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.

Continue reading this post »

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

Continue reading this post »

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)

Continue reading this post »

As you know by now, I'm the anti-thesis to T-Mill at the site. His optimism clashes with my more reserved pessimism. The *17 point loss to IU basically confirms what I've said all year. We are a NIT team, because we play like one. NCAA tournament teams don't lose the ability to shoot for over 10 minutes a game. Play like that and you will lose 90 percent of the time.

17 point loss is such crap too. It was a 4 point game with 2:30 to go or close to it. Hopefully people don't just look at the box score and think the team got ran out of the gym, but I digress.

Continue reading this post »

Like a tennis official, the advantage in this bitter rivalry has shifted back to Bloomington. After dominating the series for almost four years our time on top is over until we work to get it back. It is hard to deny it after tonight, either. Rivalries are made to have the tide turn, however. it means it is now our turn to bide our time to get back on top.

In a game full of critical plays it is hard to pick just one that lost it. In fact, what lost it was Purdue's maddening inability to combine the times where its defense is working with the time its offense is working. Still, there was a chance with 2:23 left when Robbie Hummel got a steal and kicked it ahead to Lewis Jackson. We were down only four and on a break to cut it to two, but credit needs to be given to Will Sheehey for zipping back on defense. Instead of pulling back out, LewJack attacked, missed the basket, and IU came up with the loose ball.

Despite everything, a basket there is huge and puts the pressure on Indiana like in their loss to Nebraska. Unlike in that loss, the Hoosiers got better. Christian Watford got the rebound and was fouled. He hit a pair of free throws, Remy Abell hit a dagger of a three, and the game was over as Purdue fell apart, again. What could have been a close game, if not an improbable win, ballooned to an ugly 17 point loss as the Boilers suffered death by papercuts from the free throw line at the end.

Continue reading this post »

It is not enough to win this game. Oh no. I want to break them. I want to crush these guys, leaving my through raw and bloody from screaming for two hours. I want to break their will and crush their spirit, because the most dangerous thing in this state is an Indiana team playing with confidence. I want to take exquisite pleasure in watching the Hoosiers wilt from the heat of 14,000 screaming Boilermaker fans. I want them so broken by the end of this game we have reason to think we'll win in Bloomington in a month just to punish them for wasting everyone's time with all the "We're Back" nonsense. After all, Lewis Jackson and Ryne Smith deserve to finish their careers having never lost to Indiana, don't they?

At my signal, unleash hell, Boilermakers.

In my random scanning of the internet yesterday I found that my old nemesis, John M of the Crimson Quarry once again took offense to something I had stated earlier this week. The passage in question came in regards to tomorrow's game and how I felt Indiana's return to relevance was easy:

apparently the new meme is that IU has not suffered enough for its sins:

Purdue is desperate to prove that Indiana hasn't passed them. Our fans are both tired about hearing how they're back and honestly, some are a little bitter that they can decimate their own program via cheating, yet suddenly come back like its nothing and pass us when we saw years of hard work lost because of injuries at the absolute worst time. Mackey Arena is going to be a very hostile place for them on February 4th.

Got that? IU was able to "suddenly come back like it's nothing."

Yes, they have come back like it is nothing in terms of recruiting, and this highlights one of the most ignorant and frustrating things I find when dealing with some in the media. There are those out there that make the ridiculous statement of, "well, college basketball/The Big Ten/the state of Indiana needs the Hoosiers to be good." Sorry, but that is a statement born from the height of arrogance.

Continue reading this post »