Terry Hutchens Hits a Homer

For those of you who don't like the way we often relentless badger people who disrespect the Purdue basketball program, we're going to do our best this year to let mindless sportswriters churn out their tired cliches and ignore Purdue basketball to their hearts' content.

At least, I was going to try to do that. Then Terry Hutchens, resident IU shill, released his preseason Big Ten basketball rankings.

For those who don't feel like clicking through, lest they get some dope on themselves, here's his ranking:


1. Ohio State
2. Michigan State
3. Wisconsin
4. Michigan
5. Illinois
6. Indiana
7. Purdue
8. Northwestern
9. Iowa
10. Minnesota
11. Nebraska
12. Penn State

Now, this isn't the first time I've seen Purdue knocked a bit down the list. But when you release such a list and also include this remark...

"Now, I can already hear it from the Purdue people but to be honest I really wrestled with that one."

...then you sort of expect some explanation, right? Some thought? Some breakdown as to how you arrived at the decision that a second-place team that has never shown significant steps backward during the Matt Painter era would suddenly fall to the lower half of the league. But no, Terry only offers this wisdom:

"I think you could make a case for Purdue at No. 6 and IU at No. 7. It all comes down to Robbie Hummel. (I did have Hummel on my preseason all-Big Ten team by the way)."

And that's it. No more about Purdue. And granted, I know it's a Hoosiers Insider column, but come on, Terry. Provide something to support your opinions! It's part of your damn job!

I also like that he allows that you could make a case for Purdue as high as....No. 6. Wow, really? That high, Terry? Are you sure? Do you know the last time Purdue finished lower than 4th in the conference? It was Painter's first year, '05-'06. The last time they weren't at least first or second place was 2007.

We often point out that success in decades gone by does not have anything to do with the upcoming season -- and the same applies here. How Purdue has fared in the past half-dozen seasons really has no bearing on how they will fare in '11-'12. HOWEVER, if you're a professional columnist and you are writing about how Purdue will fall to their worst finish since the dawn of the Matt Painter era, especially given the talent still residing in West Lafayette, shouldn't you explain why you think that?

Nope, apparently not. You just say it all comes down to Robbie Hummel, the one player on the team you can remember. And the player who you once wrote would be lucky to amount to a role player in the Big Ten.

(Interestingly, the link to the post where Terry wrote that is no longer online. Huh. Interesting.)

Bestestest Writer Ever

A good friend of mine pointed this out to me today- IU Star Resident Genius, Terry Hutchens, has been elected...FOR THE THIRD TIME IN FOUR YEARS, no less, as the Sportswriter of the Year for the state of Indiana. Wha-wha-what??

I have no idea who votes for this prestigious award, but I'm guessing a room full of monkeys along with Terry's Mom and Dad are very pleased with their choice.

Here's the problem with this situation. It's probably fair to say that the largest print media outlet in the state will have the best chance of notoriety...BUT, the Indy Star is a joke...an un-funny, poorly-written one at that.

They decreased the size of their paper a few years ago...and they'll tell you it was for good reason. Make no mistake, it comes down to a few things. First, printing big pictures in full-color is expensive. Smaller paper, smaller pictures, cheaper overhead. Second, as the Star has continued to shrink its coverage of Indy Car, so there's less to write about there...and this year, as the month of May became the two weeks of May at IMS, there's obviously less content. Along with minimal Indy Car racing coverage, the apples of the Star sports editor's eye, UND football and IU basketball, haven't given them much to write about either.

Times are tough in the newspaper business, no doubt about it. Guys like Hutchens getting annual awards probably doesn't instill confidence in the consumer. Maybe, just maybe, *gasp* awards like this might be part of the reason many of you have turned away from mainstream media and toward outlets like this humble web address?

Nah.


*FYI- I can no longer find the link of Hutchens predicting Hummel to be little-more than a role player...for some reason, The Star has burned the evidence. But, I haven't forgotten.

Not Bad For a Role Player

As has been pointed out before, a know-nothing clown who can barely bang out coherent sentences and yet still works as a journalist, once said that he wasn't impressed with Robbie Hummel and that he's likely be a "role player" and unlikely to get any serious minutes until maybe his junior or senior seasons.

