All-Around Good Day

Sure, CBS gambled that Purdue would be playing for a regular season BT title and they lost the gamble. On an afternoon that could have been pretty great, in spite of itself, the day turned out darned good.

The day started out a bit rough in the boilerdowd household. The time change didn't give my son his normal amount of sleep...so instead of him waking us up with gibberish, we were forced to get him out of his slumber. He wasn't happy. He whined and cried for about 15 minutes, mostly angry that Indiana isn't on Central time like it should be. But later, his day got better and so did mine.

Hoosiers Back Into BT Tourney

I got to watch Penn State battle with a beleaguered IU squad all the way to a pretty surprising upset. Even Jordan's double-pump three point effort at the end couldn't get it done for the floundering Hoosiers. While I always appreciate seeing IU lose, I do have to say something to DeChallis and Co. You're a week late! No, you couldn't help us when something was actually on the line...but at least you guys came through. Much appreciated. In a way, the way IU is ending the season is not the best thing,from a Purdue perspective, as I like Dakich and would much rather see him there next season than say Bruce Pearl (which is now going around)...But I'm sure they don't care about my perspective in Bloomington.

Now, with the BTT field set, It looks like a Purdue v. IU matchup might be in the very near future...can't wait.

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Strong Finish To A Strong Season

Next, we got to see the slow-starting Boilers play up in Ann Arbor versus the disappointing Wolverines. Michigan looked motivated and ready to play. Purdue, conversely, looked like it took a bit to get into gear. Once they did, E'Twaun Moore shot very well hitting key buckets in the paint, from behind the arc and in between. Hummel played another well-rounded game and Keaton Grant absolutely took the game over with about 9:00 left becoming the only offensive output three-straight trips down the court. I think he was sick of me badmouthing him and asking, "where have you been Keaton?" during the last couple of games. Good to see Grant's knees allowed him to contribute again offensively. Kramer was stout on defense, but suspect, especially when handling the ball, on offense. An interesting aspect of the game was how versus a sizeable frontcourt, JJ played well and nearly took the game over in the first half. It seems he just doesn't believe, yet, that he can do that versus talented bigs. He will next year and he gave us a glimpse of how good he might be during the last couple of games. Marcus Green also cleaned the glass nicely, but continues to shoot pretty poorly.


My favorite part of the contest was the fact that Purdue, in a very businesslike effort simply ground down Michigan and finished the game (and the season) strong. I was worried about this team after the aOSU game since they looked so tired during overtime, but that wasn't the case this afternoon. We'll get to see how fresh their legs are next weekend.

Big Women

Alright, something I don't like talking about, but will do so right now- Women's basketball. I'll be real honest, when the Lady Boilers lost by a million earlier this season on CBS to UConn, I was hoping that was enough to get the program shut down. Sadly, Purdue still has a women's team. So, if we're going to have a women's basketball team, I want them to succeed and bring no poor press upon the school (i.e. cheating, lesbian initiation activity, etc.). What they did this afternoon is pretty astonishing, even for a guy who really, really dislikes women's basketball. The Lady Boilers won their 7th (in 14 tries) Big Ten basketball tournament. So despite a pretty lousy season, they'll be playing post-season basketball. Good for them. Once they're knocked out, maybe the program will cease to exist...Wishful thinking.

No Death Penalty?!?!

Purdue's women's basketball team (yeah, I know, it was news to me that they had one too) got some pretty bad news late Wednesday from the NCAA Rules Committee. Ex-Coach Katrina Merriweather was found to be guilty of both writing papers for an ex-player as well as making illegal recruting phone calls.

These violations were handled internally with the suspension of both player and coach when they occurred a few years back, but the NCAA didn't think that was enough punishment. So, Brand's people handed down a loss of 2 schollies for the coming year as well as some sort of probation...When you look at it, it's really not a big deal. BUT, the NCAA called the violations "Major."

I don't really care about the NCAA punishing the women's program. But I care about a couple of things in this story- here they are:

First, I'd like to never see a Women's basketball game again past High School. I find the game tough to watch and most of the women that play it tough to look at. Granted, Nicki Taggart was smokin' hot (played for the Boilers in '93-'94), and one of Purdue's PFs from the early mid 90s called me "baby" on more than one occasion while I worked in the cafeteria in Cary Quad (it was thrilling and scary at the same time)...So not all is completely lost. But, if Purdue never would have had a team, we wouldn't be having these problems right now.

Second, if we have to have a team, let's make sure the ladies aren't embarrassing the university. Cheating of any kind while representing my alma mater is bothersome, academic cheating is deplorable. Is it really worth risking your degree/job for women's basketball?

Lastly, if we're going to have women's basketball, and Purdue's team is going to break rules, and the NCAA is going to investigate and find the Lady Boilers guilty, they need to be even handed. The NCAA was clearly trying to make a big deal out of this when we know as a fact that bigger programs in other sports have made much larger violations without the NCAA squawking so loudly about it.

tO$U paid players, gave them goods and bent academic rules for Maurice Clarett and Troy Smith (and others). What happened? Clarett's case was viewed as isolated and he was thrown under the bus...good thing for them he proved to be a crazy person shortly after so they didn't look so bad. And Troy Smith was briefly suspended, the AD stepped down and it all went away. Why? Because programs like the Buckeyes help pay for Title IX and other non-profit garbage that needs to be funded by the NCAA. If they kill the cash cow, they kill the philanthropic movement and Miles Brand would have to actually earn his money outside of the scholastic-athletic arena. I get that...But double standards stink.