http://espn.go.com/college-football/story/_/id/7337943/texas-aggies-hire-houston-cougar-kevin-sumlin-source-says

Didn't think we had a good, if any, chance at getting him. Hate to see opportunities like this go though. I think Sumlin could have been a huge get for Purdue. As has been said, I guess the best we can hope for is a change/upgrade in the coordinators, but I don't see Morgan Burke even doing that.

For those who didn't hear on Twitter....Bryson Scott dropped 46 points on 12/9. I haven't found out who his team played but that is ridiculous. 2013 complementing 2012 will give Matt Painter the deepest team he's ever had with legitimate depth/talent at EVERY position.

Also of note, Scout.com ranks Purdue 2013 the #2 class in the nation behind only North Carolina:

http://scouthoops.scout.com/2/1136644.html

I think it is obvious that our basketball team is not getting enough production from the center position, and even Painter admitted so after the Xavier game. Lawson has the most upside and plays hard, but I can't get over the fact that he played 21 minutes last game and has 0 rebounds, when even little Louie got 4 rebounds on a bad back. (And I haven't mentioned he averages 8 fouls a game) Sandi has flashes of brilliance and long periods of bench-warming. And Carroll is more like a 6'9 jump-shooter who has been getting mercilessly trashed that all I can say is hopefully he can regain his confidence.

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This is all the news report said.
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Purdue announced sophomore wide receiver O.J. Ross has been suspended from the team indefinitely for failure to adhere to team policy and rules.

Ross’ status for the Dec. 27 Little Caesars Pizza Bowl against Western Michigan has not been determined.

Ross had 33 catches for 356 yards and 3 TDs for the Boilers this season.

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Well, that is a bit unfortunate. Does anyone have any more information?

I looked on with anticipation to read the Gold and Black Ill. update on the recent Xavier game and Rob's condition. Alas, I would have to pay to read more than a couple sentences...

Does anyone at H&R subscribe? Is it worth the price? Could a kind subscriber cut and paste the recent article so I will know... what Coach Painter said about the Xavier collapse and what the update is on Hummel.

Thanks

Boiler Up!

Someone left this as a comment on my last article, but I thought I would bump it to the front page.

The Paint Crew line for the Eastern Michigan game Saturday will hold the spots of anyone who wants to go in and watch the #12 Purdue women play vs #2 Notre Dame. I'm not sure, but I believe tickets to the women's game will be required, but all Paint Crew members have already paid for women's season tickets by virtue of their VIP cards, so anyone interested only has to pick them up. If anyone from the Paint Crew can confirm this for me, that would be great.

The game will also be televised at noon on the Big Ten Network.

Lastly, I'm sure some of the Paint Crew, and probably the readership at large, will kind of look down their nose at the women's game. But it's free, it's 2 hours in line inside instead of the cold, and you might find you enjoy it even if you're skeptical.

....and of course, you also get another shot to hate Notre Dame.

We'd definitely love to have a big chunk of Paint Crew fans there. Mackey is already perhaps the toughest place to win in the conference (looking at you, band), and a few hundred of the loudest PC members would make it even better.

Oh, and did I mention you get to hate Notre Dame?

Today's coaches poll sees us with only four votes to the poll. I have no problem with this. The issue I have is having a team like Memphis sitting so high when they have two losses to Georgetown and Michigan(who also has two losses). Our two losses are OOT against the #8 ranked team and the #15 ranked team. Georgetown isn't ranked and Michigan is only ranked 19th? Does this make sense to anyone else.

http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/rankings/_/poll/2

I hope Painter cuts down on the rotation at the 5. Each of the 3 bigs are getting around 10-15 minutes per game. I know they have different qualities about each, but bringing them in and out every few minutes, I dont see how any of them can get any rhythm going. Unless we are up against a huge center, I think he should start Lawson until he gets a few fouls (about 2 minutes in probably) then put in Chooch. That way Lawson knows if he fouls too much he gets to sit on the bench, or else he gets to play major minutes. Its not like he is going to foul at a faster rate when starting as compared to coming in later in the game. If Chooch gets in foul trouble too then put Carroll in. With Lawson, we get a decent scorer around the bucket (67%), and a shot blocker & rebound threat. With Chooch we only get a big body and the occasional extra stat. With Carroll, we get a liability on both ends IMO. With Lawson in the game, its like 5 players against 5, with Chooch its 4.5 vs 5 and with Carroll its pretty much 4 against 5 or worse.

The news came out on GoldandBlack.com and Twitter today that Ralph Bolden's MRI confirmed a torn ACL. This is the third of this man's career and difficult for us fans to swallow. You have to ask....why does this keep happening to us? I can't offer an explanation of any kind.

If you really want to take a positive from this, I like the idea of Akeem Hunt getting to play more. Shavers should be back too.

Here's my question...can you even play football after 3 tears? Doesn't a player get to the point where their body won't let them play? I have no idea. Oh well...on to the Little Caesar's Vegetable Bowl. (See what I did there?)

The Lady Boilers upset #4-ranked and defending national champion Texas A&M at home today. I watched the game and while we were HORRIBLE in rebounding and was equally ATROCIOUS in taking care of the basketball, we play some suffocating defense in the second half that simply overwhelms the defending champ.

That all comes after Coach Versyp got a technical when KK Houser got called for a charge. Oh wow, Coach was *IRATE* and you can see her face all red and screaming and needs to be restrained by her assistant. But hey, that seems to wake up the Boilers and from that point on it was all Purdue. Our defense was smothering and forcing TOs after TOs after TOs. Maybe we need to see that in a coach some time.

In any case, it is a great win. Just imagine how good this team can be if Drey didn't tear her ACL. Still, just like we lost Hummel last year, we are not going to cry about what we don't have, but rather focus on what we can do with the players we do have.

One last thing, I don't usually blame the officials, so I am just gonna say, I am *VERY* surprised that we seem to have a home-court disadvantage. Even without counting the non-calls (oh Texas A&M played very aggressive D), I'd think the home team usually gets the benefit of 50-50 calls (e.g. is it a charge or a blocking foul?), but heck, we were losing AT LEAST 80% of the 50-50 calls! Oh well, it's a win so I am not going to complain too much.

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