Good Time to be a Mastadon

Thursday night, the Indiana University -Purdue University at Fort Wayne fighting Mastadons will square off with Summit League rival Southern Utah Thunderbirds. Not only will this be a battle royale of mythical/extinct animals, it just might decide who's best...in the nation...sort of.

IPFW enters the game 4-9, smarting from a recent loss at Oral Roberts. Yet if the Mastadons prevail and the communicative property of sports upholds (which it never does) IPFW may be the best team in the nation.

Let the dominoes fall.

• IPFW defeats Southern Utah
• Southern Utah defeated UC-Riverside 76-65
• UC-Riverside defeated Long Beach St. 69-67
• Long Beach St. defeated Wisconsin - Green Bay 81-69
• Wisconsin - Green Bay defeated Wisconsin - Madison 88-84
• Wisconsin defeated Purdue 73-66
• Purdue defeated Tennessee 73-72
• Tennessee defeated #1 Kansas 76-68
  

Were these games the only ones ever played, the Mastadons could make a case for world domination. Somehow, I feel Texas and Kentucky might have an edge at the top of the polls though.

LewJack is "feeling real good"

Purdue's huge test with West Virginia will be the basketball story of the day and possibly Purdue's story of the regular season until MSU or Wisconsin comes to play.

Still the Boilers are soldiering on without preseason starting point guard Lewis Jackson. LewJack is nursing one of those damned nagging foot injuries that just need more and more precious time to fully heal. Early word has been a February return for #23, but the Boilers may end up using a redshirt on the lighting fast Jackson. To this point, Purdue is averaging under 12 turnovers a game, but the play making and passing ability of LewJack would be invaluable for a long tournament run.

Just yesterday, the Boilermaker faithful might have received some reassuring news from the horse's mouth.


Sure it's only one workout, and of course he WANTS to feel good and he's still not a doctor, but come on. We need a light of hope in this story.

At least, as far as you can trust twitter, LewJack's spirits are up. It has to be tough watching from the sidelines as your #4 in the nation teammates continue on a storybook season. Hopefully his diagnosis pans out.

Now go take down the Mountaineers!

Bad Idea Live Blog: Dayton vs Villanova

The Adventures of Being Robbie Hummel

Robbie Hummel is currently playing on the US World University Games team. SI.com's Luke Winn has posted an interview with the Boiler standout that wonderfully outlines the multi-faceted world that is college athletics.

In the interview Hummel hits many bases including:

• Coach Matt Painter's axioms - "Everybody can't play shortstop and bat leadoff."
• The perils of fake MySpace and Twitter accounts - "My God that thing was making me sick."
• Fans obsessed with Hummel's back health - "Did you get that Eucalyptus oil? Call me back."
• What another big man could bring to the Boilers - "[Craig Brackins of Iowa State] is big, has post moves, and can shoot.

It seems that Hummel's enjoying himself, keeping his back healthy, and even giving glimpses of a four-year career at Purdue - "It makes a mockery of what college basketball is supposed to be about: Somebody going to get their education at college, and playing basketball at the same time."

Just stay healthy Rob, and try not to make Coach Painter chuck too many balls off of the backboard.

Indiana is the Third Best Rivalry?

When asked to rank Purdue's highest rivalry, what school undoubtedly ends up on top?

Not so fast.

According to ESPN's Pat Forde, the Boilermakers just can't wait to tussle with Sparty. But wait, it gets crazier.

If given a second guess who Purdue can't wait to play after Michigan St., Forde insists it's that other team from Michigan. In fact, Indiana and Purdue don't even make the honorable mention team on Forde's Red-hot Rivalry listing.

The craziest thing about all of this: it's true.

Purdue fans got a bitter taste of success last season only to have Michigan St. pull away in the Big Ten race like a national finalist should. Sure, Purdue came back to win the Big Ten Tourney, but they didn't get another crack at the Spartans in the process. At the same time, no one could deny the psychological and nose-crushingly physical impact the Manny Harris play had on the Boilers. Purdue did in fact get a rematch with the Wolverines...and promptly lost by nine points. But as Forde notes, both crusher and crushee - Harris and Kramer - will be back on the court this season. Bring on round 3.

So, it's hard to imagine that entering what could be the third straight exhilarating season of basketball in West Lafayette that Indiana wouldn't even be in the top two rivalry spots. It's almost as surprising as seeing only one Big East matchup - Villanova v. Pitt - in ESPN's listing.

