The Next Step: Purdue v. Minny Wrap-Up

My day started with an e-mail from my pal and co-BS editor J asking a simple question that had been asked to him- Have you heard any rumor of Hummel being injured?

I hadn't...and if there's one thing I've learned as a Purdue fan this season, it's that these rumors usually don't mean much. Oh wait, no I haven't learned that. I've learned they're pretty much always true...but worrying about something that I couldn't control wouldn't do me any good. So the BDowd family headed to God's Country for homecoming.

Perfect day- sunny, warm, but not hot, a ton of friends in town to see our alma mater play...Love days like this.

Purdue wore throw-back uniforms that kind of looked more like knock-offs, to me. The colors weren't quite right, the numbers were too small, the stripes on the sleeves weren't the right shape and the icons on the jersey all seemed to be the wrong size. Nike had done it again- just as they had for the Alstott throwback- they had butchered it. But, Purdue paid homage to the BT Co-champ team from a decade ago...and unlike in Pasadena, our Boilers won with roses through the P on the side of the helmet. I guess it kinda helped that they were playing Minnesota and not New Weasel's Huskies.

The game started in pretty-horrible fashion. Both teams seemed to be locked in a battle of who could move the ball less. Three-and-out, three-and-out, FIVE-and-out...etc.

But, eventually, Purdue's o-line started making space, Nord called a few zingers and Dan Dierking made Minny look mini. Danny D finished the day averaging more than 10yds/carry on 12 carries and Henry had an efficient 57 yards rushing...with 3 TDs. The last time a Purdue QB did that, J hadn't yet been born.

Purdue also passed the ball a bit better than last week- Henry was 13/20 w/ 163 yard, 1 TD, 1 Int. Not horrible...definitely better than what we saw in Evanston. But, as a starter, he's now 2-0. The bestest stat of all.

Back to that rumor about Rob's injury. It was all confirmed via multiple sources as Purdue was beginning to take control of the game on the field...and you could feel it throughout RossAde. Purdue was manhandling their opponent, but it was quiet in the concourses and restrooms. I even saw a grown man crying about it- no joke. Granted, all of us felt like crying or vomiting then crying...but most of us didn't do it.

The salve in the Purdue family's massive would was this homecoming game. Honestly, I don't think it wasn't enough to make us feel better, but I'm kinda glad I was in Ross Ade when I got the news...and it would have been much worse had Purdue lost.

But, this Minnesota team looked as bad in person as the rumors told us they were. They made bad decisions, shot themselves in the foot time and time again, their receivers dropped a ton of passes (particularly, former Purdue recruit Marquis Gray) and their white helmets looked stupid.

If you screw with a school's uniforms, I think the alums generally think, it's OK if you're winning. Brewster wasn't. And another rumor that was circulating before the game is now reality- Tim Brewster is out...kinda...following their loss in West Lafayette today. You know what's worse than an interim coach? An interim coach that's already been fired. Nice work, Minnesota Athletic Dept!

Here are some of the noteworthy things I saw today:

-Antavian Edison looked like he was controlled via the R1 button a few times today. On more than one play, he was surrounded by Gophers, then juked one direction, then the opposite to escape nearly untouched.

-Henry's poise is impressive. He seems to be confident when he breaks the huddle and tends to just make good decisions. Plus, his offense looks to be improving each week. In today's game, they scored a TD/qtr...solid.

-Kerrigan is a bad dude...you all knew that already, but holy crap does he hit hard...and gets held EVERY SINGLE PLAY. Plus, he was the victim of a simply horrible personal foul call late in the game. This, following an absurd no-call after Henry took a knee and then was popped by a Minnesota D lineman...with no call made.

What next transpired was pretty great. The anger that Purdue fans had built up was taken out on the officials as the Ross Ade faith reminded the officials for a solid 5 minutes how bad these two calls were.

-Coach Hope made another lousy play call at the end of the first half. With Purdue up by 14 and Minnesota not able to move the ball effectively, Hope and Co. decided to kick a field goal instead of going for the 4th and 1 from the 1 yard line.

I love Hope's ability to motivate and stay positive...but some of the questionable Xs & Os decisions are infuriating. There seems to be one-or-so a game.

Speaking of Hope- where are our pals who have been calling for him to be fired? I guess we'll see you guys next week?