Well, Role Player Rob has been selected as one of only 50 players from across the nation to earn a place on the Naismith Trophy 2009-10 preseason watch list.

The watch list was compiled by the club's Board of Selectors, which based its criteria on players' performances from the previous year and expectations for the 2009-10 season. The 50-player watch list featured 33 upperclassmen, including 19 seniors and 14 juniors.

Not bad for a guy not good enough to go to IU.

Another tidbit to share is the Rivals/Yahoo Big Ten "League Preview," which isn't all that long for a preview and doesn't talk much about Purdue at all, except to say they'll finish second in the league and that JaJuan Johnson and Robbie Hummel are first team, all-conference, and E'Twaun Moore is second-team, all-conference.

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.

J's buddy likes Boilers...

Not sure if this is a good thing...in fact, it's probably not, but the IU Star's Terry Hutchens likes Purdue in the BT tourney.

Hope he's right.

Tom Crean -- Fashionista

It's hard for any coach to look cool -- apparently. Many of the coaches around the NCAA wore sneakers with their suits and just looked, well, goofy. As we pointed out, Matty Painter went with a casual look but wore, as Boilerdowd put it, "blousy pants with fifty pleats."

Down in Bloomington, though, apparently Coach Crean overslept and came to the game in his jammies, only throwing on a red shirt three sizes to big for him. Seriously, what was up with this look?

Boilerdowd got a text on Saturday saying, "Does Crean realize he's coaching a Big Ten game and not a practice against Athletes in Action?"

"Coach, I can't take you seriously in that outfit."

"Did you see what coach is wearing??"

It is good, however, to see Terry Hutchens getting some work:

Fans Are Good...For Me to Pee On!

You may or may not have seen/heard about this, depending upon how thoroughly you cruise random blogs and sports sites. (I realize most of the BS readership is on sites of, um, different material.)

Anyway, Busted Coverage nicely breaks down one of the more amusing near-issues that police intervened on at the IU-Ball State game last weekend:

Police arrested Lucas Widdicombe after someone sitting near him said he had a cup, and “he had urinated in the cup and was going to throw it at Ball State fans.”

Uh-oh, pee-pee grenades!

And if you're caught, yellow-handed, in this kind of situation, what's your story gonna be? Do you think you could do better than this?

Widdicombe told police he had not urinated in the cup and had no intentions of pouring it on people. Widdicombe said someone had given him a cup of urine while he was in the restroom, and he decided to take it back to his seat to show his friends.

Well, sure, that makes complete sense. Hey, maybe it was celebrity urine... did anyone notice if Terry Hutchens was in the can at approximately the same time? Handing out....cups of urine?

And I remember when people would throw cups of soda. Ah, how times have changed.

The Terry Hutchens Chronicles Continue

Our old friend Terry is back at his keyboard after a vacation, of which he will “spare us the details.” (Does that mean he had bad diarrhea or something?) Anyway, he’s back and ready to drop some knowledge on us about Rick Greenspan’s resignation from IU and, I bet you’re going to be shocked at this, but ole Terry is taking the contrary opinion to what every sane, sentient, thinking human being who heard the details of the Sampson mess has thought. Terry thinks IU is better with Greenspan in charge. Seriously, I’m not kidding.

He starts with the bold title: “The Greenspan Resignation: Was it Necessary?” Which is funny, since there were columnists who thought IU should get the NCAA “death penalty.” So yeah, I think it was necessary. But let’s move along.

…once Sampson was shown the door, a lot of people felt that Rick Greenspan should have been running in place right behind him.

This choice of words amuses me, because it makes it sound like Greenspan should be jogging “in place” like he’s getting ready to work out or something. Yes, I’m easily amused.

I'm guessing that was the majority opinion on this particular topic.
I also have a feeling that it's not going to surprise a lot of people that I'm in the minority on this one.

Oh, Terry, you’re such a rule-breaker! You’re also an IU lapdog, so no, this isn’t shocking at all.

