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...

Holy Last 24 Hours of Sports, Batman!!

Where do you start today??? Oh man! The Boilers win a great game against Michigan State. Clemens and McNamee in front of congress. Kelvin Sampson and IU caught with 5 major rules violations. Wisconsin beating IU. Purdue owning a 1 game lead in the Big 10. And another amazing episode of The Gauntlet III was on last night. Where to start???

I guess I'll start out with the MTV hit The Gauntlet III. I can't get enough of the people on this show. Last night was no exception. After getting smacked in the head with a wooden board Melinda was taken off on a stretcher to the hospital where she found out that she had a consussion and was dehydrated. Alright, that's tolerable. But when they came up to the next mission and she had to drop 20 or so feet off of a beam into the water, she came up with this little nugget, "...I have a concussion, if I hit the water the wrong way, I'm going to die..." That would have been something. And from Kenny, "...it was just mind over matter. I don't mind, and you don't matter..." I can't get enough of these people!

Next let's go to the IU mess. That scumbag coach IU hired just doesn't learn from his mistakes, and then lies about it to the important people he shouldn't be lying to. I don't even know what all he did, all I know is that he did much of the same things at Oklahoma and lost his job there. What a jackass. Here's a good article from ESPN.com about their options. IU being banned from the postseason would just be icing on the cake for us Boilermaker fans!

Last night's IU-Wisconsin game ended with a banked 3-pointer by Brian Butch at the buzzer. Great ending to a horrible day for the IU basketball program.

Next is the huge Purdue victory over MSU. What a game. Robbie Hummel played one of the greatest games for Purdue in recent history. He did it all, rebounds, points, hustle... Just a great performance. I know I've said it before, and I'm probalby going to say it again, but this is a real fun team to watch! 10-1 in the Big 10. Nobody could have predicted this!

Which brings us to the 1 game lead Purdue now has in the Big 10. They have a couple of big games left, at IU and at home against Ohio State, but they're clearly in the driver's seat of the Big 10 race.

And lastly, I saw things yesterday that I am sure I will never, ever, see again in my lifetime. Roger Clemens and Brian McNamee sitting at a table, Clemens saying:

"...I never took steriods or HGH or any other performance enhancing
drugs..."

And sitting 2 people down from Clemens you have Brian McNamee saying:

"...I injected Roger Clemens, his wife, his dog, and 2 of his kids, with HGH
and steroids..."

Then you have Clemens saying:

"...McNamee injected me with B12 on 2 occasions..."

Followed by McNamee saying:

"...I've never injected anybody with B12. I really don't even know what it is..."

Then Clemens retorts with:

"...I never went to Jose Canseco's house party..."

Followed by Clemens not-so-good-speaking-the-English nanny saying:

"...Oh yes, we were at Canseco's house, we spent the night, the whole family was there, even the dog..."

And all of this in front of congress. Now, I think McNamee is a complete scumbag, he's lied, made some horrible decisions, done some horrible things in the past, don't get me wrong. But I believe just about every word that came out of his mouth yesterday. I believe very little of what Clemens says. Not to mention he threw his wife under the bus the day before Valentine's Day and used the word "misremembered" far too many times. I can honestly say I have never in my life heard that word used in a sentence before yesterday, I'm not even sure that it is a word.

Anyhow, Clemens looked horrible. He lied, and he lied, and he lied, and then he lied some more. He deserves to be out of baseball and should not be voted into the Hall. I have to think, if he had come out after the Mitchell Report and said that he did those things, he made a mistake, he won't do it again, I love the game and I wanted to continue playing which is why I made the decisions I made... All would be forgotten, not a big deal, lots of guys were doing it, let's move on. But with all of what he has gone through, he just looks more like a dirtbag. He was one of the greatest pitchers of our generation, and he will now be remembered as a liar. Such a shame.

I still can't believe this Boilermaker team!!!

Boilers Win Another

The Boilermakers won their 8th in a row last night by beating up on Penn State. Although it was close at the half, Purdue took off in the 2nd on the shoulders of Marcus Green to win 67-53.

Robbie Hummel had another fantastic game with 17 points and 6 rebounds while E'Tuan scored 16 points on 4-6 shooting including 2 3-pointers. Chris Kramer again played some stellar D and Marcus Green played great off of the bench.

Keaton Grant had a tough night, but Hummel, Green, Moore, and the rest of the Boilers were there to pick him up.

These guys are really getting hot, but they have some big tests coming up. They've still got Wisconsin, Michigan State, IU, and Ohio State remaining. This is really going to be a good test for this young team. If they can stay hot, keep playing good D, and keep shooting the ball well, They're going to be in real good shape going into the Big 10 Tournament.

Boilers Win Big in Happy Valley

First of all, while I was lying in bed trying to get motivated to get up and get in the shower, they were talking on the radio about -32 with the wind chill today. Why I live in Chicago I have no idea.

Anyhow, the Boilers had a huge win last night against the Geary Claxton-less Nittnay Lions. Purdue has been a team of runs so far this season, whether it's the good side of a 15-0 run or the bad side. At one point, 5 minutes into the 1st half, the score was tied at 9. At the half, it was 42-18! Nothing like a 32-9 run to get things going.

Robbie Hummel played another excellent game with 15 points and 11 boards, including 3 from 3-point land. E'Tuan and Calasan both added 11 and the Boilers shot 11-25 from behind the arc. It's fun to see a Purdue team shoot this well for a change.

On another note, IU played real well again beating Iowa by 22. Eric Gordon is real good. It will be nice to not have to deal with him next season.

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.