Friday Gumbo

Everybody knows by now that Calvin Smith has transferred from New Mexico to Purdue. Smith's road to UNM is actually more circuitous than just Florida to Purdue via Albuquerque.

Smith verballed to Lane Kiffin and Tennessee during his Senior year in high school, decommitted when Kiffin decided to go to USC, then went to UNM. Before deciding on the Vols, he had offers from Alabama, Florida, Florida State, Mississippi, Purdue, Notre Dame, Arkansas and others.

Out of high school, we wanted to go some place where he'd get playing time and would make an impact right away. Before committing to UT, he talked about how he liked UND, Florida and FSU quite a bit. But, Florida got two DT commits and I don't know what happened to FSU, UND and others, but the offers were probably filled by other recruits. UNM's Mike Locksly was able to sell the idea of instant playing time to Smith, and UNM's coach lived up to his promise.

As a 6'4" 270 lb. true Freshman, Smith played in all 12 games and had 13 tackles, one a sack. Being a part of UNM's rotation right away surprised no one...signing at UNM surprised everyone...and he shocked a lot of people again by transferring to Purdue.

There's a lot of ways to look at this- You could be cautiously optimistic just because you don't really understand why he's at Purdue. A good answer might be that he'll have two fellow Hialeah teammates in God's country next season...more than anyone else. Or maybe, he's just a guy that likes to do things differently.

Twitter and the message boards has some dancing in the street just because this plays like bolstering next year's recruiting class...and he'll have a year to be around the team, practice and learn.

I lean toward being a bit more cynical just because this one doesn't make a ton of sense to me. He was never really high on Purdue coming out of high school...but unlike Marve, who went through visits again prior to his transfer, the Smith thing just kind of happened.

My opinion matters little at this point, because he's a Boiler now. So obviously, I hope he thrives at Purdue and am glad he's on campus. In high school, he was a prolific pass-rushing tackle- Think Mike Neal more than KK Short.

Boilers on BTN

Joe Tiller will be working for the BTN this fall and I'm looking forward to it. If you ever had the chance to hear the Ol' Purdue Coach talk outside of a press conference, you know how entertaining he could be. I'm pretty sure that his combo of knowledge of the game and storytelling ability will make him an enjoyable person to listen to on the network...Plus, it's never bad to have another Boiler there.

I had the chance to talk to Rosevelt Colvin last week and he told me that he will be on the BTN more than last fall as well...if you got a chance to see him in studio in 2010, you could see he was already better than some of the guys on the panels as he was comfortable in front of the camera and came off as smart without being smug. His increased role should be good for everybody involved.

Matty's Magic

Painter is in China coaching the US team in the World University Games. His squad won in an exhibition v. a professional Chinese team and begins official play tomorrow. His assistant coaches are two of the best in the college game; Cuonzo Martin and Brad Stevens.

Matty's coaching a few players he coached against in the last few years- MSU's Draymond Green, Bama's JaMychal Green and Mbakwe from Minny.

Wilson Goes Off

IU's Coach Wilson, who was one of the stars of the B1G media day a few weeks ago saw a different side of the media yesterday on Fox Sports Radio's Zakk & Jack Show.

I've heard Wilson has a pretty bad temper from IU students who have gotten the business end of the guy...but I really liked his appearance on this crappy show.

I don't listen to the show regularly...because it stinks. But I've listened enough to know that Trudeau comes off as a complete bag and Zakk seems to be a blowhard whose voice is pretty tough to stomach. Prior to putting Wilson on the air, they both were making fun of IU...which might be OK on a different day, but isn't very smart business right before you welcome their coach onto the show. You can hear it here.

Wilson probably could have showed a bit more discipline in the way he handled it, but he wasn't that out of line...the clowns who get paid to talk on the radio for a living were though.

A lot of Purdue fans were saying Wilson was out of line via Twitter and on the message boards, but let's be honest for a moment- if this happened to Hope, wouldn't you want him to defend himself and his program and be at least a little pissed? I would.

Quarterback-Heavy Gumbo

There were so many things to talk about today, many related to QBs, that I thought I'd just dump it all into a gumbo post. So let's get started.

Own a Piece of History

Yes, that's right -- you can get the pictured Curtis Painter Colts jersey for the low, low price of just $200. It's rare that a young man has the chance to be a local hero (cough) for his college team and follow that up by staying local with the beloved pro team... and then get cut from the practice squad in August. Curtis clearly (and wisely) did not demand his familiar number 12 from Jim Sorgi.

Irish Don't Get The Montana They Really Want

It'll be fun to see how the UND loyalists spin this one. Legacy Nick Montana has decided not to attend Notre Dame despite his father having gone there (and his brother Nate being there), and instead will attend....wait for it... Washington. The same Huskies who went 0-12 last year. Wow. To choose a program in the kind of disarray that UW is in over the supposed up-and-coming and ready to pounce UND program is rather telling. Could Joe Cool have advised his son to stay away? Who knows? Maybe Nick was just worried about living up to the legend of Pickles Clausen.

So Much For Those "Turning Over A New Leaf" Headlines

Sadly, Ryan Leaf's life continues to plummet down the toilet. He's now wanted as a result of a grand jury's indictment on nine charges against him relating to prescription painkillers. I no longer want to make jokes about him, and really nobody should. He's a troubled man and it's just plain sad.

Compliance is the Word of the Day At IU

According to this story, compliance "comes first" at Indiana. Well, at least something comes in first at IU. From the story:

Fred Glass gathered the Indiana coaching staff before he was introduced as the school’s athletic director and told them his top priority: compliance.