Do I think beating Indiana is going to be any less of a priority this season? Not in the slightest. For now though, I've got to think that Michigan and Michigan St. just have bigger circles on the calendar.

Oh, yeah. Football's coming soon too.

A Season Done...until Tomorrow

On the eve of the latest/most important NCAA tournament, I feel the need to reflect on the most recent season.

To date, the Boilers have accomplished five of my pre-season goals, but as per the course, they've done it in a peculiar way. There's a winning season in the books. They took down Iowa, Indiana, and Illinois though it took 3 tries to knock off the Illini. The boys brought home the first Big Ten Tournament championship in school history, and in route locked down a 5-seed in the tournament.

Where do we go from here?

Northern Iowa is on the bill for tomorrow, and many folks are taking the sexy upset pick. I doubt it. The Boilers should be tipping with Washington on Saturday afternoon. The real question lies in the prospects of playing two weekends this March.

Sure, Purdue could shit the bed and bow out with most people lamenting "if only Hummel hadn't torn up his back." On the other hand, the Boilers could put the past to rest and try to take on the world one UCONN at a time. Time will tell.

I'm reserving my end of the year reflections until later. For now, the Doritos are ripe, the beer is cold and the Tivo is humming.

God, how I love this.

Mountain Song

Dear Gregg Doyel,

As if it wasn't enough of an outrage that a team ranked #27 in the RPI gets an 11 seed (and subsequent date with the best 6 seed in the field) while two middling Big Ten teams pull 10 seeds, you've now taken my crushing despair and transformed it into a sea of pure bewilderment. You may be a national columnist for CBS Sports, but you are also out of your damn mind.

Exhibit A:

Dark-horse pick: I came dadgum close to putting Dayton into the Final Four. Yes, I did. As it is, I've got Dayton beating West Virginia, Kansas and Michigan State to get into the region final, but I didn't have the guts to pick the Flyers over Louisville.

Most likely upset: Clearly Dayton over West Virginia, and not just because I'm picking the Flyers. West Virginia shoots a ton of 3-pointers, and if it's missing ... well, game over. Dayton has great athletes who score close to the basket, and they will do that against the Mountaineers.

I'm only assuming that he's not including Dayton's starting center, who shoots 40% from the floor (while never taking a shot from further away then 6 feet) when he references those "who score close to the basket."

I Hate Jim Nantz

Jim Nantz, the smarmy, overly self-confident play-by-play announcer, has always been a bit of an oxymoron for me. On one hand his voice is an instant Pavlovian trigger exciting the unbridled love I have for the NCAA tournament. On the other hand, I think he's a moron.

Some of my ire is due to the company Nantz keeps. Spending season after season next to that ultimate blowhard, Billy Packer, would sully the reputation of Mother Teresa. Now that Nantz has a competent partner in Clark Kellogg, the idiocy is fully in Nantz's lap.

During today's Big Ten Tournament game between Ohio St. and Michigan St. Nantz and Kellogg were discussing a graphic of the top ten RPI teams. Turning back to game action, Nantz punctuated the conversation by saying, "And tomorrow the RPI will be RIP."

Nantz had also earlier called the RPI the "computer rating." Evidently Jimbo isn't too familiar with the source of his smug outrage. The RPI is as much a computer rating as the digital odometer in my car is a computer rating. Just because a computer is involved doesn't mean that all algorithmic numbers are inherently evil or the product of some godless plot from the basketball netherworld.

The RPI formula is quite simple. It's a combination of a team's winning percentage (25%), their opponents' winning percentage (50%), and their opponents' opponents' winning percentage (25%). The formula was tweaked recently to weigh a road victory and home loss more heavily, but otherwise we're dealing with sixth-grade math here. There is little to no subjectivity involved.

So, in essence, when Jim Nantz decries the RPI he's basically saying he hates fractions, and most likely other unclean statistics like batting average, assist-to-turnover ratio, and greens in regulation.

Now, it's not too much of a stretch to think that Nantz is projecting a hate of the BCS ratings onto the RPI. But the formula is quite simple and not proprietary like the Sagarin algorithm, a major component of the BCS. The RPI also does not consider the subjective weekly polls. If a team wins, it goes down as a win. If they lose, it goes down as a loss. If you don't like your rating then schedule different teams or just win your damn games.

If one wants a problem, we can rightly bitch about the role the RPI plays in the tournament selection process. But I find it fascinating that the current top 8 in the RPI - Pittsburgh, Duke, North Carolina, Michigan St., Oklahoma, UCONN, Louisville, and Memphis - are also the top 8 seeds in Jerry Palm's latest tournament projection. Palm could just be mimicing the RPI, but I doubt it.

