Monday Gumbo

The final Four is set as everyone knows- Ohio State v. Kansas and Kentucky v. Louisville.

A couple things you might want to take note of...just for future reference.  First, most obviously, only one #1 seed made the final weekend of the tourney.  J noted on Twitter how many of EsPN's pundits had at least two #1s...some had four; and these are the experts, right?  As much as it feels good, always resist the urge to go chalk...unless you're talking women's basketball.

Sidenote: J and I aren't women's basketball fans...and this is just one of the reasons.  Not only does the women's tournament seems to run according to seed almost always, BUT, massive blowouts in the round of 16 happen regularly. There were 27 and a 44-point discrepancies this weekend in the women's tourney...and neither of those was because a Cinderella made it through.  Only two of the eight games were single-digit games...Plus, not one lower seed won a game.  That will leave the women with a final eight of 1v.2...times four. You won't hear us tell you what to do on this site- if you like the women's game, watch to your heart's content; but we won't be.

Back to the men's game.

Moral Victories Stink
In 2012, for the fourth year in the last five, Purdue was knocked out of the tourney by an eventual FF team...the only exception was Xavier.  Two of those three (this year is yet to be decided, obviously) were eventually crowned national champs.

For me though, that says two things- One, timing is everything.  If your squad plays the wrong team at the wrong time (read as VCU), it's tough to overcome that. Second, there's no solace in losing to anyone, even a team that wins the championship.

Thoroughbreds
If you take a glance at the teams that made the final four, it's no surprise that talent reigns supreme; almost always does.  But almost all of this year's FF teams have length- good height and long arms...coupled with athleticism.  The team that has been the best on paper all year, Kentucky, has a line-up that would make many NBA teams jealous.  They have size, they have length, they have athleticism...plus almost the entire team shoots their free throws in the 70% range or higher...and they get to the line a lot.  In other words, they do it all well.

I've said it before and I'll say it again, I think Kentucky's pros will finally bring all-around good guy, Calipari, his first national title.

And to clarify...again (because this is something that doesn't seem to come across via Twitter).  Just because we think someone will win the national title, doesn't mean we like or root for that team.  Of the remaining four, I'll be pulling for Kansas...mainly because I don't want to see aOSU, Kentucky or Louisville win it.

Good Journalism
On late Friday night/early Saturday morning, Butler's Brad Stevens' name started lighting up Twitter.  Rumors of a 21-28 million dollar contract offer from Illinois came first and then, of course, news guys started saying Stevens would be announced as the new Illini coach on Saturday.

Stevens quickly denied ever being offered a contract...and a day later re-affirmed that he'd be staying at Butler.

For those of you keeping score at home, Illinois has been turned down by Smart and Stevens...next up, they'll probably offer Ohio's coach, Groce, college basketball's most-recent "it" name. Since he's only had four years at Ohio, hasn't planted deep roots, and Illinois will offer to quintuple his salary, I think he'll be the guy that takes Weber's place in Champaign.

Groce graduated from Taylor, and later coached under Matta at Butler and aOSU (and a few other stops as well).

Football Scrimmage
This time of year is always tough to tell what's really going on with Purdue's football team as Hope keeps practices and scrimmages locked-down.  But here's a quick report for those of you who haven't put the pieces of info together that's available.

The QBs (Marve and TerBush, specifically) have looked good as has the new-look offensive line.  But, in spite of that, the defense still won Saturday's scrimmage.  That's understandable as it always takes offenses a bit longer to get in sync...then again, this is a defense that is showing new looks and has a coaching staff comprised of a lot of new guys.

What we do absolutely know is there have been no major injuries...the best info that can come out of Spring football practice.

All In. (Painter's Poker Game Nearing its End)

We still don't know everything, but what we do know is the end is nigh...one way or another. Painter's meeting with Mizzou's Mike Alden (and co.) is probably currently underway. Burke and other members of Purdue's administration have expressed that they really, really, really want him to stay (finally). And Painter stays mum.

