Big Ten Tourney, Honors, and the Future

The Big 10 honors came out this week and the Boilers were very well represented. Hummel was a first teamer, E'Twaun a second, Kramer a 3rd, and Keaton Honorable Mention. This is good stuff for the future of the Boilermaker program, not one of those guys is older than a sophomore! And unless they're smoking something, they will all be back for at least one more season, probably 2.

Matt Painter was voted Coach of the Year in the Big Ten and Kramer was also Defensive POY. How the defensive POY is a 3rd teamer is beyond me, but what do I know? Apparently not much.

So, Purdue's future is looking very bright. I wish I could say as much for the Big 10. If you take the Purdue guys out of the Big 10 teams you are left with 3 Freshmen, 2 sophs, and 2 juniors. One of the freshman is Eric Gordon, who is most definitely gone after his 1 season in Bloomington. There's another Hoosier who got honors, Armon Bassett, who would be crazy to go into the draft, but he's feelings on sticking it out at IU I would have to imagine are in doubt. So, that leaves you with 5 guys that aren't graduating/entering the draft/potentially transferring. In a year when the Big 10 is down, this really does not look good for the future of the conference.

Not to mention all of the IU recruits that are backing out of their letters of intent because of Scumbag Sampson. I hate IU, but what he did is just reprehensible. Makes me sick to think of what went on down there. What a jackass.

On a good note, Big 10 tourney starts on Thursday in Indy!! This is looking really great for the Boilers. They will start things off playing the UofI-Penn State game Friday night. Penn State is coming off a big win against IU, but I just dont' think the Claxton-less Lions will have the firepower to beat Illinois. Illinois really sucks this year, but I think they're going to have enough to win on Thursday. This tourney is going to be alot of fun for Boiermaker fans all around. With the solid D that they play, and the depth they have, it's going to be very tough for a team to beat them when playing 2 or 3 days in a row. Let's just hope the freshman can keep the pace up.

And the potential of a Purdue-IU rematch looms in the distance also. If IU can get it together for the Northwestern-Minnesota winner, the two teams will face each other on Saturday. Playing in Indy, I'm sure the Fieldhouse will be rocking for that one!!

Boilers Looking Good!

The Boilers took care of business again this weekend with a big win over suddenly confident Northwestern. Purdue looked a little shaky in the first half and then came out of the locker room shooting the lights out to win by 25. Hummel led Boilermaker scorers with 15 including 6-6 from the free throw line. The Boilers kept the hot shooting going by shooting 45% from the field including 11-22 from behind the arc.

The Boilers looked solid again. They did what they were supposed to do to the worst of the Big 10. They've got 2 games left, Ohio State and Michigan, both on the road, to sure up another Big 10 title, and the first for Matt Painter.

Again, I sound like a broken record, but this team plays great together. They're fun to watch. They win games they're supposed to and they're even winning games that they're not supposed to. Something that Joe Tiller and the football program needs to learn. But that's another post for another day.

IU looked horrible in their loss yesterday to Michigan State. Sure it was senior day, but to put up 59 points in the first half??? Unreal!! Michigan State was unconscious! I don't' think IU had much chance to win that game they was MSU was shooting, but they didn't even put up a fight. I guess all of the "KS" signs on the IU players shoes was weighing them down.

Yeah, it's got to be a tough situation for the IU guys. But Sampson didn't die in a single car crash when he was on a recruiting trip, working his best to do the best for the program. He got caught lying, then cheating, then lying again about the cheating. Not once, but TWICE, at 2 different schools. He's a cheater, he doesn't belong in college sports.

But on the other hand, he's adding to the horrible play of the Hoosiers, so I really shouldn't be too upset about it.

I just came across this picture on the web. Hummel only scored 12.5 his senior season??? And now he's playing this well in the Big 10? So, has he elevated his game that much in the last year or is the Big 10 just that horrible?? Ummm, don't answer that question...