Jim Nantz is out of his mind and mad at an inanimate formula. It reminds me of Howard Cosell's adamant distaste for the Pythagorean Theorem.

You can't please everyone.

Too Little, Too Late, Krabbenshit

We knew.

I heard a radio interview with NCAA Head of Officiating John W. Adams during the halftime of today's Penn St. romp over Indiana.

When asked about changing protocols about officials "going to the monitor," Adams said something to the effect of, "We already made a rule change after the Purdue - Wisconsin game." Adams went on, "In that game, there was an official right in front of the play and he missed an elbow from the Wisconsin player. He didn't even go to the monitor."

There it is folks. The head of officiating can admit in a live interview what the Big Ten Conference studied and swept under the rug.

Take a look at the cheap-shot again.

It prompted a frickin' change in the rules.

Get your head out of your ass, Big Ten.

Bad Idea Live Blog: Dayton/Xavier Game

Final thought:

• Basketball is stupid and I can't care about it anyway so whatever.
  

11:05 - Final score: Xavier 76 Dayton 59

11:04 - Timeout so the senior (citizen) Raymond can retire....literally....because he's so old.

11:03 - It's just not a Dayton basketball game until London Warren airballs a three.

11:01 - Awesome! Chris Wright gets an easy dunk. How come Xavier had to be jerks and play defense most of the game?

11:00 - At this point, maybe Dayton should just pull an Artest.

10:58 - Offensive rebounds for Xavier. Killing us.

10:56 - I also love this State Farm Insurance commercial with Lebron dancing to Kid N Play. It's almost as good as this dancing-related commercial.

10:55 - Is this badmitton Aleve ad a national commercial? I hope so. That 50-year-old visor-wearing woman is killin' it out there

10:52 - text from Tom "Those signs for Raymond look like they were drawn by the jerry lewis telethon kids" Or Xavier students.

10:51 - Little misses a dunk. It's the first half, all over again.

10:49 - Oldy Oldson just hit back-to-back threes. Drat. This is where Dayton starts chucking threes like crazy.

10:46 - A Skyline Chili montage? God, I hate Cincinnati. And Hubert hates Skyline. I love him!

10:44 - Marcus Johnson!!!!

10:41 - As I was typing that last one, the autistic kid hit a three...dammit

10:40 - chip chip chip away...within 6

10:38 - Kurt Hueslman always looks confused and never closes his mouth. He's our Tyler Hansbrough

10:37 - London Warren flops. And Hubert hates it.

10:36 - That offensive rebound for Xavier is about to create a 49-point swing.

10:32 - text from Tom "When will they break down Frease's race? Romanian? Latin? Jason Kidd's race? It's wide open"

10:31 - I've been trying to find a Necessary Roughness clip so I could make a BJ Raymond/Scott Bakula joke. But apparently that is the one movie that someone hasn't uploaded onto youtube yet. Sorry, Rob Schneider.

10:29 - I'm amazed we're only down 8. But moral victories aren't good enough.

10:28 - Sweet. I blogged about it, and Gregory put him in. Ah, the power on the internets!

10:26 - I just can't understand having Wright sit on the bench. It virtually guarantees that at best, Dayton will still be down by 10 when he comes back in with 8 minutes to go. Coach Teen Wolf, what are you doing? Is Stiles telling you to do this?

10:24 - the word 'field' is the funniest part of that text. Well, Clarke saying "my girl" is pretty funny too.

10:23 - text from Clarke "My girl just looked at London Warren and asked: 'Is that a girl on the field?'"

10:17 - Sorry, Garman. I agree with Hubert. Chris Wright needs to be on the floor right now.

10:15 - Little scores on Dr. Frease.

10:13 - Marcus Johnson is single-handedly keeping Dayton in this game.

Halftime Thoughts

• text from Garman "We are in trouble unless our coach goes teen wolf in the second half"
• I guess that means we should surf on top of a van? I don't see how that will help matters.
• Chris Wright needs to get his head out of his ass...well, first, get his ass off the bench...well, whatever. Doesn't he realize that he can dunk the basketball crazy good?!
• I figured it out. Garman thinks they should get a keg of beer.
• If Dayton's going to come back, they have to (a) get Chris Wright the ball (b) hit their lay-ups (c) not rely of Fabrizius to guard the paint....this is NOT his coming out party and (d) get McLean under control. And yes, I'm talking about this McLean.
• text from Basford "How old do you think BJ Raymond really is? I put the over-under at 34. I'll take the over"

9:54 - I was hoping to be able to say "Well, we're only down by single digits at the half, so that's a good sign." Yeah, I can't say that.

