

It'll all be here before you know it, boys and girls. Big year for Purdue athletics on the horizon.

Is this possible?

That's the question asked over and over by fans and media types during this time of year- Is it possible for this player to jump to the NBA early? Is it possible for this coach to head for "greener pastures" even as the program he's built is thriving...and so on.

Is it possible that we're in a dead 5-day period, but there is so much excitement? Oh yes, and it's this way each season.

While anything seems like a possibility at this time, my advice is to temper your giddiness. Some of these moves have Purdue involved...for instance-

With UK canning Billy Gillespie, it looks like it's nearly a done deal that "Teflon" John Calipari will take over in Lexington. And while IU now understands the dire straits that can be brought about by hiring a former cheater, the Wildcat faithful don't care and want to win, at any cost right now. The NCAA's microscope will be more focused on a program like Kentucky than say...I don't know...Memphis. This is a crown jewel program for the NCAA. I've said it before, and I'll say it again, the NCAA doesn't kill the cash cow; but it will make sure its leader isn't leading there long if he's doing things that clearly violate NCAA rules. So, UK fan, beware of the things you whisper in Santa's ear, because Christmas morning is only one day...there might be a lot of clean-up following the reception of your gift.

Purdue's wrapped up in this conversation in the fact that Indianapolis, class of 2010 product, 5-star small forward, Dominique Ferguson, really liked Billy Gillespie, and Purdue was in his final-2. Websites and talk radio alike (in the Indy area) is abuzz with the possibility of Ferguson opening up his recruiting and Purdue becoming invoved, once again. And, Matty Painter saying, "We need another Glenn Robinson..." might have been a very calculated move following Purdue's exit from the NCAA tournament.

But, with another Glenn Robinson comes a bunch of potential problems, it seems. I'm not saying every 5-star McDonald's AA player comes with baggage (or only arrives with bags of cash), but I am saying many do...and the fact that this kid comes from a high school program that has done some things that use every inch of the rule to make sure an EIGHTH GRADER will be playing for their program, come ninth grade, only makes me more bothered by this prospect. If a kid wants to play at Purdue, great...but I know Matty's smart enough than to make any questionable deals, or to play ball with a kid's AAU coach or Dad just to get him in black and gold...at least, I hope that's the case.

With Calipari gone from Memphis, perhaps Kelvin Sampson will make his move to be reinstated by the NCAA and get another head-coaching job...or Quinn Snyder wil make his way back to the NCAA...you never know.

Some other rumors floating around are that Pitino or Tubby Smith is heading to Arizona (Smith was also rumored in connection to UVa's job)...To me, Pitino seems like the guy there.

On the player side of the rumor mill, names are popping up every day who will be turning pro. You heard about the smartest guy in the world, BJ Mullens throwing his name into the NBA ring...and another HUGE name, DuJuan Summers will head to the league after accomplishing everything possible in the NCAA game...same for Nick Calathes whose Gators went all the way to the NIT following his fantastic season in the rugged SEC.

Players like the above make me want to beg our guys to wait until the time is right to bolt for the league. JJ is still mentioned by CBS as an undecided...and if his Mom isn't in his ear about staying for another year, I can guarantee you a shady agent is in his other ear about leaving.

Gentlemen, stick around, the best is yet to come...if the team does as well as I think they can next season, you will also be doing quite well...

The press had it wrong as they hyped Purdue as a pre-season top-10 team; they were a year early, just like most of the guys who are leaving college to play in the passionless cesspool that is the NBA.