Perhaps it removes the wolves from the door, or as Greenspan pointed out today in the one-on-one interview I had with him early Thursday evening, maybe it's better this way because he won't be as much of a distraction.

Don’t you love how Terry slips in there that he had a “one-on-one interview” with Greenspan. What a get! But then get the next speculative paragraph:

But while I do understand that as the director of athletics, and the man who hired Kelvin Sampson, that Greenspan needed to accept a great deal of the blame, I'm still not convinced that Sampson was his hire. I honestly believe that IU president Adam Herbert drove the hiring of Kelvin Sampson and that Greenspan was instructed to come along for the ride. He said all of the things at the time of the hire that he was supposed to say, but my opinion is that Greenspan was being the good soldier. Now, I've tried to get Rick to admit that so many times but he has always taken the high road. He has never felt it was his place to engage in those types of discussions. It wasn't from lack of opportunity. Greenspan has been asked that question time and again. But each time, he has always taken the same approach and that was simply that he didn't feel anything was gained by going there. As he has surely realized today though, plenty was lost.

“Being the good soldier”? He “has always taken the high road”? Are you effing SERIOUS with this claptrap, Hutchens?? Are you honestly – HONESTLY – trying to make Rick Greenspan out to be an innocent pawn in all of this? The Athletic Director? With regard to the hiring of the Indiana University head basketball coach? Really? That’s your story, huh?

When I think of the types of people that Rick Greenspan hired at IU, and the list is a long one, one person always stands out as not being in line with the others and that was Kelvin Sampson. Line up Terry Hoeppner, Tom Crean, Felicia Legette-Jack, Tracy Smith and Kelvin Sampson and one guy sticks out like a sore thumb. And that's why I have my serious doubts that Sampson could have been Greenspan's guy.

To be fair, though, at Indiana, THE program is men’s basketball. Not women’s basketball (Legette-Jack) or baseball (Smith), or even football. Basketball is the end-all, be-all at IU and so if they were ever going to take a chance on hiring someone with a dubious past but whom they thought could win, it would be for basketball – and that’s precisely what they did. They made a deal with the devil and it backfired. They all KNEW this was a possibility. They were all asked about it. And they all claimed Kelvin had learned his lessons, even as they and Oklahoma were suffering as a result of Sampson’s indiscretions.

Rick Greenspan is not innocent in any way, shape or form here. Regardless of what went down, he went along with it and didn’t feel strongly against Sampson – and being passive about something is equivalent with allowing/supporting it. Just ask any parent.

Anyway, more from Terry about how magnanimous Rick Greenspan is:

I think most reasonable people were thinking in the back of their minds that if IU was ever charged with 'failure to monitor' or the more serious charge of 'lack of institutional control' that Greenspan was going to have a difficult time surviving it. But here's the part that I don't understand. Yes, the charge was made and yes, the university acknowledged that in a press release Thursday afternoon. But IU also said it would "vigorously'' fight that allegation. President McRobbie said so and Rick Greenspan did as well. Neither of those individuals believe that the accusation is true. So if that's the case, why doesn't Greenspan dig his heels in and fight it? What he will tell you is that the fight ultimately wouldn't be worth the casualties along the way. He'll tell you that sometimes you have to do what is in the best interests of Indiana University, and not necessarily what is in the best interests of Rick Greenspan. In the end, Greenspan just didn't feel the gains would outweigh the losses.

Yes, indeed. I’m sure Rick Greenspan cares much more about IU than himself and doesn’t want to incur “casualties along the way” (what the f-ck does this even mean?). Yes, sometimes you need to do what’s in the best interests of IU and not Rick Greenspan. He’s really a hero, don’t you see? After hiring a cheater and backing him until he had no other choice than to… uhh, form a committee to decide what to do about him… Greenspan then fired said cheater and put the storied basketball program into disarray and likely set them back years. And now, he’s doing what’s in the best interests of the University. Well, even if this is true, as an IU fan/alum, I would be saying, “It’s about damn time!”

I still believe that Greenspan did a lot more good than bad in his four years at Indiana.

And I still believe I'm svelte, Terry. Neither of us are right. Greenspan was part of a team of greedy, opportunistic jackholes that destroyed the basketball program’s credibility. Try dealing with that, Terry.