9:51 - Damn you, McLean.

9:50 - An assist for Dayton. What an idea!

9:47 - text from Basford "Did you realize TO got cut and ARod has a bum hip? You can read about it on the bottom line every 27 seconds"

9:45 - I think Xavier just realized we aren't (and haven't been) playing with a center.

9:43 - Xavier, your cheerleaders. WOOF!

9:42 - Hubert Davis jinxes the Musketeers. He's on our side!

9:41 - A Three! Johnson three'd a shoot!

9:40 - That charge on Wright was crap. Crap, I say.

9:39 - Dunk! Little dunked the shoot!

9:38 - UD memory fun fact - our freshmen intramural basketball team name: the Squirming Coils. I remember asking Ben and Pat what that meant. They said it was a Phish song. Then I asked again what it meant. They had no clue, and then probably offered to sell me a veggie burrito.

9:37 - It's a rock. With a Sharpie-drawn face. Thankfully, Hubert Davis acknowledges how stupid that is.

9:33 - Sean Miller puts something in the Xavier lockers when they don't "value the rock."

9:30 - Xavier refused to shake hands after the national anthem....what a bunch of terrorists.

9:29 - text from Sas "10 minutes in and just now realize we are the team in black uniforms...I'm at a bar"

9:27 - Tonight will be Luke Fabrizius' coming out party. The good-at-basketball kind. Not the other kind.

9:26 - Marcus Johnson just airballed a lay-up. Wow.

9:24 - text from Basford "This is the brand of low scoring, turnover laden shitty basketball I have come to know and hate"

9:22 - text from Tom "Black jerseys must be condusive to missing lay ups"

9:21- Dammit, London Warren. Everytime you touch the ball, I feel like I'm watching a toddler trying to walk for the first time. Easy, buddy. Easy.

9:19- Huelsman with 2 fouls early....no Searcy....crap

9:15 -Basford chimes in on the uni-debate. He loves them. He also loves the Bengals, so.

9:11 - Jill hates the black unis too.

9:09 - black jerseys for Dayton. But it's 11-2. Can you change uniforms during a TV time out?

9:06 - text from Greg "If I wanted to watch nova I would turn the tube to PBS"

9:00 - the teaser during the Providence/Villanova game....words have already been exchanged on the court. Someone get ahold of that Redford kid! By the way, I have to give it to Xavier. How inspiring that they gave Redford a chance to play Division 1 ball. They saw his potential back when he was counting toothpicks in high school.

Pregame Notes:

• I drove to Dayton to watch the Flyers break Xavier's 6-game winning streak against them. 2 minutes after arriving, Rob Lowery got hurt for the year, but thankfully, we had another dreadlocked point guard to take his spot.
• The game's in Cincinnati, which is bad news for the Flyers. They haven't won there since before I was born. Will the 28-year drought end tonight? This was a positive sign.
• Xavier's coach, Sean Miller, held a meeting with the student body to plead with them to not go on spring break, because it fell during Dayton's visit. He also refuses to wear throwback jerseys, because he doesn't want Dayton to think the game means anything. Division 1 coaches always have pep club emergency meetings when the game means nothing.
• Right now, the Dayton Flyers are likely in the tournament [24-5 (10-4), RPI: 27, SOS: 109]. A win tonight clinches it. A loss means we've got to win against Duquense. A loss there means we'll have to sweat it out and I'll start to spout off about RPI and the lack of respect the A-10 gets (because, you know, St. Bonaventure and Richmond are awesome).
• My prediction- Dayton 66 - Xavier 60
• FUXU
  

My bad

My bad.

I take full credit for the loss at Michigan. I know, I know, the jinx fell squarely on my shoulders, but I still don't apologize for my excitement.

What I do apologize for is my complete ignorance at how valuable Nemanja Calasan's five fouls are. Put the Bosnia on the bench with the sniffles and opponents need only do one thing, attack JaJuan Johnson with impunity. Johnson's early foul trouble left the ole' aching back playing too much post defense.

Shit.

No rest for the weary though. Ohio State rolls into West Lafayette today, and hopefully my pilgrimage to Mackey Arena will absolve me from the sins of my jinx. So I'll skip the hypotheticals and stick to relative facts.