I'm not sure how this ends, but it seems to me there's a very good ending and a very bad ending...no other way to say it. Losing a Purdue alum to a program with similar stature as the HC sends a loud message that Purdue has become a stepping stone program. That's not the end of the world as Butler, Xavier, West Virginia, Pitt, Marquette and other high level basketball programs have all been this way in recent years. But, it's something that I didn't think I'd ever see. I would hope that if Painter does decide to leave, the ramifications to those who allowed this to happen would be swift and just...but I doubt it. We'll have more reaction as real news becomes available.

Word to the wise: Don't trust Twitter, regardless of the source within it, unless you can trace the story to a root. Last night a clown from some paper in the Northeast "broke" a story that wasn't a story at all...and everyone took it as Bible because he was a supposed old news man. The ethereal "source" that so many pseudo journalists speak about, without giving specifics, is little more than conjecture or rumor. A source within a specific athletic department might have some weight to it. A name as a source close to the situation is probably truth. We still have no reliable source on the outcome of this story.

Really, Matty holds all the cards at this point...everyone else is just at the table...whether they want to be there or not.

A Look at Matty and Mizzou

Commanding Attention

We make it a point to post when Purdue news is coming down the pike. But honestly, Sunday's loss was like a punch in the gut to both of us. So in the wake of the unusual tourney upset for our Boilers, it's been a bit harder to do what we usually do- read articles, listen for the buzz and watch TV for emerging stories in a Purdue-centric sports world. All that said, the interwebnet is buzzing about something that needs to be addressed.

Matty's been named by a couple sources as a target of Missouri's coaching search. Sure, there's nothing from Mizzou or Painter that indicates he's been contacted. But, there's definitely smoke here...and why wouldn't there be? Painter's teams have averaged just under 25 wins/season the last five years. He took a Purdue program that was in the can in the wake of a legend retiring and made it a national story once again.

He's been able to lure big time talent to God's country, has helped develop players that were a bit off the radar and helped make Purdue a fixture in the national rankings again after a few years away from spotlight.

So when we hear that Missouri's athletic department might want to go after Purdue's head man, we understand why. Anderson, surprisingly to some (me included) has moved to SEC country to replace Pelphrey at Arkansas. Anderson had to pick up the pieces at Mizzou following Quin Snyder bringing NCAA scrutiny, and subsequent embarrassment, upon the program. Anderson did a great job...and like Painter, helped rebuild a program that was in bad shape (albeit for different reasons).

Missouri is kind of like Purdue in the fact that it tends to live a bit in the shadow of a couple monsters in their conference. And like Purdue, they've been able to even the playing field with a coach who recruits well for his system and gameplans and motivates even better. While Painter doesn't run a high-energy press like Anderson, he has a defense-first philosophy as well and knows how to win.

Missouri offered close to $2million to try keep Anderson in Columbia...That's a pretty large number and is hundreds of thousands of dollars more than Painter currently earns in West La La. Of course, Painter's numbers vary depending on the season and the incentives reached in that season. Burke and Painter negotiated a contract through '16 & '17...but one of the compromises reached was Painter had a free out clause in the summer of '11. Sure, that wrinkle in his contract only amounts to a $750,000 difference in buyout...and its timing isn't advantageous for a potential suitor, but it's still there.

Matt Painter is a loyal guy...but he's also a smart one. He's got a group of coaches who might be along for the ride if he decides to get into conversations with Mizzou. He also has a damned good Senior class and a bunch of players behind them that want to know he'll be leading them next season (and the seasons after that). Is Painter prepared to play poker with this situation? Who knows...but in my opinion, it's time to pay Matty as the market demands before this becomes an issue.

On the flip side, I'd rather not hear any of these negotiations see the light of day. If Painter decides to interview for this position, in my opinion, this exercise will have already gone too far. Back in the 80s and 90s, Coach Keady flirted with a few jobs outside of God's country, and no one won, in my opinion. It hurt Purdue's recruiting, it pissed off alums and Keady stayed at Purdue.

Everyone in the basketball offices has a chance to conspire together and make this all disappear before it's even an official story. Here's to that happening.

Addressing the Barlow/Smith Rumors With Help From The Timex Social Club

Indeed, how do rumors get going?