It was a word one of the coaches just didn’t want to hear.

“A coach said, ‘You know what, we’re sick of hearing that. We’re sick of hearing compliance,’ ” Glass recalled being told during a visit to Fort Wayne last week. “ ‘We are a compliant place with a compliant culture, and we really don’t like hearing that.’ ”

Yes, I'm sure you indeed don't like hearing that, coach. Being reminded about compliance when your basketball program was sort of decimated by a non-compliant coach just two years ago must be a real drag.


JaJuan and Ostrich Continue USA Basketball Tryouts Against Our Advice

Yes, they're all "honored" and stuff to be trying out for the USA Basketball's World University Games team. The rest of us would rather they sit in a barcalounger for the summer.

Five of the 16 players initially invited to try out are from the Big Ten, more than any other conference.

Oh, but yeah, the Big Ten is weak, right Digger?

The Indy Star Has A Purdue Football Opinion?

According to the Indy Star, the Boilers have a "Tough football schedule." It says so right in the headline. However, I might argue that starting the season with three of four at home against Toledo, No. Illinois and Notre Dame (all winnable games, even for this season's expectations) means that a 3-1 start, while not necessarily likely, isn't exactly far-fetched. We'll keep an eye on the Star to see if they contribute anything noteworthy, or instead continue to just be an IU lapdog.

Have We Heard The Last of Justin Siller?

This is completely unfounded, but according to on-campus BS sources, Siller remains enrolled at Purdue and appears (appears) to have no plans to leave. He has not transferred and apparently is readying to take classes this fall. If this is accurate, what does it mean? Has Siller had enough of football? Is it only a matter of time before he transfers to a school that makes him an offer? Or is it possible that he'll lie low for another year and then knock on Coach Hope's door? If you have any insight, shoot us a note.

Matty Painter Knows His Under-19 Men

Wait, that didn't sound right.

As you may have heard, Matt Painter has been named as an assistant coach for the 2009 Under-19 USA Men's Basketball World Championship Team.

This is great in terms of visibility for Purdue basketball, but it means poor Matty has to spend Independence Day in New Zealand.

The chairman of the USA Basketball Men's Junior National Team Committee is Syracuse University head coach Jim Boeheim.

"This is an exceptional young coaching staff," Boeheim said. "Matt (Painter) has done a great job at Purdue retooling that program and what Chris (Lowery) has done is remarkable. Jamie Dixon has won more games in the Big East Conference than anybody in his first few years of coaching, and there have been a few good coaches in the (Big East) conference. They're young guys who have had a lot of success and I just think it's really a tremendous coaching staff."

Boeheim then whined that several fouls on his players were missed last year.

Half Time Reporting. USA - Argentina

So the US Mens Basketball team was literally running away with the game in the first 12 minutes. They were up by 21 at one point, and then they decided that they were good enough to coast through to half time. They're lucky to be up by 9 at half. It really should be 6, but the Argentinians had a stupid foul at the end of the first half that left Carmelo Anthony shooting and hitting three free throws.

They are definitely the most athletically gifted team in the Olympics, but that has always been the case. The problem is that they're not the most fundamentally skilled team. The U.S. game is all about jumping and running. The rest of the world dribbles, sets picks, passes, and shoots. This is the first game when they've been challenged for rebounds (trailing 18-17 at the half.) Most of their games they've been able to make up for poor shooting by dominating the boards. Not so this time. It will be interesting to see if they come out with a fire and a passion to win. I suspect they will and that they'll pull away and not let up in the second half.

Coach Sticking It To His Players

If you've been visiting here a while, you know what I think of Coach K- I don't like him. But, this olympics team may be the perfect group of players for him to coach. Why? Well, I think it's pretty simple.

This group is motivated, hand-picked, extraordinarily-talented and disciplined. K doesn't have any pesky NCAA rules to look out for with this group, they're officially pros, unlike his teams at Duke. But, like his players at Duke, who are usually more-talented than the teams they're playing against, they also buy into what he's selling...and it shows. This morning, I watched the US play with the German National squad like a cat does with a slow aged field mouse...they could do whatever they wanted to do with the cute lil' Deutschlanders.

Krzyewski has employed a rudimentary, but smart system of a double high-post for the bigs and a fast pace for the guards. The system, coupled with the wider lane, creates a ton of space for Kobe, Wade and others to move easily in and out of. The results are slashing and finishing as the Chinese audience oooohs and ahhhhs for the entire contest. He's also managed to keep a group of rich guys motivated while not getting paid (other than endorsement dollars...oooh that's so sad) to play the game.

A debate has started whether this team could beat the Dream Team from '92. We'll never find out, but it's kind of fun to think about. But, before you join the debate, I think it's manditory to wait until this team wins the gold. Then the pointless, but entertaining discussion can resume.

While this team is ridiculously talented, they seriously couldn't do what they're doing without Coach K, so I give him credit. He could have just laid down on the job and taken it easy, but he's been a consumate professional...and unlike Coach Daly back in '92, probably hasn't taken the team out for drinks the night before big games. Keep up the good work, Mike, in less than a week, you can take a well-deserved rest.

Some Patriotism Mixed With Commercialism

Well, we've made no secret of the fact that we think the Beijing Olympics are a joke. However, Nike -- as always -- has made a pretty awesome commercial. Perhaps you've seen some of the shorter cuts, but I'll include the full-length version here in case you haven't seen it. It's pretty awesome. Even for a cynical f-ck like me.



Yes, it make my USA pride swell up. And yes, I want to see our boys succeed. It's our damn game. Bring it home, boys.

Go USA.