I apologize if I am beating this topic to a bloody pulp, but Purdue's first commitment in over 300 days has awaken a sleeping giant in me. Here are a few random thoughts on Jacob Lawson's commitment, among a few other topics. Per usual, these may be a little incoherent so read on at your own risk...

• As many of you have pointed out in the comments, Jacob Lawson gives Purdue some much needed depth in the front court. Considering the departure of Hummel and JJ, Purdue will likely need to solicit the services of all available big bodies to fill the gaps...or at least try... As it stands, Matt Painter will have Bade, Marcius, Carroll, Hale, and now Lawson at his disposal to man the front court for the '11-'12 season. This gives him a lot of options depending on what the situation warrants. Hale, Lawson, and (and maybe Bade with body transformation) will give Purdue a solid size/speed combo and will be able to play/guard 3 and 4 while Carroll and Marcius will eat up space and grab rebounds at the 5.  Painter may have an arsenal of diverse skill sets and body types to utilize in the front court.
• Lawson and Hale will bring a great deal of athleticism to the team. They both have a knack for defense, rebounding, and blocking shots and will have an opportunity to make an immediate impact doing just that. But if the two forwards can refine their offense, their impact would increase exponentially. They have the have the tools to be great college players, they just need to put in the work to get there.

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He might be a work in progress offensively, but there is no question that forward Jacob Lawson can take care of the basketball when he's close to the rim. Actually, it's more accurate to categorize his game above the rim.

Since Lawson happens to be a human highlight reel, he makes my much easier. Here are a couple of demonstrations of his 'freakish' athleticism:

Watch Lawson win Oakridge's dunk contest after the jump...

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After what seemed like a an eternity since Purdue's last commitment, 6'8" 220 lb Jacob Lawson (Oak Ridge, North Carolina) became the first member of the 2011 class (joining Donnie Hale).

ESPN describes their take on Lawson's game:

"Lawson is a big active player who seems to glide down the floor and is a freak in transition usually finishing with a dunking flourish. Defensively this active youngster blocks numerous shots and goes after every attempt causing many alterations and bad misses. He rebounds like a fiend and offensively converts many of those into crowd pleasing dunks of sheer aggressiveness. Lawson has a massive upside and once he learns to avoid foul trouble willbe even more effective on the offensive side of the ball."

But you don't have to take ESPN's word for it, check out his athleticism yourself:

And if that didn't convince you of his abilities, check out this posterization:

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Below is an incredibly sloppy attempt to visualize the strength of Purdue's '10-'11 conference schedule. I don't foresee any major shifts in the Big Ten this year so I thought the previous year's conference wins would be a good way, at a high-level, to quantify the strength of each team. I am well aware that this doesn't make the perfect predictor of this upcoming season, but the trends should be pretty accurate.

It doesn't take a brain surgeon to identify the two vicious stretches in the schedule that will likely decide the Big Ten. Obviously this is the Big Ten and anyone can lose on an off night. But realistically, these two stretches will greatly influence the final conference standings.

Stretch #1 – 1/22 – 2/1

-          1/22 – Michigan State at home

-          1/25 – At Ohio State on the road

-          1/29 – Minnesota at home

-          2/1 – At Wisconsin on the road

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Buy your Project Houston shirts now before it is too late, because I expect to be there. The much anticipated full release of the regular season schedule is here. We now know where we are going and when before the Big Ten Tournament, then hopefully a path through Chicago, San Antonio/New Orleans, and finally Houston on April 4^th. I say Chicago because I expect to be a #1 seed playing as close to home as possible throughout the tournament. Newark, NJ and Anaheim are the other two regional sites, but I don't care if we have to play in Pyongyang to get to Houston as long as we win.

I know that we have to conquer the regular season first, but I have been waiting for this tournament for three years. With everything coming together the way it has for this year I expect to take care of the regular season. The stakes are automatically raised and can only be lowered if we're hit by injuries again. I hate to say it, but if this team stays healthy and does not make it to Houston the season will be viewed as a disappointment. We'll also be endlessly mocked by IU fans.

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UPDATED: After being teased with a less than flashy non-conference schedule, the full 2010-2011 schedule has finally been released.

