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The T-Bag Returns During Football Byes

You had questions and T-Mill had answers.

By BoilerTMill
Andy Lyons

The T-bag is back! There weren't many questions this week, but I got them all here and I know I still need to make this more regular. As usual, if you have a question send it to HammerAndRails at gmail:

I think it is going to be Vince Edwards or Dakota Mathias. Purdue needs to be able to spread the floor in able to open things up for A.J. Hammons in the middle. Kendall Stephens is a good shooter, but the only proven commodity from long range. Even with Stephens back, Purdue lost much of its three-point shooting with the Johnson brothers, Sterling Carter, and Errick Peck. There is a chance that Purdue could be worse from long range.

That's where Mathias and Edwards come in. P.J. Thompson and Jacquil Taylor are viewed as projects and Isaac Haas will only play as much as Hammons can let him. Mathias and Edwards have to be effective on the perimeter from day one or teams will collapse down on Hammons just as they have the past two seasons.

You are CMP, you know that the ceiling of this team is reached when AJ Hammons is the focal point of the offense playing at an All American level.   You also know that the same was true last year and he was unable to come even close to filling that role.  He was unable to consistantly score from the post and his passing from the post was shaky at best.  Therefore, do you start the season trying to implement an AJ centric offensive model with your eye on what could be or do start off with a more balanced approached and if/when he shows the ability to handle it, slowly move to running the offense through him? - Bill Riemenschneider

I would do the second. The offense lacked the balance and consistency We are familiar with from the Baby Boilers years. At best, it has been predictable (one shooter, the Johnson brothers driving) and at worst it has been the clogged toilet offense. We need to get everyone else involved in the offense if only so there is something else to look forward to next season if and when Hammons is gone.

If we're running a motion offense we need, well, motion. We need guys like Mathias, Stephens, and other hitting from the outside so teams don't just collapse on Hammons. .

Bill also gets bonus points for mentioning this:

BTW -- If the four BIG bye week coaches were abducted by aliens and put on a deserted island I think they would all die....

1.  Wilson's first priority would be to try and run off the natives which of course wouldn't work as he isn't very good at self defense.
2.  Hazell would never survive because let's face, he doesn't do anything his first year in a new place.
3.  Ferentz... Heart attack on arrival.  The man can't deal with that much change.
4.  Fitzgerald  Ok, I don't know enough about Fitz to come up with a reason he would die....

I think it has to be Bryson Scott. Stephens is a gunner and Smotherman is the freak athlete that can get us freak athlete plays and rebounds. Scott needs to become a more well-rounded guard. His default is to put his head down and drive the lane. That worked in high school and has its moments, but it didn't work last year. I hope that he has learned from the college game and is able to make adjustments. I'd also like to see more out of him defensively. We need a guy that can make offense from defense and be a bulldog on the perimeter.


My name is Heston Hybarger, and I have been a reader of your site since 2010.  I am currently a sophomore at Purdue, and this year I was selected to the Paint Crew advisory board.  I was just wondering if you, or even the guys at Boiled Sports had any suggestions to make the Paint Crew even better this year.  I thought I would reach out to you because I know you have a great passion for Purdue sports, and the more ideas we have the better.  Just let me know what you think, if you’re free at all.  You can email me back at this address, or tweet/DM me @hestonhybarger. Thanks for all the great writing that you do. - Heston Hybarger

I thinkt he Paint Crew does a great job already. Aside from invading the chusy chairback seats and actually filling them, what do you guys suggest?

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