He turned the financial picture around and took IU from the red to the black.

He did this? Rick Greenspan? I had no idea he was an accounting genius. Must have used Quickbooks.

Though he won't see its completion by the time he leaves Dec. 31, Greenspan was also a big part of the basketball practice facility that will one day make recruiting a hundred percent easier for Crean and Legette-Jack.

Tom Crean agrees and is presently holding up his cell phone so a recruit can hear how great the facility is.

And recruiting will be “a hundred percent easier,” Terry? Wow, that means they’ll be fighting them off with a stick!

He had some great hires, and pulled the trigger on some much-needed changes such as the tenures of Gerry DiNardo and Mike Davis.

Yes, Gerry DiNardo and Mike Davis, one in the same. Both complete failures who needed to be run out of town. DiNardo simply didn’t win enough and was frequently embarrassed by Purdue, and Davis… well, Mike Davis simply was too black didn’t win enough only got to the championship game once. Getting rid of him to hire a known cheater was a fantastic move. Way to support your argument, Terry.

He was professional, hard-working and respected within the Big Ten and the movers and shakers with the IU Alumni Association.

“Movers and shakers”? Who are you, my grandmother? Who says this?

For those of you who believe that Indiana athletics is in a better place today because Greenspan's days as athletic director are numbered, we'll just have to agree to disagree.

First, nice syntax. Second, nobody thinks things are BETTER “today” because Greenspan will be leaving. But might it cleanse the program…eventually? Yes, I think it might.

I understand a lot of people feel that Greenspan had to go. I know I'm in the minority with my opinion but sometimes you have to go with what your gut tells you.

And right now, Terry’s sizable gut is telling him: Cheetos for lunch!

Terry Hutchens Chronicles – April 2008
Terry Hutchens Chronicles – May 2008

The Terry Hutchens Chronicles Kick Off

We’ve been asked more than once to weigh in on Terry Hutchens, IU schill and nominal “columnist” for the Indianapolis Star. I even went after Terry on his own blog and got email from him personally…we went back and forth a bit and then our courtship came to abrupt halt. Anyway, I think what we’ll do here from time to time is check in on our friend Terry, in what I’m going to call The Terry Hutchens Chronicles.

The Terry Hutchens fun – for us, anyway – more or less begins with his haughty post mocking Purdue basketball back in August of ’06, when we landed Moore and Hummel, among others. He suggested these guys wouldn’t amount to much and, well, you can read it yourself.

Also, if you’re an IU fan, supporter or schill yourself, please save the vitriol. Yes, we’re pricks (or, at least, I am). We are entitled to call Terry out for his crap so deal with it. We’re also allowed to revel in the state of IU basketball turmoil, though to be fair, I think this feature will be less about that and more about attacking Hutchens’ poor writing, uninformed opinions and inflated self-worth.

Hope you enjoy. (Also, I know this is a long one... and you have ADD, well, bookmark it and come back. We had to start somewhere and I have no editor. So deal with it.)

----------------------------------------------------

Today’s Terry Chronicles will be a simple perusal of his a couple of blog posts over the past two weeks. As always, the actual text is in italics and my witty retorts follow. From the “Ask the Expert” feature you know he just loves doing because he is, by his self-appointment, the “expert.”

Question: With the coaching change, recruits jumping ship, current players leaving for the NBA, graduating or possibly transferring, where do you see IU realistically next season? Should we prepare for IU to have one of its worst seasons in recent memory? (John in Columbus, Ind.)

So John in Columbus wants to know if he should prepare for a bad season. What does Terry come back with?

Answer: IU's last losing season was 2004 when the Hoosiers went 14-15 overall, 7-9 in the Big Ten and tied for ninth in the conference. Before that the last losing season had been in 1970 when the Hoosiers went 7-17 and 3-11 in the Big Ten.

This is typical Terry. He likes to spit a bunch of meaningless stats at you…when he does use stats. Because, really, what does this tell us? The question is whether or not IU should prepare for a bad season. What does Terry tell us? That the Hoosiers went 14-15 in 2004. Of course, that’s when a black guy was the coach so what can you do? Right, Terry?

