4 Days To Purdue Basketball: Robbie Hummel
by BoilerTMill on Nov 7, 2011 3:20 PM EST
in Men's Basketball
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PrintI will now hold for five minutes of applause as we all welcome Rob back to the court...
...still holding...
... and I think we're good. It has been a long, long, LONG wait since February 24, 2010. In a way, that date may live in infamy longer than The Fumble. As damaging as The Fumble was, I don't think anyone really expected us to breeze through Michigan, Northwestern, Iowa, Ohio State, and Indiana unscathed to play for the National Championship, but man, is it fun to dream.
That Game, as I now refer to it, was much more costly even though wwon. Chris Kramer put the team on his back and Keaton Grant hit some huge shots to assure we would still win a Big Ten title, but we will always wonder What If. If Rob doesn't go down, with the way we were playing at that specific moment, we were unstoppable. We breeze through Michigan State in a game where both teams looked awful in Mackey Arena. We blast Indiana and Penn State away to take the Big Ten title by ourselves. In Indianapolis who knows what happens, but with a number one seed assured it doesn't matter. I know we have an attitude of, "We'll be back in three weeks when it really matters." As for the tournament, we likely take Syracuse's No. 1 seed, and it is either Butler still making their miracle run or us ending it. Then, with a pro-Purdue crowd in Indianapolis, we knock off Michigan State again and face Duke for everything. Our three heroes topple them, then all agree to come back and repeat in 2011 as an undefeated champion, just to take away IU's honor of being the last unbeaten champ.
What If...
Sadly, I know there is an alternate universe where this happened, and I lament that I don't live there. Anyway, back to Rob. That intro was about as long as he has been gone, and it is a damn shame because those injuries could not have happened to a nice kid. There is no question that he would have been the heart of a team that could have been something special last season. For whatever reason, it wasn't meant to be. Now he is back for an encore performance and everyone simply wants to take joy in watching him play basketball for a full season. I can't imagine how terribly frustrating it is to be blessed with so much talent, but to be betrayed by your own body.
In a perfect world he lays waste to the Big Ten, averaging 35 and 15 every night. He returns to The Barn and exorcises the Demon Wood of that raised floor Keyser Soze-style, dropping 55 on the hapless Gophers over and around triple-teams. He rockets up NBA draft boards as Purdue gets on his back and heads to New Orleans in early April, where local resident Drew Brees steps into the Purdue locker room to give words of encouragement before we take the floor.
Instead, I think we're going to get a smart, savvy player that picks his spots and plays the game within the game as well as anybody in the country. A quiet 15 and 8 every night is very likely, with occasional performances like the first half against Ohio State in 2010 when he laid waste to everyone.More importantly I wish nothing on him more than a completely healthy season that is long overdue.
And then, in April 2012 when the Celtics are looking to pick someone in the NBA Draft...
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And from all indications, Robbie seems to be a helluva nice kid.
He’ll be in the “Brian Cardinal, Drew Brees” category when it comes to representing his alma mater, not matter where he ends up.
Nobody cares about your fantasy baseball team
At first I did a double take when I read the undeadeted seson with Robbie last year.
Then I realized that is was a pretty good chance we could have. With Hummel, we would have walked away from a vast majority of the rest of the NCAA last year.
Really...
If you are serious, you are a fucking idiot!
Besides the unneeded vulgarity, why not?
We were ranked #1 in the preseason by many websites. Moore and JJ would have had less pressure on them both offensively and defensively. We would have had more experience and more size. Robbie also brings more leadership. A lot of those close games we definitely would have won with Hummel in. The only questionable game would have been at Ohio State.
?
1. We would have been as good as the 75-76 Hoosiers
2. You have an extra Chromosome.
Wow, Mactrent
Get out of here. We don’t need that kind of abuse here.
Reaction images? I got 'em
Senior All-American Alto Sax
Seems like he really felt you were an idiot, and properly used the F bomb to fortify his point. I’ll let it pass.
PS. BEAR THE FUCK DOWN!!!!
by boiler206 on Nov 7, 2011 11:55 PM EST up reply actions 1 recs
I doubt we would have gone undefeated
That Richmond loss was pretty significant. However, I think a one seed would have happened meaning no match-up with VCU.
"Sadly, I know there is an alternate universe where this happened, and I lament that I don't live there"
Haha that was a great line just because it sums up my feelings about the whole situation so well.
Robbie Hummel is very well deserving of the praise and acclaim that he’s gotten. So what if there was a fumble and an accident, it just goes to show that even the best players have issues they have to overcome at times.
Makes me think of Drew Brees
he had an injury in the NFL while he was with the Chargers that many thought would be the end of his career. the beginning of his autobiography talked about it and it was really inspiring. now look at him. I hope Robbie can have a similar comeback.
To your call once more we rally....
by BoilerPaulie on Nov 7, 2011 11:23 PM EST up reply actions
We're kind of like the Browns
in that there’s catchphrases for the worst moments in our history. What else is there besides “The Fumble” and “The ACL”?
by Jackson Brunner on Nov 8, 2011 12:40 AM EST up reply actions
For me, there will always be “The Fumble II,” "The I Know You Caught 16 Passes But How Could You Drop That One, " “The Ben Jones,” “The Fourth-and-1,” and “The What Happened to Chris Booker?” All catchy titles.
by Ray Williams? on Nov 8, 2011 1:05 AM EST up reply actions
hopefully
this year we can put away the ‘what ifs’
>Hoosier by birth, Boilermaker by the grace of God
>Don't cry, MSU - It's just a game...
Man Crush
Every time I try to write something about Hummel I get all tongue tied. He’s right behind Drew Brees on my man crush list (it’s a short list). Hope I’m not the only one.
I hold the belief that everything happens for a reason
that when we look back, we wouldn’t wanna change a thing despite how terrible it migth seem at that time. I got that from Steve Jobs’ Stanford commencement speech. Getting kicked out from the company you founded is devastating to any man, but Jobs says that turns out to be the best thing ever happened to him, in hindsight. The same goes with Bill Russell, who didn’t get the MVP award in his junior year in college despite vastly overplaying everyone – he’s not getting the award simply b/c he’s black. As a result, he focuses exclusively on winning, and these days, the Finals MVP award is actually named after him.
We don’t understand why the basketball god can be so cruel at times, but then that may just be the seed of something totally awesome.
Agreed
I think the positive to take is think about how much worse this years team would potentially be if robbie doesnt get hurt and have to play an extra year. He is helping to transition this team and new players for a year until next years awesome class gets here.
by jack'sIUdisdain on Nov 8, 2011 6:02 PM EST up reply actions
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