There was an obvious defensive breakdown against Michigan that extended beyond the low post. Amazingly, Michigan was getting wide open cherry-pick layups in the second half run that allowed the Wolverines to pull away. Absolutely uncharacteristic for the Boilermakers. Next, Painter pulled Kramer off of Manny Harris and inserted Keaton Grant. Don't get down on Kramer. Harris was hitting shots that should have been in the Bird & Jordan McDonald's commercials. The larger issue there seems to be a quick bout of the Joe Tiller 2008 effect. The opposition makes all of the right adjustments at halftime while Purdue makes all of the wrong or no adjustments.

Purdue is now a 10-point favorite in today's game but still smarting from Thursday's let down and the earlier overtime loss in Columbus. I've not found any definitive word on Calasan's condition, but regardless I hope Painter keeps going as deep as Riddell on the bench.

That Thursday afternoon optimism isn't fully gone. The hopes we had of a healthy squad when Hummel was laid up for a month have now transitioned to a sinus infection in the faux-hawk. Give the Boilers nine healthy players and an Illinois win over the Spartans tomorrow and that should spell a good weekend.

By the way, I just typed that with my fingers crossed. The jinx was jinxed.

Could any image better exemplify the latest run for the Boilers?

I'm not saying that Hummel is the key to winning - especially with the recent tour de force from E'Twaun and JJ - but the sheer number of injuries and illness have been staggering at times. Had the photographer stuck around a few seconds longer he might have seen Robbie back on his feet as the Boilermakers went on dispatching Indiana (even if Rob was a tad woozy).

Tonight's the time to put the recent agony behind us.

Purdue is a 2-point favorite on the road at Michigan. Obviously this is a reunion of Manny Harris's elbow and Chris Kramer's nose. And as exciting as more of Kramer's blanket defense is, there's a larger picture though. A road win tonight keeps Purdue in the driver's seat for a Big Ten championship, and that carries additional weight that seems quite appealing at this point. Not only would the Boilers then have another road win in dethroning Michigan St, but just imagine an Illinois victory over the Spartans. In that scenario the Boilers would be the #1 seed at Conseco for the Big Ten tournament and potentially leapfrog themselves to a #2 seed in the NCAA.

Not only does the #2 seed bring the easier walk to the Sweet Sixteen, it might also earn opening round games in Dayton, OH. Add to that fact the recent tendency of the Paint Crew to travel well and the games in Dayton being on the Friday-Sunday rotation and it spells home court advantage and another weekend in Indianapolis.

It all hinges on tonight though.

The Boilers need to extend their defense to take down the perimeter shooting of Michigan and hope that JJ can continue his dominating inside presence. Avoid those opening lulls that have been arduous to watch. Keep the pressure on, and don't play not to lose. And for God's sake, hit your damn free throws.

Hit on all six Boilers and you might start paving your road to Detroit.

I'm know I'm getting ahead of myself, but holy shit, it actually seems plausible.

Wait and See

Tonight's contest with Michigan St. has been on most fans' calendar since the beginning of the season.

We just didn't think it would be like this.

Sure Purdue is only two games back and can put themselves back near the driver's seat for both a Big Ten championship and #1 seed at the conference tournament. Sure they're sitting on 18 wins with a minimum of 7 games left. Sure they're currently projected as a 4 to 5 seed in the NCAA tournament with that cathartic Indiana game on the weekend horizon.

But it just doesn't feel right. Not right enough, yet.

Despite the two game winning streak including stellar defensive scoring efforts against Penn St. and Iowa, this doesn't feel like the team that went toe-to-toe with Oklahoma and dismantled Davidson.

The recent loss of Robbie Hummel has a load to do with both the lack of wins and lack of chemistry, but that isn't the whole story. I found myself asking Mrs. McLochness recently, "Doesn't it feel like Purdue is missing two players?" The disappearing acts of Calasan and Green have most fans on edge. The addition of Bobby Riddell's playing time has been an boost, but do we really want to be looking at Buckets for that spark off of the bench?

Here's what I do know. Purdue is a 3-point home dog, despite the debut of the new, lengthy unis. Michigan has won 16 of its last 18. The Spartans are averaging 5 more points again and a scary 5 more rebounds. Purdue has a statistical edge in blocks, steals, and turnovers, and that's where our fate lies tonight. If the Boilers want to pull off the definitive, message-sending victory it's going to take those big plays like blocks and steals to keep the crowd energy up unlike the malaise that descended on Mackey during the Duke game.