-GBI and a few post-game radio shows remarked about how lucky Purdue got on a few plays this afternoon...true. But, much of that luck was a result of Goldy's poor coaching and Purdue doing some things well. Our Boilers are hitting much harder, seem to be spaced better, are blocking better (both on the line and on the outside) and seem to be playing inspired.

-Rob Henry and OJ Ross were able to do what hadn't been done up to this point in the season- connect on a deep ball...that's a good sign.

-Purdue's DBs are now catching most of the interception opportunities given to them- I think there was one dropped ball, but the defensive backfield is getting better at taking advantage of QB mistakes.

Burning Questions

-Do you think Urban Meyer actually did retire after he decided to come back? UF now has 3 losses and will assuredly be unranked in this week's poll.

-Michigan's now 1-2 in the BT. If they drop another next week, will Jim Harbaugh be asked if he's available after the first of the year? Was anything less-surprising than Robinson getting hurt v. Iowa? For a guy his size taking that man shots, it's amazing he's taken as many snaps this season as he has.

-With MSU continuing to play as they have and aOSU losing easily in Madison, who's your prediction for BT champ at this point?

-If you saw the aOSU game, you watched Pryor while like a lil' baby for a full quarter. Do you think this is isolated or will his attitude problems continue throughout the season?

OK Boiler Fans -- Wear Navy Blue Tomorrow

Something you're used to doing, I'm sure, because you're all so handsome and navy blue is a nice, sharp color. Especially with your sexy eyes. Ed DeChellis is a better coach than Bo Ryan, Penn State has talent that's at least on par with Wisconsin's, and the game's at Wisconsin's majestically-named Kohl Center -- plus the Nittany Lions have got to be amped up to play spoiler. Tell you what, Penn State... if you win tomorrow night, I'll fulfill your deepest desire: during over (sic) the course of the Big Ten Tournament, I'll refer to your school as WE ARE, PENN STATE.

Okay, sorry, I couldn't even do all that seriously. No, Penn State is not on a par with Wisky, but yeah, my post makes about as much sense as the lunacy over at Badger Tracker. Truth is, though, Wisky has a better shot right now because the Boilers have to play two road games that aren't exactly gimmes -- @OSU and @UM -- while the Badgers get to host PSU and go @NU. Yikes. So let's just chalk up two wins for Wisconsin. Yep, those two are guaranteed! For sure! No need to even play 'em! Wisconsin should win eeeeeeeeasily. Right? Gosh, I sure hope they don't trip over one of those lesser opponents.

I mean, truly. I sure hope Wisky's getting swept by the Boilermakers this year doesn't come back to bite 'em.

Grrrrrrrrrrr!! Don't jinx my team! I will fire thunderbolts out of my fingers! But not my index finger! It alone can destroy a city! I will simply use my weaker three fingers!

Boilers Stave Off Minny At Home

Robbie Hummel and the Boilers stayed in dogfight mode last night as they took down the Gophers from up North.

The Boilers led for most of the game and pulled away in the second half to win by a dozen, continuing their stellar play at home this season and staying atop the Big Ten, merely tie-breaker points ahead of IU and Wisconsin.

Sorry, I am really just vamping here....filling time, you know? Waiting for Boilerdowd to file his report. But he's been sick so it's possible he didn't see this game, either. The problem is, the Big Ten Network sucks ass so badly, I don't get to see many Purdue games despite having a "sports tier" on my cable.

So all I know is what I said above -- Purdue won, Minny lost and the Boilers stay on top in the Big Ten. Granted, that's all that really matters but we all know and love Boilerdowd's butter-knife-sharp wit and analysis.

Even Tubby wants to know what the hell happened.

What the hell happened? Well, at least I'm not being eviscerated by Vanderbilt by 40+.

So How Is This Big Ten Thing Gonna End?

We've all been so distracted by ole Kelvin Sanctions down at IU that we've almost lost sight of a great Big Ten basketball season and what lies ahead of us.

After Sampson is fired on Friday, we'll all be able to get back to business and focus on what truly looks to be a dogfight to the finish. Of course, the league caving in and giving all the money-grubbers the conference tourney they wanted means that it really isn't important where you finish, but at Purdue we really do like adding to our Big Ten championship banners.

After all the hubub of last night's "showdown" between Purdue and Indiana, now the dust has settled and -- surprise! -- Purdue is still alone in first place, albeit by only a half-game now. Point is, though, it's still Purdue's to lose.

The Boilers are 12-2, followed closely by IU and Wisconsin, both at 11-2. MSU follows them at 8-4 and I think we can all agree they're effectively finished.

