Boilers Pluck Peacocks. 65-43; Await Georgetown/VCU Winner

The Boilers rolled in their opening round game against St. Peter's, as we all knew they would. It's rare that Boilermaker fans get confident going into a tourney game, but this was one where the general feel was pretty damn positive.

I spoke to B-dowd before the game and I said my theory on Purdue's run was that tonight's game would be the most "fun" one for all of us as fans, while all remaining games from this point forward would be stressful.

It turned out to be exactly that way. During the week, I said on the podcast that Purdue was going to win big and needed to win big to get confidence back and to assert themselves, quite frankly. Winning by 22 points doesn't really allow the media to minimize your potential, for example, and that's a good thing. We like to see the Boilers respected.

Nevertheless, every time St. Peter's made a basket, the D-level broadcasting crew on TNT would try to suggest the Peacocks were "making a run." Never mind that no such run really ever occurred.

As for the game itself, sure, there are some things to discuss.

What I liked:

-- JJ grabbing 16 boards. Sure, SPC was small and not a good rebounding group, but Johnson simply snatched quite a few of those away from two or three 'cocks at a time. 

-- Lewis Jackson's game. Four of five from the floor, four of five from the line, 12 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 steals. His game was barely noted by the broadcasting team, who was too busy showing really uncomfortable hugs and caressing by SPC's coach and badass, 5-point-scorer Nick Leon. However, Eammon Brennan caught up with Lew after the win. Lew was on his game tonight and it was good to see, especially in light of Barlow's absence.

--On that note, I also liked Terone tonight. TJ looked very comfortable at the point tonight and it was actually terrific to see. He looked more comfortable, to me, than he's looked most of the season... and that's not to say he hasn't looked good this year. I'm just saying it's amazing what playing your natural position can do for a guy. Terone had eight points (including two treys), four dimes and two steals.

--Holding a team to 43 points. Kind of awesome.

What I didn't like:

--Purdue turning the ball over 16 timess, more than SPC....including seven by Smooge alone. Wow. I don't know if St. Peter's defense is that good or if Purdue had a sloppy night, or a little of both. Many times, things like this do indeed fall somewhere in the middle. Remember, the Peacocks were ranked very high defensively in college basketball and I guess it was at least partially deserved. It didn't stop a 22 point beatdown, but it did cause Purdue to turn the ball over a lot and to only score 65 points.

--Sloppyness. Some of it was SPC D, as mentioned, but there were other things that had nothing to do with the opposition. Sloppy passes, taking eyes off the ball, fumbling rebounds, etc. Yes, you can get away with this stuff now but we all know you need to buckle down. I'm inclined to not be real worried about any of this because it was the first game, plus it was a team Purdue was up big on most of the night. You do tend to lose your focus a bit when you're up 25, no matter how much you try not to.

-- Ryne Smith going 0-5 from the floor. Sure, he is coming off a concussion and, sure, a St. Peter's player braced himself on the back of Ryne's neck in order to block Smith and knock him to the floor...but hey, what does that matter?  Seriously, though, we're big fans and I hope Ryne is okay and that he gets back on track. We need you, Ryno.

Next up...

As I write this, VCU is taking the naughty paddle to Georgetown's collective hineys, so it looks like our Boilers will face the 11-seed VCU Rams, also of black and gold lineage. Game will be Sunday, time as yet to be determined.

One stop down, three to go until reaching our final destination of Houston. The ride begins to pick up speed now, so please hang on.

Choo-choo, muthas.

Poking the Hibernating Bear

Even before this afternoon's news of Barlow's suspension, I was thinking about this post...but for a different reason.

We, and the rest of the Big Ten, know how good Purdue can be when focused- they are a group that causes shot clock violations regularly for opposing offenses. They can erupt at a moment's notice and turn a nip-and-tuck score into an insurmountable deficit. They are a team that is as happy playing a half court game as they are pushing the pace and forcing the issue. And when their resolve is there, they strike fear in about any team in America...but then there's the listless Purdue that we've seen a few times this season.