More of his answer:

Generally you could look at the IU schedule and say that they would have enough chances with home cupcakes in the non-conference portion of the schedule to have a chance to finish above .500 but there will be some challenging games this fall. IU is in the Maui Invitational so you can expect some tough competition there.

I don’t know about you, but I can’t wait for Chaminade to beat IU.

IU is at Kentucky.

Who many think didn’t belong in the NCAAs this year. So is this that tough a game?

There's also the Big Ten-ACC Challenge.

Point taken. We always get smoked here.

Somehow, Crean has to assemble a team that can be competitive by the time the conference season rolls around. One thing he'll have going for him is that the Big Ten still doesn't look as if it will be the strongest of conferences next season so there's always a chance in that regard.

I like this little subtle dig. If you don’t know Terry, you’d say I was being paranoid, but he dismisses Purdue basketball as a joke and a wanna-be program so with Purdue being an early favorite for next season’s Big Ten, this is a patented Hutchens backhand.

But it's going to be an uphill fight. One of the worst seasons in recent memory? With only two losing seasons in the last 38 years, it won't take much to be elevated to that status.

Annnnnd he finishes with the IU-schill flourish, reminding us all how good the program USED to be. Well-done, Terry. So it wouldn’t be hard to be a bad season since IU is like, totally awesome for, like, ever, right? Idiot.

I like this next one.

Question: What is the status of the basketball practice facility? Will it be completed by this fall? Can Coach Crean anticipate moving into his office there this year. I would think the facility would be a major selling point for future recruits. (Reid in Louisville, Ky.)

So the question is can they move into their practice facility this Fall. As in, like, 4-6 months.

Answer: I think they're behind schedule and much of that is because of things they experienced in the ground when they really got into it.

“Things they experienced in the ground.” Are we sure Terry has a journalism degree?

There was a lot of underground pipes and things that they weren't expecting plus there was a lot more limestone, too, and that has taken longer to cut through.

“There was a lot of underground pipes”? Oh? WAS there? What the frick? Seriously, I know this is a blog of sorts but come on, Terry, proofread this shit. At least give it a cursory glance. You sound like a 5th grader.

At this point, there's not even a foundation poured so it still has a ways to go.

Oh, so not even close. Without a foundation, it’ll be hard to finish in a few months. Damn that limestone.

I will say this and that's that they're working at it around the clock, putting in 18 hour days to try and get it going.

Let it be known that Terry Hutchens thinks “around the clock” is 18 hours. Maybe in Terryland, days are only 18 hours long… in addition, I imagine in Terryland, IU is always ranked #1, they’re always undefeated, there’s a neverending tap of beer under his desk and all chicks have blonde hair and DD knockers.

I haven't heard the latest as to when they hope to get the first phase done.

Thanks for telling us absolutely nothing, Terry. Except that the ground is hard and they’re working around your 18-hour clock, yet haven’t been able to pour a foundation yet. Must be union workers.

This answer gets even better though as Terry does another Terryism, which is to name-drop.

I will say this and that's that I asked Tom Crean about it in an interview on Wednesday and he's coming from a place that had one of the best practice facilities in the country, and he said he's very impressed with what this one is going to look like. He said he wouldn't have changed a thing.

Since there isn’t a foundation yet, I wonder how Tom can be so sure.

He said when he has made recruiting calls, he has walked by the site and held up the phone so that people could hear the construction going on.

That’s awesome. I really hope Tom Crean is calling recruits and then holding up his cell phone at the construction site. I hope foul-mouthed construction workers are what’s being transmitted into his phone.

“Hey, man, what the f-ck? Why don’t we have a foundation poured yet?”
“I don’t know man. Looks like limestone.”
“But limestone isn’t hard. It breaks apart like chalk.”
“Oh. Well, I told that burly reporter that’s what the problem was.”
“Oh, no problem… he thinks there’s only 18 hours in a day so that’ll keep him busy.”

He said he's very excited about what that will do in terms of helping him bring top level talent to Indiana.

I also like that Terry used “he said” three sentences in a row. Solid writing, Terry.

