2015-16 Prediction Score Card pt. 2

Well, now the world is definitely ending/great again, let’s distract ourselves with the last fifteen predictions. If you missed the first part: here it is.

As we go into it, I’m 5 for 15, with a few close ones that should have/could have/ didn’t go my way. “:

16. Dakota Mathias will average over 5 assists per game and less than 1.2 turnovers per game.

Oh. This one. This one was dumb from the moment I typed it. It has been a regret ever since. Dakota averaged 2.3 assists a game and just .6 turnovers a game. Fun fact: Dakota was one of five players to average at least two assists a game.

17. Purdue will lose 3 of 4 at some point this season.

Well, this happened but not in the way anyone of us want to remember. I thought it’d happen in conference play, but instead, Purdue lost their last two games - the B10 championship game and their first round game in the tournament. I need another drink.

18. P. J. Thompson will be the only Boiler with 30+ 3 pt. attempts to shoot under 30%

I didn’t believe in Thompson at the beginning of the year. All he did was go out and be the 3rd most efficient player in the country. He made 34 of his 83 3-point shots, that’s 41%. He’s seemed to keep that momentum going with a strong shooting off-season.

19. Caleb Swanigan will lead the team in rebounding.

Caleb grabbed over a quarter of the defensive rebounds available while he was on the court, leading to him averaging 8.3 rebounds a game. That’s .1 more rebounds a game than Hammons, good enough to make this prediction a win. His defensive rebounding percentage was the 20th best mark in the country.

20. Kendall Stephens will hit 9 3-points in one game.

This makes me sad. In a tough season on and off the court, the now Nevada student-athlete, got to 4 makes from deep a few times in the season, but as the season went on, Kendall stepped away from the team briefly and then never really found his way back into the rotation. Hopefully he can get his groove back out west and get to 9 for them.

21. Purdue Basketball will allow as many games under 55 points as Purdue football allowed over 40 points.

Purdue basketball: 3 7

Purdue football: 5

Now, that seems like a loss, but 4 times the Purdue basketball team allowed exactly 55 points. So I’m gonna say tie goes to me. I need the win, guys.

22. Jacquil Taylor will play less than 100 minutes this year.

An easy win. Jacquil had only 51 minutes, mostly playing in blow outs and having one shining moment against Rutgers. Chances are, we’re gonna need at least a 100 minutes from him this year in a thin front court, but he’s still just a mystery to us.

23. We'll have at least 4 players average double digit points.

Hammons: 15

Edwards: 11.3

Swanigan: 10.2

Haas: 9.8

I’m rounding up on Haas. That’s a lot of balanced scoring, and a lot of post-ups. While Purdue chucked it a lot of from deep last year, it’s obvious that post scoring was the backbone to the offense. Without Hammons, it’ll be interesting to see how the offense changes and how the points will divvy themselves up this year. Can a guard actually get some baskets this year?

24. Haas will score 20+ points on 80%+ shooting in a game.

It was close. Isaac Haas had one game over 20 points, scoring 24 against Lehigh on 8 of 11 shooting. Haas on the year shot just under 60% on the year.

25. Rapheal Davis won't have 20+ points in a game.

It only happened once, but Davis went berserk against Michigan State. He connected on 6 of 8 three pointers to score 24 in the overtime win. Unfortunately, his injured knee prevented him from being a consistent scoring threat. He improved his jump shot, but he couldn’t get to the hoop consistently or the free throw line.

26. Dakota Mathias will have 18 games with more assists than field goals made.

Dakota had 15 games with more assists than made field goals, but if you count ties, this would be way above 18. Dakota still was more likely to sit back and let the offense work around him than force the issue.

27. Purdue wins 24 games and a share of the Big Ten Title with Maryland and Wisconsin

They got to 24 wins, but none of those three teams were involved in the B10 title. I’m never good at that stuff.

And now we’re to the celebrity predictions.

Jumboheroes:

28. Purdue will be ranked in the top 10 at some point this season.

Purdue’s 11-0 start pretty much sealed this one up right away. Andrew is annoyingly right about a lot of things, too, and like I said, it’s annoying. But good for him. Anyone can bat a thousand if they’re just pinch hitting.

Andrew Holmes:

29. Vince Edwards will make an All-B10 team and James Blackmon won't.

Vincent made the honorable mention list and probably should have had a spot on the third team anyway, so, I’ll give it to Holmes. Why am I the one doing predictions again? These guys are better at it.

Travis Miller:

30. Ryan Cline will make the All-Freshman team.

Well, we all can’t be named Andrew and be right. Cline’s season was a success by all measures, but the freshman class in the B10 was too strong and Cline was never a focal point on offense and struggled on defense.

So overall we went 12/30 on predictions, but with some leniency in the wording or slight forgiveness for variance and it’s pretty spot on minus a few ridiculous calls. Stay tuned tomorrow for the start of our 30 predictions for this year where we will again try to highlight possible trends and outcomes before they happen.