All this and Michigan St. is still as quick and explosive as ever.

This should be interesting.

Out of the Frying Pan

Needless to say, the last six games have been a whirlwind for the Boilers.

Not only have they knocked off Wisconsin in Madison two years in a row, climbed back into a statistical tie for first place, and weathered numerous injuries and illnesses, they've even begun to accessorize. The flash of that elbow pad sleeve against the shattered nose mask - and all of if topped with a sweat-laden headband - FAB-U-LOUSSSS!

In all seriousness, the Boilers are on the precipice of two reclamation games. The next two bouts with OSU and Illinois could set the stage for a grab at the upper hand. A loss in either could keep them hungry in second and champing at the bit. While losses in both may drop them all the way back to a number 5 seed...in the Big Ten Tournament.

I was reviewing preseason goals I'd set for the boys and so far, we're not successful on any (except I think they might have locked up the winning season). Regardless, this recent stretch has yet again underlined the beauty of this game. Despite depleted losses against Illinois and Penn State, the Boilers might be looking their best even with the blemishes.

The final goals remain the same. Snag that top-4 seed and hopefully a fuel-efficient run through March with bus rides to Dayton, Indianapolis, and Detroit.

For now, take down Bucky.

Bubble of Sanity

Well look what have we here in the newest edition of Bracketology:


While it might be borderline presumptuous to look ahead to a classic 9 vs 4 match-up in the 3rd round, the mere prospect of Dayton facing Syracuse in the first round intrigues me for a couple reasons.

The first reason is that aside from a huge neutral court win over 8th ranked Marquette and an impressive win vs St. Joe's yesterday, you could make an argument that UD is the most baffling 20-win team in the country. Consider the circumstances of some of these victories:

• A 60-59 win over Auburn where Dayton sets an NCAA record by going 0-24 on 3-point attempts, getting the win thanks to Auburn making only 12 of 26 free throws.
• Blowing a 6-point lead to a 2-13 Fordham team by allowing 8 points in the final 24 seconds of the game, only to win 72-71 on a Rob Lowery runner with 2 seconds left.
• Trailing George Washington by a point with 20 seconds left, only to take the lead (and get the win) because GW picked up a technical for playing with SIX MEN ON THE COURT! This is simply amazing - watch the kid racing off the court here when he realizes there's an extra white jersey out there.
• Defeating St. Louis 47-46 in a rough watch where the only Flyer points in the last seven minutes of the game were scored on the game-winning alley-oop! They also went 0-11 from long-range in this game.

So yes, the Flyers have been spotty, but are also an NCAA best 8-0 in games decided by 5 points or less. The second reason a Syracuse matchup intrigues me is the ESPN factor. It's easy for people to understand how my hatred of all east coast sports teams flourished during my time in Bristol based on the rooting interests of my colleagues. To this day, when the Yankees play the Sox, I root for brawls and that's about it. But like the proliferation of Patriots fans, the contingent of Syracuse alumni walking the corridors of ESPN (and virtually every other broadcast outlet in the country) is just too overwhelming to ignore, try as one might. As is often the case, the meathead pride swells with success. This was the case during Cuse's '03 title run, where seemingly every day of work revolved around an 18-year-old kid named Carmelo turning grown professionals into slackjawed fanboys, obsessed with his every move long past the point of awkwardness. The prospect of an entire newsroom full of Orange alumni being forced to watch Boeheim exit at the hands of UD is an image that would leave me babbling like Ned Beatty.

How The Hell Did That Happen?

I still can't figure it out.

How in the hell did Purdue pull out that game tonight? And while we're at it, why haven't I found spare minutes to comment on anything since the dawn of the Big Ten season?

Regardless, tonight's victory, another for all intents and purposes must-win, keeps the Boilers on track to meet that litany of goals the faithful carved up at the beginning of the season.

Trust me (and my neighbors who no doubt heard the screams) the signs weren't there tonight that Purdue could pull even in the Big Ten, pick up an important road win, and keep up the momentum gained in the dismantling of Wisconsin. 22 turnovers. 1 of 6 free throw shooting in the first half. Numerous bailout fouls or unlucky hand checks miles from the basket. Nothing was pointing toward a win.

But it happened. In spite of the LewJack luster wearing off (seriously, what the hell did he bring to the table tonight?) In spite of a few scary spills, falls, and facial expressions from Robbie Hummel. I wonder how healed that back is.

The Boilers did it with some unfamiliar story lines. Kramer was vying for the top scorer's spot and dropped in 12. Moore led the team ripping out 11 rebounds, some big ones down the stretch.

