Believe it or not, college baseball is just about a week away. Purdue begins its schedule next Friday in the Big Ten/Big East Challenge at 1pm against Cincinnati. The Boilers also play Connecticut and Notre Dame in the event. The first home game is against No. 24 Louisville on March 27, and they even have a date at Victory Field in Indianapolis on April 4^th.

This will be the final season at Lambert Field (no, really!) as the athletic department recently announced that the new Alexander Field project will not be finished in time to have any regular season games this year. I don't if the season goes exceptionally well and Purdue is asked to be a regional host if it can be ready in mid-May, but that is too far ahead.

It isn't that farfetched, as this year's baseball team has an excellent chance of being the best in school history. Reliever Nick Wittgren is considered one of the top closers in the country, while the excellent blog College baseball Today has Purdue as one of the Big Ten favorites:

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I feel somewhat vindicated by last night. I took a lot of criticism for still believing in this team and for thinking we actually had a chance last night. While I am disappointed that this feels like a missed opportunity for a huge win, mostly because the officials just whistled a foul on me for thinking about Jared Sullinger in a negative light, I am encouraged that we came back out and finally started playing Purdue basketball again.

It's about damn time.

Unfortunately, it means nothing if we don't continue playing that kind of tough basketball. As mentioned in the pregame, we played a team-oriented offense where people were moving without the basketball and getting open. That led to Kelsey Barlow famously teabagging Sullinger on one play because we cleared space for him instead of standing around on the perimeter. It also led to others getting involved. Sandi Marcius had an easy dunk if he is not fouled (which the officials were extremely reluctant to call). Jacob Lawson had a dunk on a nice cut. Lewis Jackson and GDB got to the rim against one of the best defensive teams in the country. We turned Aaron Craft into a whiny, frustrated turnstile.

It is not like we shot lights out, either. We were only 52% from the field, which is good, but not "everything is falling". We were 11 of 19 from three, but D.J. Byrd was 7 of 9, meaning the rest of the team was 4 of 10 (a much more conservative clip). There is little question the offense was good enough because we finally attacked instead of going conservative. We went right at them, and it paid off.

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There are no crappy videos causing the game thread this week, as promised. Doublegoldandblack created the alternate Game thread for the IU game last week while I was lamenting my existence in Mackey, so he will receive, as a token of my appreciation, the Hope Diamond.

We're going to need to be on it tonight, boys. bring your Yuengling, your lucky socks, and the talisman of choice, because this is a steep challenge in front of us. Nothing is impossible, however. A victory tonight would be one of the most stunning results of hte Big Ten season today, but it also would illustrate exactly why we play the game.

I will be slightly late, as tonight I am playing my my usual Tuesday night basketball game and hoping that my feet decide to hold up through it. The democratic method of the first commenter will be in charge until I get back is in effect.

Tonight our Boilermakers face perhaps their most difficult test of the season. We travel to Ohio State to face a team battling for a number one seed in the upcoming NCAA Tournament. They are on top of the Big Ten as expected after some early stumbles, and at home they have been dominant. Most people have already given up and put this one in the loss column. I'm a Boilermaker, however, and I don't give up even in the face of a difficult situation.

Tonight's task is exceedingly difficult, but not impossible. If you consider Duke to be one of the premier teams in the country then I know we have a chance because we happen to have beaten two teams (Miami and Temple) that beat Duke. Ohio State would be a third if fortune smiles upon us tonight. If there is any magic left over from the last time we played these guys it needs to come out tonight.

2010-11 Record: 34-3, 16-2 Big Ten (Big Ten regular season and tournament champs)

2011-12 Record: 20-3, 8-2 Big Ten

Postseason Result: Lost 62-60 to Kentucky in Sweet 16

Blog Representation: Buckeye Battle Cry, Eleven Warriors, Men of Scarlet & Gray, Along the Olentangy

Series with Purdue: Purdue leads 83-82

Last Purdue win: 2/20/2011 at Purdue 76-63

Last Ohio State win: 1/25/2011 at Ohio State 87-64

Time & TV 9pm ESPN

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Purdue University 2011 Newsreel - YouTube
A review of news and events from Purdue University during 2011.

Purdue (15-8) at (3) Ohio State (20-3) (ET) | College Mens Basketball - The News Tribune
A quick preview of tonights game against the Buckeyes.

College women's basketball roundup: Purdue wins to remain atop Big Ten | The Indianapolis Star | indystar.com
Sam Ostarello scored a career-high 21 points and matched her season high with 13 rebounds to help No. 15 Purdue remain on top of the Big Ten with a 77-66 victory over visiting Illinois on Sunday.

Former Purdue linebacker prepares for NFL Draft - Purdue Exponent: Football: joe holland, st. vincent's sports performance, nfl draft,
After graduating in December, former Purdue linebacker Joe Holland is now preparing for April’s NFL Draft at St. Vincent Sports Performance in Indianapolis.

JaJuan Johnson thrives in 1st run - BostonHerald.com
When E'twaun made 16 points in one game, most of the Celtics thought it was a big deal. For JaJuan, it was just an average day for Smooge.