Another question for the "expert":

Question: You may remember we've communicated before as I made the comments on 'patterns' of Kelvin Sampson.

This is like when a guy calls a radio call-in show and expects the host to remember him from a book-signing two years ago. Get a life, dude.

As I watch Tom Crean in the early stages of his career at IU, there's one thing that stands out -- He "gets it".

Dude, he’s been there like a week.

He gets the thing that Mike Davis never understood and Kelvin Sampson didn't care about.

Being white?

He gets the fact that IU basketball is more than simply signing big name players, winning games. and going to the NCAA tournament.

Ummmm, it’s about signing guys who leave after one year, winning some games, getting on probation and losing in the first round? No? Oh, okay.

He gets the fact that IU basketball is a reflection of the entire university and indeed the entire state. He gets the fact that everything he does either enhances or detracts from the reputation of all of the above. He doesn't just understand it, he has embraced it. Us IU fans in all likelihood will have to suffer through one or possibly two mediocre seasons as Coach Crean builds his program. But that's exactly what he'll do -- build a program rather than simply trying to put players on the floor to win games. I have every confidence that, at least in the beginning, he'll be able to recruit the Indiana players that haven't come to IU for the last ten years. Of course, the proof is in the pudding, but we have to like the fact that Coach Crean appears to 'get it' where the two before him did not. (Dan in Carmel, Ind.)

Okay, I know this is about bashing Terry Hutchens but seriously, Dan from Carmel. Settle down. IU is not some holy bastion of right-ness where it’s about “more than winning.” Stop acting like winning isn’t enough at IU; you also have to cure cancer at halftime. It’s a fricking basketball program that has been mediocre in both stature and results for a long time now. I can’t stand it when people make comments like this:

He gets the fact that IU basketball is more than simply signing big name players, winning games. and going to the NCAA tournament. He gets the fact that IU basketball is a reflection of the entire university and indeed the entire state. He gets the fact that everything he does either enhances or detracts from the reputation of all of the above.

Yes, if Tom Crean farts in church, it detracts from the entire program, the university, the state of Indiana, humankind, and Earth. Not necessarily in that order.

Let’s get to Terry’s answer, though.

Answer: I'll agree that at least in terms of first impressions, Tom Crean has made a good one. Now again, as refreshing as all of that may be, the unfortunate thing that has happened at IU over the last few years is that Indiana fans have gotten to where they're afraid to trust anyone because of that trust getting misplaced.

Why are we talking about IU coach’s relationship with the fans like a jilted lover?

What I like the most about Tom Crean right now is that you can tell he's wants to be here.

Here at Boiled Sports, what we like most is that he has a forehead you could show a movie on.

I'm not saying that Mike Davis and Kelvin Sampson didn't because I know they did, but Crean is just treating it all a little bit different. With Crean, you just know that he's working every minute of every day to get this program back to where it hopes to one day be.

As opposed to those lazy black guys, who only worked some days. Right, IU?

Terry goes on with his answer but it’s clichéd crap about “doing it the right way” and “following the rules,” etc.

-----------------------------------------------

A week before the above column, Terry wrote about his boyfriend Eric Gordon. For those of you who don’t know, Terry Hutchens wants to wear Eric Gordon’s letterman’s jacket and take him to the Sadie Hawkins dance. It’s kind of brutal. He angerly defended Gordon and his antagonistic family after the Illinois game and he refused to post my comments when I disagreed with that blog post. That’s when he emailed me directly (again, we’ll get to that).

Anyway, on April 7, he talked about Eric Gordon’s presser. He talks about how Crean showed up at the press conference and how it was such a selfless thing to do. How Crean hasn’t once tried to talk Gordon into staying (okay, decide on your own whether to believe this or not – I honestly don’t know whether to call bullsh-t on it or not), etc. And then he talks about Crean coming to this press conference simply to be more supportive.

And then it gets silly:

It would be one thing if Gordon's press conference had been held in the press room at Assembly Hall, and Crean simply had to walk down the ramp and down the stairs to be supportive. But the press conference was held at the Jewish Community Center on the Northwest side of Indianapolis, in the neighborhood where Gordon grew up. No, this wasn't a small undertaking. Door to door for Crean was just about 70 miles. With traffic, it was about an hour and 20 minutes to get there.