Here's what those contenders have remaining:

Purdue (12-2) -- Minnesota, Northwestern, @ OSU, @ Michigan. A really tough finish if this was football. It's not, however. I will say we go 3-1 in that stretch, assuming the Baby Boilers play reasonably to their potential. Final record would be 15-3.

Indiana (11-2) -- @ Northwestern, OSU, @ MSU, Minnesota, @ PSU. Those are all winnable games for the Hoosiers, so you have to ask a couple of questions... 1) Will they experience any brainfart/letdowns? 2) Will Sampson's firing have a negative effect on them? I'm going to say the answer is yes to at least one of those, so how many games could they lose? With everything swirling around them, I just don't see them going 5-0 in those games, despite how good they truly are. I'll say they lose to MSU or OSU and win the rest. So they'd go 4-1, for a record of 15-3. And, of course, a head-to-head win over the Boilers.

Wisconsin (11-2) -- @ Illinois, @ OSU, MSU, PSU, @ Northwestern. Wisconsin has swept IU but been swept by Purdue. So what do we make of this team? I'd say overachievers. They're not nearly as good as their 11-2 suggests... although beating this Indiana team twice is impressive. I'll say they also go 4-1 down the stretch, beating Illinois, MSU, PSU and the Mildcats, but being upended at OSU. Final record: 15-3. (Starting to sound familiar?) Of course, now they're in a three-way tie with Purdue and IU and they have the edge on IU but Purdue has the edge on them. And IU, of course, has the edge on Purdue.

So who is in first place? Well, they all are, of course. It becomes a three-way co-champ for the regular season and we all get to hang a banner. And to be honest, I'm not even sure I understand it all. Reader Mo Boiler explains, though:

the tiebreaker is for seeding in the conference tourney (important, i know). The big ten actually has a pretty complicated system. courtesy of Elliot Bloom, Purdue sports information:

"If teams tie then the first tiebreaker is head to head. If multiple teams tie, then its their record against the teams they are tied with. The next tie breaker is your record against the first place team, then second place team and so forth."

Okay, so we'd have multiple teams tied. And the record against the other teams is as follows:

Purdue: 2-1 (2-0 vs Wisco; 0-1 vs IU)
IU: 1-2 (0-2 vs Wisco; 1-0 vs Purdue)
Wisco: 2-2 (2-0 vs IU; 0-2 vs Purdue)

So then if things played out the way I posit above, then Purdue would get the #1 seed in the Big Ten Tourney. I'm not sure how much that would mean but it would be nifty.

I'm not sure what other point I wanted to make so I'm just gonna end here.

Purdue Beats MSU (Eyewitness Account)

My sister-in-law was kind enough to forfeit a chance to see her alma mater play so my brother, Dad, and my friend got to see Purdue play MSU this evening. These aren't OK seats...they're stupid-good seats. Section 18, Row 15...sure, the seats in Mackey are waaaaaaay too narrow, but that didn't bother us. We were in the best venue (because of tremendous sight lines) in college basketball with a bunch of people who are bringing back the thunder from Mackey circa 1990-something. So what did I see that couldn't be seen on TV? Quite a bit, I think.

First off, I got to see just how hard Chris Kramer plays all of the time. He had the unenviable task of chasing Drew Neitzel around the court for 40 minutes. Neitzel's good...just not great v. Purdue. Tonight, it wasn't because Drew was off, it was because Kramer was in his jersey for the entire contest. I understand why Kramer is tired on offense so often (he was that way v. Wisconsin too)...he's just constantly working on defense.

There was a 7-10 minute period in which Purdue watched a 16-point lead melt down to three...so why did that happen? Well, they looked tired, as a team...and even emotionless...something very unusual for this team. I honestly think they might have simply worn themselves out with the highly-emotional win v. Wisky followed by a similar first half v. the Spartans. But, instead of folding when really being pushed by a very good MSU team, they showed a ton of grit and fortitude and found enough toughness to distance themselves from the scrappy and highly-ranked Spartan squad.

I figure it's better to bitch about officiating after a win than a loss, so here goes. While 2/3s of the officiating crew was pretty good tonight, the third guy was an abomination. He simply wouldn't make calls, no matter how obvious in nature the violation. He missed travels, reach-ins, over-the-backs, hooks, holds, clear-outs and others. I hope he doesn't get paid much, because he didn't deserve a nickel.