Date	Opponent / Event	Location	Time / Result
11/02/10	vs. Indianapolis #	West Lafayette, Ind.	7:00 p.m. ET
11/09/10	vs. Midwestern State #	West Lafayette, Ind.	7:00 p.m. ET
11/14/10	vs. Howard	West Lafayette, Ind.	5:00 p.m. ET
11/17/10	vs. Alcorn State	West Lafayette, Ind.	7:00 p.m. ET
Chicago Invitational Challenge
11/21/10	vs. Oakland	West Lafayette, Ind.	7:00 p.m. ET
11/23/10	vs. Austin Peay	West Lafayette, Ind.	7:00 p.m. ET
11/26/10	vs. Southern Illinois	Hoffman Estates, Ill.	8:30 p.m. ET
11/27/10	Richmond/Wright State	Hoffman Estates, Ill.	TBA
ACC/Big Ten Challenge
12/01/10	at Virginia Tech	Blacksburg, Va.	7:30 p.m. ET
12/04/10	vs. Alabama	West Lafayette, Ind.	3:30 p.m. ET
12/07/10	at Valparaiso	Valparaiso, Ind.	TBA
12/11/10	vs. North Florida	West Lafayette, Ind.	6:30 p.m. ET
Boilermaker BlockBuster
12/18/10	vs. Indiana State	Indianapolis, Ind.	4:00 p.m. ET
12/21/10	vs. IPFW	West Lafayette, Ind.	6:30 p.m. ET
12/28/10	at Michigan	Ann Arbor, Mich.	2:00 p.m. ET
12/31/10	vs. Northwestern	West Lafayette, Ind.	12:00 p.m. ET
01/05/11	at Penn State	State College, Pa.	6:30 p.m. ET
01/09/11	vs. Iowa	West Lafayette, Ind.	12:00 p.m. ET
01/13/11	at Minnesota	Minneapolis, Minn.	7:00 p.m. ET
01/16/11	at West Virginia	Morgantown, W.Va.	TBA
01/19/11	vs. Penn State	West Lafayette, Ind.	8:30 p.m. ET
01/22/11	vs. Michigan State	West Lafayette, Ind.	9:00 p.m. ET
01/25/11	at Ohio State	Columbus, Ohio	9:00 p.m. ET
01/29/11	vs. Minnesota	West Lafayette, Ind.	1:00 p.m. ET
02/01/11	at Wisconsin	Madison, Wis.	7:00 p.m. ET
02/08/11	vs. Indiana	West Lafayette, Ind.	7:00 p.m. ET
02/13/11	at Illinois	Champaign, Ill.	1:00 p.m. ET
02/16/11	vs. Wisconsin	West Lafayette, Ind.	6:30 p.m. ET
02/19/11	vs. Ohio State	West Lafayette, Ind.	TBA
02/20/11	vs. Ohio State	West Lafayette, Ind.	TBA
02/23/11	at Indiana	Bloomington, Ind.	8:30 p.m. ET
02/26/11	at Michigan State	East Lansing, Mich.	TBA
02/27/11	at Michigan State	East Lansing, Mich.	TBA
03/01/11	vs. Illinois	West Lafayette, Ind.	7:00 p.m. ET
03/05/11	at Iowa	Iowa City, Iowa	TBA
03/06/11	at Iowa	Iowa City, Iowa	TBA
Big Ten Tournament
03/10/11	First Round	Indianapolis, Ind.	TBA
03/11/11	Quarterfinals	Indianapolis, Ind.	TBA
03/12/11	Semifinals	Indianapolis, Ind.	TBA
03/13/11	Finals	Indianapolis, Ind.	TBA

As usual, T-Mill's will review this in greater detail sometime in the near future.

In the meantime, mark your calendars, clear your schedules, and start looking for babysitters.

More photos » Jim Mone - AP

This is the last time you will see this awful picture here. Ever. (AP Photo/Jim Mone)

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February 24^th was a dark day for Purdue basketball

August 24^th is a joyous day.

After six months off the court, Robbie Hummel returned today. Never has light shooting and drill work meant so much to the fans of this program. Here is a sampling of that dark moment when he went down:

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SBNation is hosting the Blogpoll this year, so it is even easier to use. Here is my initial ballot. The Defensive Depth charts will be up this afternoon.