Getting Ready For Tuesday!

Well, it's Sunday morning and I'm having my morning coffee, and I can't wait for Tuesday night! Purdue and IU are going to battle for the top spot in the Big 10 at Assembly Hall in Bloomington. This is going to be a great game.

There are about 8 different storylines going on.

First, the whole Kelvin Sampson saga is unfolding. This has the possibility of being his last game at IU. After watching IU and MSU battle it out last night, and hearing Moron Vitale tell me about 5 times that Kelvin is a really good guy and he really likes him. But on the flip side, Dickie claims that not only should Sampson be fired, but the AD, who hired Samson, should also be fired. I just don't understand this. I don't think hiring a known cheat was the best idea for IU, but Sampson apparently, "...gave his word..." when he was hired to coach the Hoosiers that none of the problems from OU would ever happen again at IU. Sampson had some success at OU, took the Sooners to a final four, and made a few mistakes. Call me crazy, but I think people do learn from their mistakes and generally, become a better person from the lesson learned. If I was the AD, giving Sampson another chance, to coach at a place like IU, I think you have to believe him. But, obviously Sampson didn't learn from anything in his past and pretty much just gave the NCAA a big, fat, middle finger. Sampson should be let go, immediately if not sooner. He obviously didn't learn from anything he did at OU, and he deserves to be punished. And I can't think of any other way than to take his livelyhood, college basketball, away from him. Maybe now he'll learn something???

Next, IU played their hearts out for that scumbag last night. I was surprised, DJ White gets hurt and they really responded. MSU may not be as good as we thought at the beginning of the week, but IU really played well after the slow start.

DJ White got hurt Saturday night. Tweaked his knee. He's second in the league in scoring and leading in rebounds. If he doesn't play, or isn't 100%, this is a huge break for the Boilers. Purdue really doesn't have anybody skilled or stong enough to guard the 6'11" center. JuJuan is going to need to play a solid game.

This is the only meeting between the 2 rivals this year. I really don't understand this?? Why, why, why do they only play once, and why do they play at IU?? This is like Michigan and OSU taking a couple of years off so they can get Iowa and Minnesota on their schedules.

The rise of Purdue's freshman. Never in my wildest dreams did I think these guys could be this successful this soon. They've got a team of guys that doesn't care who the high scorer is. One night it's Moore, the next it's Hummel, the next it's Keaton.... This is also the first team that's been able to consistently hit a 3 since Jaraan Cornell.

Matt Painter. 3 years ago, the Boilers won 9 games. I sent an email out to some guys wondering if we could get Painter removed. Don't think I could have been more wrong. What a job he's doing getting these guys to play like a team. There's excitement again in Mackey Arena. Students are camping out before the games to get their spot in the Paint Crew. It was painful the last couple of years to see as many open seats as there were in Mackey. The 5 years I spent at Purdue, I don't think I saw 1 open seat. Good to see things are back to the way they should be.

The last time that E'Tuan and Eric Gordon met? Last years' Indiana State Championship game. E'Tuan got the best of Gordon to take East Chicago Central to the title over Gordon's Lawrence North team. Revenge for Gordon?? Confidence for E'Tuan??? E'Tuan is playing some great basketball right now if you haven't noticed.

And the biggest of them all. The Purdue-IU rivalry is a big game again. This is the first time when IU and Purdue have been 1 and 2 in the league going into battle since I can remember. I could probalby look it up on the internet, but I'm lazy, and it's just not going to happen this morning. So let's just assume it's been a long time. Exciting!! Promises to be a great game.

And by the way, the Boilers smoked Northwestern. Another theme of this season has been the runs this team goes on. Purdue was down 48-50 and decided to go on a 27-5 run to close out the game. It was good to see Scott Martin back out on the floor also. He did look a little rusty, but I'm sure he'll be fine by Tuesday. E'Tuan put up a career high 28. Shot the lights out!