Robbie Hummel is smart, fundamentally sound and very talented. ESPN can show you highlights, but what you might not catch is that during a seven-minute period, he was simply dog tired. I kept pleading with Painter to give him just a 30-second rest, but he denied me over and over. As a result, Hummel was visibly gassed. But, when the game got down to the narrowest of magins, Purdue really needed a bucket. Robbie Hummel concentrated on getting open, set his feet, relied on his fundamentals and drained a three. His performance was unlike any Purdue star performance I've seen simply because of the fact that he dominated on the glass, on the offensive end and defensively during more than one stretch of the game. Lewis, Robinson, the Austin brothers, and others dominate on offense...Lowe, Sheffler, Stevens and others took games over defensively...Hummel does it either way. And his will is monstrously strong.

While Terry Hutchens didn't buy into Hummel as an impact player, and won't admit it, I will. I was sure he would be a solid role player that would be very good by the time he was a Junior or Senior. He is ahead of schedule...and can get much, much better. And, I was wrong about him...But I wasn't about Moore- he's pretty good too.

Moore is a very good player, but will get much better as he gets stronger. As he is able to create space with a stronger frame, he'll be able to rely on the drive when his stroke's not working.

Calasan needs to hit that baby hook...And Purdue needs him to do so as well. His feet are great and he's very good at getting in the right position and getting the ball. But, he simply doesn't shoot at a high-enough percentage when on the blocks. That said, he wears out defenders because he's active and forces them to guard him on the perimeter.

So what does tonight's win mean?
-It means that Purdue is in full control of its future. Will they add to the case of Big Ten Championship trophies that used to be a normal occurrence? Maybe, but there's a lot of work left to do. They play the best team in the Big Ten on Tuesday and have a bunch of other tough games before the BT tourney.

-As much as I'd like them to be, they're no longer under the radar. The national media is buying in...so Painter has a whole new set of problems to solve. I'm confident he can keep their heads screwed on straight...but I'm a bit skeptical of how Crump & Calasan will handle success.

-Matt Painter simply must be a finalist for the Nation COY

-Hummel, with an "OK" game v. Northwestern, will become POW for the second week in the row. Honestly, I understand why one Wisconsin paper said Kramer was the player of the game last Saturday...It could be argued that he deserved such an honor this evening. But that's like giving the Super Bowl MVP to an o-linemen...Hey, somebody's gotta do it and Kramer is probably the best defensive player in the Big Ten.

Next up, Northwestern at the house of purple. Remember Boilers, the IU game isn't worth nearly as much if you don't handle your business in Evanston.

Don't read the internet or papers this week, read your books, study hard and practice hard...Coach Painter will let you know what you need to hear.

How Good is Matt Painter?

You already know Purdue is tied atop the Big Ten, but let's look a bit closer at why Painter deserves to be coach of the year in the Big Ten, if not the nation:

As individual players:
-Every player (except Marcus Green) on the Purdue team that plays more than 5 min./game has only been on Purdue's roster for two seasons or less.
-Purdue has started four Freshman on multiple occasions this season...Thus Purdue has the youngest starting five in all of the land.
-Three of Purdue's top five scorers are true Freshman, one is a true Sophomore, one is a JuCo transfer Junior.
-No Purdue player averages more than 11 points, or 6 rebounds/game.

As a team, in comparison with the rest of the Big Ten:
-Purdue is fifth in scoring offense.
-Purdue is fourth in scoring defense.
-Purdue is sixth in scoring margin (and really didn't figure out how to put teams away until game 10)
-Purdue is second in free throw percentage.
-Purdue is ninth in field goal percentage.
-Purdue is eight in field goal percentage defense.
-Purdue is third in steals.
-Purdue only leads the league in turnover margin.

Purdue does lead in one important major category: Conference wins. These young guys are good, but Painter's the reason they're playing so darned well. While he is not be even close to John Wooden's status, calling Painter the "Magician of Mackey" really isn't too much of a stretch this year.

Painter has found the right combinations at the right times all season to help a bunch of underexperienced players gel together to form a very formidable team. I am truly amazed at how quickly this group has gotten to the top of the league. But also am realistic in my belief, that even with tremendous situational coaching and superb game prep, if the Boilers don't shoot better, OR play defense at an even higher level it will be awfully tough to win the Big Ten title.

All that said, they're in a great position now, and will be the favorite if they win in Madison tomorrow night.