Terry, are you SERIOUSLY acting like it was a big deal for Tom Crean to travel 70 miles to be a good guy? You’ll notice in Terry’s writing that he always has to point out mileages and how much time in a car everything requires. With traffic it was 80 minutes! What a guy!

Look, Tom Crean’s getting paid a lot of money to coach IU. He could get a car service and I don’t think it’d dent his wallet.

But Crean thought it was important. Like he did the day he was introduced in Bloomington, Crean shook a lot of hands and signed a lot of autographs but he made certain that he wasn't stealing Gordon's thunder or spotlight in any way. When the 20-25 members of the media made it clear they wanted to do an interview with the new IU coach, Crean suggested the interview take place out in the hallway where it wouldn't be any distraction to Gordon's autograph-signing session.

Except for the distraction of two dozen reporters leaving the room and clogging the hallway.

I think Crean earned some approval points today. Personally, I thought it was a classy thing to do. Crean didn't have to show his support. He's got enough things on his plate right now, and logging 140 miles to support a player that will never play a minute for him may have not been a great use of his time.

Seriously, Tom. You could be holding your phone up for people to hear the progress on the new practice facility. And then watch the recruits line up!

Okay, that’s enough Terry-bashing for one post. In fact, this is way too much. But it’ll give you something to read for a while. Print it out, take it to the pooper.

One Step Closer

With just two games remaining, our Boilers are in the position to win at least a share of the Big Ten title. Quite a position to be in especially when one remembers that this class of Freshman really isn't anything to get all excited about and the lone Senior on today's Senior Day contest at Mackey has contributed only a minimum throughout the season.

Honestly, I've has a pretty bad feeling about the next game in Columbus since this scenario started shaping up. But, I'm hoping a superior scheme, a higher level of defensive pressure and a much higher level of hustle can beat the better-shooting, more-athletic Buckeyes on their home court come Tuesday. Regardless, a few benchmarks have been reached with today's win: First, Purdue now has a first-day bye for the Big Ten tournament. Second, this team has tied a record for the most home court wins during a season (16 wins last season as well) and has gone undefeated at home during conference play (something vital when pursuing a conference championship). Another thing they did was something Gene Keady teams used to do back in the middle/late 90s- own February. The lone loss to IU on the road was the only blemish in a month which Purdue leaped from the low-100s in the RPI to the top-25 as well as went from unranked and unimportant to ranked as high as 15th and a shoe-in for the dance. Great month.

This afternoon, our Boilers started off slowly...shooting poorly from the field and the free throw line. And Chris Kramer did what he could to keep Purdue close by piling up six steals in the first 20 minutes of the contest. Due greatly to Kramer's efforts, Purdue went into the half with the smallest of leads.

The second half started out slowly offensively for the Boilermakers, but just minutes later, they seemed to exhaust and overcome the Wildcats as Scott Martin suddenly got the hot hand and Robbie Hummel started throwing them in as well. Purdue's one-point lead had swelled to 10. It didn't get any easier for Northwestern from there. Their zone seemed uneffective and Purdue's defense seemed to greatly frustrate the Cats as Purdue continued to add to a 15, 20, and 25 point lead. Purdue ended the game with Chris Reid scoring and Bobby Buckets getting in that column as well. Plus, Terrance Crump got chanted off the court by the Paint Crew as he sat down for his final time at Mackey. Crump played a significant amount of minutes due to Keaton Grant's illness...Painter kept him out for (I believe) the entire second half. It's good to see that Purdue's only Senior had the chance to get a bit of recognition from his fellow students.

Hummel scored 15 points in 17 minutes...Martin, who started where he had left off v. Minny (poorly), found his stroke by nearly going for a double-double and ended with 10 pts., 9 reb. Calasan was timely with his scoring, contributing 11 points...and E'Twaun Moore played well during stretches of the contest, but was also plagued with the disease of poor-shooting during chunks of the game.