One last thing, remember when Chad Austin hit that jumper from the corner in Assembly Hall for the win?? That was cool!

Boilers and Spartans Tonight!!!

Purdue and Michigan State face off tonight at Mackey Arena. The Boilers finally got some national attention by getting ranked on both polls this week, 19 on the AP and 23 on the Coaches Poll. They've been playing some fantastic basketball. Great defense. Great shooting. Great team play. They've been coming up big at the end of games. Huge win AT Wisconsin to give Bo Ryan his 3rd home loss in his tenure.

The Boilers have a tough schedule down the stretch with MSU tonight, IU next week, and OSU to finish up the regular season. I could have never guessed that this group of basically freshmand and sophomores could be in this position this late in the season.

Let's see what they do tonight? Let's see who's going to step up? Let's see if they can keep this thing going!!

There's alot of excitement surrounding this program in the present and the future. And much of the reason is Matt Painter. He's done an amazing job getting these guys to play as a team, he's learned how to win the close games, and he's done a great job getting prepared for each contest.

7 tonight on ESPN, which is probably a good thing, for once the whole country will be able to see how good of a team the Boilers are this season. Mackey will be rocking!! Wish I could be there!

Boilers and Hawkeyes Tonight

So the Boilers have Iowa coming to Mackey Arena tonight. Purdue has won 5 straight including Saturday's huge win over #11 Wisconsin. This team is really playing some outstanding basketball right now. They are shooting the lights out, playing great D, the young guys are growing up fast, and everybody is doing their part to contribute. They are really fun to watch!

15-5 is their record. If there is anybody out there that thought Purdue was going to have this record this season is a liar. Painter really has these guys playing like a team and everybody knows their role. I was pretty skeptical of Painter early in the season because of all the close losses. Many times a young team needs a very strong coach to make the right decisions at the end of a game to get out with a win. I didn't feel Painter was doing a good job of this. But, as usual, I'm wrong. Painter has got these guys running on all cylinders. I don't think there's been this much excitement in Mackey since the late 90s.

Hopefully they can keep the good play going against Iowa tonight. Sorry to those of you without a dish, it's on the Big Ten Network, you are just going to have to come back tomorrow to get my expert analysis of the game.

On another note I was watching SportsCenter last night. Media Day for the Super Bowl was yesterday or Monday or whatever. Plaxico Burress said that he predicted a 23-17 victory for the Giants on Sunday. ESPN was trying to make a controversy of this like it was Bush giving out Presidential Secrets to the Iranians or something. What's he supposed to say, "...No, I really don't think we have a chance on Sunday. I really don't know why we're even going to play the game...." Just stupid. I should hope he thinks the Giants are going to win! SportsCenter went on about this for about 20 minutes. Very annoying.

Go Boilers!

Boilers and Lions Tonight

The Boilers are playing the Nittnay Lions tonight and hopefully they can keep this good play going and get out of Happy Valley with another win. After watching Wisconsin struggle with a pathetic Michigan team, nothing can be taken for granted.

It's about time that we've got somebody that can consistently hit a jump shot, in fact, we have a couple of guys that have the ability to hit an outside jumper. Sure, David Teague figured out how to shoot last year going into the Big 10 and NCAA tourney, but it took him 4 and a half years to figure it out. I remember the days of his chest thumping after hitting his first 3 of the game with 2 minutes left and the Boilers down 17. But that's for another day.

Keaton Grant has been playing some good ball along with Hummel and Martin. Chalasan stepped up his game this past weekend, E'Tuan is starting to play well and I really think this team is starting to gel together. And if they can consistently win the close games, they have an opportunity to be real good this year, and the next couple of years.

They're a pretty entertaining bunch to watch. Some pretty solid play, good D, good shooting.... Much better than the days of Brent Buscher and John Allison.

My prediction is for Robbie Hummel to have a huge game.

Only 2 Boilers are averaging double digit scoring... Interesting.