Still, the further I ponder I think much can be said for one storyline and one moment. Kramer made a heady and sneaky play to strip a Wildcat of the ball, drive the length of the court, and make the bucket despite an intentional foul. Two free throws later Purdue is looking at its first thoughts of resurrection. Secondly, Johnson's 7 blocks and the team's 11 overall bailed the defense out of numerous jams. Responding to recent success, Johnson's overall solid performance continues. Check out tonight's line going with the blocks: 11 points, 9 rebounds. Not too flashy, but every bit of inside scoring and made free throws was needed.

However, the Johnson story of the evening and the game in miniature came with 2.2 seconds on the clock. Purdue leads by 1, and after much discussion, Matt Painter takes my wife's and my advice and tells JJ to intentionally miss the free throw. Whatever shot Northwestern was going to get would be a three so what good is a 2-point lead? Have it rattle out and hope to eat valuable ticks tipping the ball around 94 feet from the Northwestern goal.

JJ threw up an ugly, flat shot that slid right over the rim, off the backboard and through the net. You could easily see Chris Kramer's disgust and Keaton Grant's frantic rush to guard the defender. It seems that the Boilers really hadn't planned on making the basket much like that didn't look like they were going to win for 19 minutes.

Next thing you know, a Northwestern airball sails through the buzzer blast and the Boilers run out of town with stolen victory.

How the hell did that happen?

Coaching Carousel: Change of Venue

It was interesting to hear the Indiana University faithful calling for an inside man to replace the calamity that was Kelvin Sampson after Sampson was run out of Bloomington. People were even getting kicked out of Assembly Hall for calling for the return of Bob Knight through that last great bastion of free speech: the homemade t-shirt.

Who stepped into the breach? Dan Dakich, former Indiana player and Indiana assistant under His Holiness, R. M. Knight, with ten years of head coaching experience at the Division 1 level at Bowling Green to boot. Quite the capable fellow.

Dakich was an improbable and, honestly, accidental head coach for the remainder of the 2007-2008 season. He had begun the year as the director of basketball operations which to most lay men is a glorified, administrative grunt. Regardless, Dakich was at his school serving the program he loved and wanted to succeed.

Then came the ignominious departure of Rob Senderoff. Dakich stepped out of the office and onto the court becoming one of Sampson's assistants. I think Dan even got to speak during some timeouts.

Finally, Sampson did the decent thing and exited Indiana mid-season leaving Dakich to coach the Hoosiers through their final seven games. It was quite the meteoric rise and undoubtedly not the course Dakich would have chosen himself.

Within days of the end of the season, talk began to swirl around who would replace Sampson permanently. Few gave Dakich a chance to continue leading Indiana with its (albeit distant) National Championship pedigree, and eleven days after losing to Arkansas in the first round of the NCAA tournament Dakich was replaced by Tom Crean. A mass exodus from the program followed leaving the Hoosiers a mere shell of the previous season. The torrent of departures took Dakich with it, and Indiana is currently 5-4 with a bevy of transfers and walkons.

You might think Dakich would land on his feet after having spent his entire coaching career in NCAA division 1 with head coaching experience at Bowling Green, Indiana, and West Virginia (if only for a scandal ridden week). But the NCAA was just one letter too long.

Enter the CYO.

Dakich is currently building a program at Bloomington's St. Charles Borromeo where he heads up the 8th grade A Team. Don't believe me, check the CYO's website below.


The program is in place with assistant coaches Schneider and Stratten pulling double duty with the B team. Honestly, they have three coaches for a grade school team. In all fairness, Dakich's son is quite a baller on the team and Dakich is used to being around guys that coached their boys (Pat Knight, Kellen Sampson). He's obviously waiting for the right opportunity to move beyond the coaching springboard that is the CYO.

Gary Parrish actually scooped this story months ago, but the story is intriguing nonetheless. One moment you're on top of your professional world; the next you're sharing gym time with a pot-luck, funeral dinner.

The ultimate kick in the pants rests with ol' slime bucket himself, Kelvin Sampson. While Dakich moved in at the most inopportune time to take his dream job only to be replaced in a matter of weeks, Sampson, the man who single-handedly ruined a storied program - one I'm proud to root against - is off cavorting in the NBA while Dakich is getting his kids primed for their upcoming tilt with St. Jude. Sometimes, life just ain't fair. Although, taking Dakich at his word he's all for it.