Well, these days, people just hit "retweet" on Twitter and spread things that people say. It has to be pretty damn ludicrous to be dismissed. Well, we had some lunacy on Twitter and GBI tonight.

Let's just get into them and I'll tell you my thoughts.

Rumor 1: Kelsey Barlow was suspended because Kelsey and Ryne got into a scuffle / fistfight / swordfight / gunfight / steel death cage match and Ryne is now also out for Friday, and potentially injured / catatonic / bedridden / dead.

This does not appear to be true. I think this was just one of those things that some bozo put out there to see if it would get traction....and it did. We suddenly began getting notes around midnight Eastern that they'd brawled and that Ryne was now out, too, and this was why Barlow was suspended. I saw it gain steam in a number of venues and, well, as I said, that's the nature of electronic media these days, folks.

Now, understand, I can't confirm for 100% certain that they didn't get into a duel where they walked ten paces, turned and fired....but I'm reasonably confident this isn't what happened. And if it does turn out that Ryne conked his head somehow, well, I still won't believe Kelsey bonked him with a brick or something.

This is a physical team that has presumably been practicing hard to regain the intensity they had for the month of February. Collisions happen. Don't believe nonsense if it sounds like nonsense.

Rumor 2: Kelsey Barlow was suspended because he failed a drug test.

I wasn't even going to address this one because it seemed rather far-fetched. I mean, I'm not saying college students don't ever partake, but I figured a few things. For one, it's the week of the NCAA tournament. For Kelsey to do such a thing would be purely idiotic. For another, as we've documented here, Purdue's drug policy is laughable. Even if Kelsey was being stupid, it would probably be hard to violate the policy enough times to be suspended.

Ah, unless...unless the coaching staff decided unilaterally that that kind of behavior and poor judgment is not what we expect from our players.

I came to this conclusion after multiple sources, including a media member, indicated that this was exactly the case. I want to stress, however, that none of them is willing to go on record with this or say it is "confirmed." It does cause me to hesitate a bit, but this failed drug test rumor is already circulating and I've heard more than once that it has come from a "source within the athletic department."

If that is indeed true, then the already-lacking Purdue athletic department needs to shore things up and do a better job of controlling the flow of information. Finding out through leaks makes everyone look bad.

And if this is true about Kelsey -- and yes, we're holding out hope that somehow the people claiming it (and tweeting it) are flat wrong -- then we may have seen the last of him in a Purdue uniform.

Addendum:

We have it on very good authority that the fighting rumors can and should be put to bed. My advice is to keep the faith...this might be the best possible thing for everyone involved right now.

Yee-Haw! Texas Next?

It's been debated as a possibility for a long time, and while I initially poo-poo'ed the idea of Texas coming to the Big Ten, I hadn't envisioned the Big 12 crumbling like boilerdowd's morning coffee cake.

Once that started looking possible, and there was talk of Texas going to the Pac 10, well, I laughed -- heartily -- at that. The Pac 10 is a marginal conference and if Tejas wants to make dienero, the Big Ten or the SEC are the logical choices.

And if they want their currently well-respected academics to not be muddied by joining the community-college-level academic institutions of the SEC, well, the only choice is the Big Ten.

And as per the news in Kansas City (why not?), Texas and Texas A&M are "in talks" to join the Big Ten, while Oklahoma is ready to jump to the SEC. Texas and Oklahoma in different conferences? USC banned from the postseason? It's like cats and dogs LIVING TOGETHER!

Let's all just keep in mind that they can "talk" all they want and rumormongers can spread all the rumors they want, but until they get invited somewhere, nothing's nothing. It's only logical that they'd begin discussing their options and inclinations, though, since their conference seems to be teetering on crashing down around them.

(Thanks to Phillip for the heads-up.)

Take The Job, Brock

To send you off into the evening with something fun to dream about, loyal reader Gregg Z tips us off to this factoid churning out of the Rivals rumor mill -- Brock Spack is considered a possibility to take the head coaching spot at Bowling Green.

I don't think I'm the only one who would help Brock pack up his things for the jaunt over to Ohio. And hell yes, let's get them back on the schedule.

Have anything to say for yourself, Brock?



Yeah, that's what I thought.