Shavers Earns Marines Running Back Performance Of The Year
Purdue's Akeem Shavers has earned the Marines Running Back Performance of the Year, Intersport announced today (2/6/2012).

Four Boilers to participate in national volleyball tryouts - Purdue Exponent: Volleyball
Four Boilermaker volleyball players will be vying for spots on the USA National team program or the USA Volleyball Women's National A2 program in Colorado Springs, Colo., this weekend. Middle blockers Anna Drewry and Kierra Jones, setter Val Nichol and outside hitter Ariel Turner were among those invited to the tryouts, which will take place at the U.S. Olympic Training Center, Feb. 10-12. Let's Go Purdue Volleyball!

Purdue loads up on QBs in class - Big Ten Blog - ESPN
Purdue coach Danny Hope isn't shy about playing multiple quarterbacks, as the past two seasons have shown. Pretty soon, Hope may even have a different quarterback for each quarter of each game.

Legends Of Mackey Arena: Week 5
Both JaJuan Johnson and Stacey Lovelace were much more than your average post players. They have both been selected among the 24 Legends of Mackey Arena.

Eber's NCAA-Best Leap Earns Her Big Ten Award
Leah Eber has been named the women's Field Athlete of the Week for the second time in three weeks after leaping an NCAA best and school record 6.47m (21-02.75) in the long jump over the weekend, the Big Ten announced Monday afternoon.

Meyo Invitational - Day Two
The Purdue track and field teams wrapped up their weekend at the Meyo Invitational on Saturday and two more Boilermakers took top finishes on the final day.

B1G post-signing day Power Rankings - Big Ten Blog - ESPN
The Big Ten recruiting classes are signed and sealed, and although a few more recruits could come aboard, we have a good idea of what the rosters will look like heading into the 2012 season.

I hope everyone has calmed down a little this morning, especially with the various bracketologies coming out that have us still solidly in the field. Yes, Saturday sucked. It sucked a lot to be the first significant Indiana road win in ages, but it is hardly a reason to give up. The comments and various FanPosts since Saturday have seen a lot more attacking between fans, some even coming after me for being too optimistic.

Let me be clear: I am not so much optimistic as realistic. As long as this team has a legitimate chance of making the NCAA Tournament I am going to believe it is possible and map a away there. That last time I checked, we have a chance, however small, of making the NCAA Tournament until we're eliminated from the Big Ten Tournament. I have to believe in it then.

I am not, however, saying that we're definitely going or that it will be easy. I think we need four more wins before the Big Ten Tournament to have a realistic shot, which would put us at 19-12 and 9-9 in the Big Ten. Five wins makes us a lock in my mind, but four is important for several reasons. First, assuming three of those wins come over Penn State, Northwestern, and Nebraska we avoid another bad conference loss. Second, if the fourth win comes over someone like Illinois we establish ourselves in a hierarchy over six Big Ten teams (Iowa, Minnesota, Penn State, Northwestern, Nebraska, and Illinois) based on our regular season record against them. At 9-9, with a season sweep of Illinois, Northwestern, Iowa, single wins over Nebraska and Minnesota in our only meetings, and a split with Penn State, we're comfortably in the top 6. The Big Ten is getting six teams into the dance, probably seven.

My point is that there is a lot of basketball to be played, and if our shots ever start falling again it can erase a lot of bad we've seen of late. Will it be easy? Of course not. One thing we shouldn't do is concede games, even in road trips to Ohio State and Indiana. As long as they are keeping score we have to believe there is at least a chance, however small, that we're going to win. With games at Indiana and Michigan left we have a chance for a solid, shocking road win, especially when each of those home losses go a different way with a made basket here or a better defensive possession there (yes, we lost to Indiana by 17, but having the ball down 4 with just over 2 minutes left is a close game).

All we have is a difficult road ahead, not impossible. That's all I am asking people to see, and with some help from our previous wins we're already a respectable 5-5 against the current top 50 RPI. The last time I checked one of the things we pride ourselves about Purdue basketball is our tendency to never quit, so why should we quit as fans and say there is no way we're making the NCAA Tournament or that there is no way we win at Ohio State or Indiana? Yes, making the tournament will be tricky and winning at OSU or Indiana will be very difficult, but it is not impossible. Nothing the rest of the way is impossible.

It is just one game at a time from here on out, and instead of looking at tomorrow's game against Ohio State as impossible I am looking at it as another opportunity to turn things around. If that's overly optimistic, well, I am glad to be that way.

Record: 15-8, 5-5 Big Ten (No. 1 RPI conference)

RPI: 63 (according to CBS Sports)

Top 25 RPI wins: Temple (21) (neutral)

Top 50 RPI wins: at Minnesota (50), at Northwestern (37), Miami (FL) (38), Illinois (46)

Record vs. Top 50: 5-5 (plus a win over No. 57 Iona)

Bad Losses (sub 100 teams): Butler (151) (neutral), at Penn State (144)

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