Back in November, they showed up in Chicago versus Richmond. Almost the whole game, they were in neutral. The result was Richmond's PG/SF combo looking like Stockton and Malone. Nearly two months to the day, later, that sluggish squad showed up again. Hung over from the College Gameday atmosphere, the Buckeyes had Purdue beaten in mere minutes as a 0-0 game was out of hand before halftime was reached. Bad Pete didn't show up again until March...after a nearly-perfect February. And it was a different game than some of you are thinking, in my opinion. The first half of Senior night was pretty sickening. Purdue allowed a hot-shooting Illinois team to run out in front and take a big lead. But, thanks to some big shots by the Seniors and an electric Mackey Arena, Purdue earned a closer-than-expected victory.

The next two games were shockingly-lousy as Purdue allowed the 10th-best team in the conference to absolutely control them...then allowed MSU to earn its way back into the NCAA field by showing up the top-10 Boilers in their own game: toughness and 'want-to'.

If you're a Purdue fan, you've may have thought about why they ended the season that way, but it doesn't take the analysis of Bobby Knight to figure this one out. The basketball adage goes- Good offense is often the result of talent and skill...Good defense and rebounding is almost always a result of hustle and will. Purdue's hustle, its heart and its motivation were AWOL in the last two contests...but we've seen this before.

Last year, Purdue was body slammed out of the BTT as they put on an exhibition of exactly what a major college basketball team shouldn't do v. Minnesota. They followed the game up with a solid performance to start the NCAA tourney v. Siena. In '09, they ended the season in East Lansing with one of the flattest second halves of basketball of that season. They followed that up by tearing through the BTT and winning their first such crown, then winning two more games in the dance.

The point is, we all know that Painter-coached teams are resilient...and that's without additional motivation. So I loved reading this article about St. Pete's from NJ.com. If you follow us on Twitter, much of this is review for you...as it set the interwebnet ablaze with fired up Boiler backers...but it's still good to get this word out as much as possible prior to Purdue's 7:20 tip-off v. the Peacocks on Friday (on TNT).

Let me re-set the stage: On one hand you have a team that was top-10 in the nation for much of the season. This team boasts of two of the best players in the nation (according to media and coaches alike) and one of the best coaches in all of the land as well. The other team has some solid players, three Senior starters and earned its way into the dance, after upsetting Iona in its conference tourney. In my opinion, it'd probably be best for both teams to just respect the other prior to the game and let their performance do the talking.

JaJuan Johnson agreed saying, "We're playing against a St. Peter's team that won their conference...last year we played Siena, they're from the same conference. Obviously, they have to be a pretty decent team."

Now, St. Peter's had other ideas.

6'7" F Ryan Bacon said this of the aforementioned All-American, POY candidate, Johnson, "I'm embracing the opportunity (to guard him). He's not Superman."

5'11" PG Nick Leon continued putting the Boilers in their place by saying, "We're not focused on matching up on them. They need to focus on matching up with us." He'll have the the chance to guard and be guarded by Lewis Jackson.

I guess there's nothing wrong with talking trash if you can back it up...and the Peacocks will have their chance to do just that when they play the lowly Boilers from someplace in the midwest. Afterall, the 143rd-best team in America (according to the RPI) has plenty to be proud of. Their star shooting guard, Wesley Jenkins summed up St. Peter's current pre-NCAA tourney position quite succinctly. "...you have to go through hard times first, and now, we're on top."

I don't bet on sports, especially Purdue sports. But if I was a betting man, I'd probably put down a shiny dime or two on my Boilers for this Friday. They might have eased their way out of the regular season as they drifted to sleep, but I think it'd be pretty foolish to doubt their focus or resolve in the final games of JJ and Smooge's careers. And some might think the loss of Barlow will hurt the Boilers greatly in the tourney...and it might sting a bit. But, I can promise you that his absence forces this team to be more businesslike as they prepare for their next game.

Matty, Moore, Johnson and company are pretty damned good at what they do. But, when they're doubted, when they're disrespected, and consequently, when they're angry, they're nearly unbeatable. I think a few proud Peacocks have made big mistake and awakened a sleeping monster. Soon, they'll live with the consequences of their actions.

Cover your face and head, Peacocks.