Like all veteran-laden teams, Purdue simply wore down and put away the weaker opponent...Wait a second, this team's not filled with veterans. At least they weren't prior to February anyway. It's late in the season, and this group of youngsters have become grizzled veterans and their identity has developed as well, this Purdue team knows how to grind out wins against teams that simply aren't as good as they are. It's a combination of factors that has made this the case, in my opinion. First this team has great chemistry and seems to understand that there is always a guy that can step in and contribute offensively, even if someone else is off. Second, good, intense defense wears down teams. And lastly, but surely not least importantly, Painter has put these guys in the position, through substitution patterns and game-planning to win a lot of games...23 to be exact. There's no doubt in my mind that he'll receive one, if not multiple COtY awards at the end of this season.

I'm hoping I'm very wrong about the game in Columbus, but the discount arena has always been a tough place for Purdue to play. Furthermore, despite their record, this aOSU team is still very talented. In fact, there was a time when the only Freshman in the Big Ten that were getting publicity nationally were Koufos and that guy down in Bloomington. Now, a once sure-fire one-and-done player, Koufos seems to be destined to return to Matta's club next season. I think the outcome of Purdue's next game will define if Purdue is a Big Ten regular season champ or not.

Boilers Bounce Spartans: Win Streak Reaches Ten

But the AP says we're a LOT better than those Boilermakers!

Gee, I wonder if Terry Hutchens still thinks that Robbie Hummel is undeserving of the rating he got as a Purdue recruit? I think I'll email him and ask. But not tonight. No, tonight, I'm going to enjoy this latest Purdue hoops victory. And how cool is this winning against top ten teams? Is this what that feels like? We were still high on the Wisco win at HOME when the Boilers swaggered into the Kohl Center and swept the Badgers. And then we were still savoring that when tonight suddenly arrived and -- lo and behold! -- the Boilers were more focused than we could ever fairly expect them to be... and then won AGAIN, this time over another top ten team. Wouldn't it be cool if the football team EVER did this?

Hey, national media! Hey ESPN! Anyone outside the Big Ten paying attention to the Boilers yet? Anyone notice this team has won TEN straight games and is 11-1 in the Big Ten? Alone in first place? A game at Northwestern is currently all that stands between the Boilers and their showdown next Tuesday night with IU... at Assembly Hall.

Meanwhile, the Hoosiers have Wisco and MSU between now and next Tuesday. Let's hope they lose one of those games so that going into the game, Purdue has a one-game lead (I never like to overlook games but if we don't beat Northwestern on Saturday, we don't deserve any ranking at all)... better yet, is it out of the question for IU to lose to BOTH Wisconsin and MSU? No, it's not, but the Hoosiers have them both at home so it's not likely.

Damn, I wish we had Kelvin Sanctions and Co. is West Lafayette this year. But hey, the road doesn't scare these guys. Nothing seems to scare them.

Now, as we wait for Boilerdowd's reporting from the scene, I'll go craft my email to Terry.

Retrospective: Terry Hutchens is an idiot.

Back when Purdue's current Freshman class was just a highly-touted group of recruits, one at least one member of the local IU shill-dom wasn't buying into this group of student athletes as being anything special.


Many of you know who Terry Hutchens is. He's an IU lackey who suffers of diarrhea of the pen much like Bob Kravitz, also of the IU Star. He reminds me a lot of a guy who I read regularly on the interwebnet with his opinionated, bias-filled rants...only problem, he gets paid to do what he does...and unlike that handsome genius from BS, Hutchens actually takes himself seriously.

Hey Terry, do you still think Hummel is merely a role player who "will struggle to ever average double figures"? I hope so, and I hope your beloved Coach Sanctions agrees with you. (FYI- Hummel's already averaging double figures despite being extremely ill for three of the first 20 games of his young career).

I can tell you this much, Bo Ryan and Michael Flowers (who know a bit about college basketball) respect his game and think Hummel and the rest of this Purdue class is absolutely worth all the "fuss".

Purdue role player still needs more players around him to shine.

I'm sure it's an acquired taste that you know well Mr. Hutchens, but have you gotten used to having Florsheim leather stuck between your teeth?