A Beautiful Body Catches the Committee's Eye (and notes)

Leading up to the selection of this year's NCAA tournament, we heard that the last ten games of the season wasn't as important as the entire body of work. But, as a Purdue fan, you couldn't help but wonder how important the last two games would be in the minds and hearts of those who decided our Boilers fate.

I've tried to think about what happened in Iowa City and then Indianapolis...I've looked at it passionately and in a completely-biased manner and tried to separate myself and view as an outsider might. The latter led me to ask one main question:

-Does a team that plays dominant defense simply forget how to play that part of the game?

The answer of course is no. And I believe the committee thought the same way. As a result, JJ, Smooge and Co. take one more step forward and land Purdue at a 3 seed just two hours North of West La La in Chicago. In my mind, it couldn't be much better the way Purdue finished.

I've heard it said that instead of being overwhelmed by the scope of the entire tournament, it's best to break it down to a few smaller weekend tourneys. So here's Purdue's first tournament this coming weekend in Chicago:

This mini-tourney looks pretty winnable to me. Obviously, Georgetown jumps off the page right away as the team in the way of getting out of the weekend, but before the second round, Purdue will play a team that I have never seen play a game. If you're like me, you want to get a little educated before Friday...so here goes.

Knows nothing about Purdue

St. Peter's College comes to the big dance by way of the MAAC, like Purdue's first round opponent in last year's tourne, Sienna (they miss Coach Fran, by the way). They've been to the NCAA tournament twice ('91 v. Texas, '95 v. UMAss) but have never won a game in the tourney. They finished in the upper middle of the conference, but obviously won the conference tourney (they upset Iona in the Championship). As little as I know about them, their coach, Jon Dunne, might know about the same about Purdue.

"Hopefully the staff has started watching film already, because we know nothing about Purdue"

That sounds like a good start for Purdue. Dunne's team thought they'd be a 15 seed and that they'd be playing UConn, UNC or another team that they had actually watched on TV...but instead, they end up playing some small school that no one knows about from Indiana (where is that anyway??).

St. Peter's Wesley Jenkins

They started off the season 0-3 as their leading scorer, Wesley Jenkins, couldn't play due to injury for nearly two months of this season. They don't have a win versus an RPI top-50 team and their best win of the season was their final game of the MAAC tourney as they beat the 70th-ranked Iona Gaels.

Their starting line-up has a pair of 6'7" forwards, one of them, Ryan Bacon, leads the team with 7.5 reb/gm. Their PG, Nick Leon, leads them in assists (3.1/gm). The guy who might create the most problems for Purdue is the 6'2" Wesley Jenkins who is a four years starter. Along with Jenkins, the Peacocks start two other Seniors and a pair of Sophomores. Their rotation is typically 8-deep and their Seniors play more than anybody.

They consider themselves a "scrappy" team that isn't fun to watch...something we Purdue fans can appreciate since Matty's squad has looked like that from time-to-time. They're a stout defensive team as they allow only 59.9 pts/gm (12th)...but at the same time, they struggle offensively scoring only 61.4 (315th).

We'll give our opinion on the match-up as the week progresses...you can draw your own conclusions for now.

Purdue ended the season with a CCR of 9.7.

Other Notes

Purdue is 11-5 versus the 9 teams they played during the season that made the tourney. And judging by MSU's seeding (10), they needed the throttling they gave to Purdue on Friday to get into the dance. The highest-seeded tourney opponent Purdue played is of course the number one overall aOSU Buckeyes. The lowest seeded is the 14th seeded Sycamores from ISU.

The most-surprising snub of this year's bracket to me is St. Mary's. They had wins over St. John's and Gonzaga, and were ranked for big chunks of the season. But a low RPI (45) and a ton of teams in that range probably forced them out.

From the Purdue family, Kevin Stallings Vandy squad got a 5 seed, Lavin's St. John's Red Storm landed at 6, Weber's Illini got a 9 seed. Cuonzo Martin's Missouri State team will be hosting Murray State in the NIT.

My favorite matchup of the entire first round is Kentucky v. Princeton. I love it when the tourney committee gets creative in their matchups. Go Tigers.

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