Luckily, St. Charles is a force to be reckoned with, having dismantaled Indianapolis power St. Barnabas 50-33. To put that in perspective, the team Dakich coached last year, the Indiana Hoosiers, only put up 54 points last weekend against Gonzaga...and the Hoosiers had 16 more minutes of game.

Looks like the kids in Bloomington still know how to run the motion offense...only these kids are just 13 years old.

Purdue Basketball: Back on Track

I refrained from posting post-Arkansas-Pine Bluff (how 'bout them hyphens) in hopes that this Ball St. game would be a better return to form.

It was...sort of.

Purdue took down the Cardinals 68-39 tonight. The new starting lineup of LewJack, Nemanja, Kramer, Smooge, and Hummel still got off to a lackluster start letting Ball St. hang around until Purdue finally eclipsed 11 points and never looked back. Either way, it was good to see Painter mixing things up.

The 3-point shooting was still awful with the Boilers only hitting 3 overall. Yet the defense - the same defense that coach Matt Painter has publicly criticized recently - responded very well to the challenge holding BSU scoreless for a ridiculously long stretch and forcing 21 turnovers.

Side note A: Muncie traffic is rancid.
Side note B: Multiple news outlets (ESPN.com, Sportsline.com and not PurdueSports.com) included with their AP stories a tidbit about the Ball St. crowd chanting "Where's your bowl game?" clap, clap, clapclapclap!

That's not the whole story, though.

• It started with the 40 or so Paint Crew members chanting "Ball State High School."
  
• Then the Ball St. student section, the Nest, retorted with "Where's your bowl game."
  
• Purdue fired back "Buff-a-lo! Buff-a-lo! Buff-a-lo!"
  
• The Cardinals: "Four and nine! Four and nine!"
  
• After some scoreboard pointing, the Paint Crew went with "We can't hear you," and Ball State's students had no response.

Don't let the AP fool you; the Paint Crew ended with the upper hand even if they were jerky enough to start it. Hopefully this foray into Muncie might start an annual matchup and set up another friendly yet part-times antagonistic rivalry.

Purdue Basketball: Outmanned, Outmatched

It's been a while since I felt this bad.

Sitting in Mackey Arena last night while Purdue absolutely shit the bed against Duke was a an arduous journey through fandom. There weren't any boo birds that I could hear, but there were some uber-critical folks in attendance. There were even some assholes who threw things onto the court (by the way, if that's you I say again, "Go fuck yourself.") But the majority of us were locked into that gut-wrenching malaise that watching your beloved team fall apart can so often draw out.

Purdue was run out of the gym from the get-go. Much can be said about the stiffled start. Duke's quick assault. Purdue's numerous missed layups. Purdue's equally numerous turnovers. All in all it's the same story: you get down early, the opposition then dictates your attack and your lineup. Without luck at that point, it's a Herculean effort to right the ship, and all credit to Duke who was obviously running their game plan to perfection (just ask Hummel and Smooge).

The rebounding edge was abysmal, as was 3-point shooting, but I think those issues don't manifest themselves if Purdue isn't down 7-0. For whatever reason, each game this season has had a flat opening portion that either let teams like Coppin St. hang around or lets juggernauts like Duke run away with the victory.

What to do?

First things first: this isn't the end of the world. Purdue will have more than enough time and experience to get ready for the Big Ten let alone the post-season. I have full faith in Coach Painter that he'll find room to improve the poor defense and lackluster offense of the previous night.

Next, something must be done to quell this tide of underwhelming first halves before Michigan St. mops the floor with us. I think the obvious change must come in the starting lineup. Look all you want, you're not going to find more height or strength on that bench. Instead start LewJack instead of JaJuan for more speed, or Nemenja for more strength. Morris Peterson was Big Ten player of the year coming off of the bench. It's not really an insult to enter the game at the 17:00 minute mark if it will stop us from losing to quality opponents.

Finally, we the faithful need to keep coming out to games even if it is Arkansas - Pine Bluff. The electricity in Mackey last night was phenomenal, until the meltdown of course. Keep cheering for this team. They're still in the driver's seat for the Big Ten Championship.

They just got the shit beat out of them last night. And, oh yeah, it sucked.

Purdue Basketball: We Got Hosed

What can I say?

Purdue is called for nearly twice the fouls of Oklahoma, 28 - 15.

Oklahoma attempts 41 more free throws than Purdue. Now folks are going to say that it was Oklahoma's interior oriented offense that merited the free throw advantage. Well, riddle me this? How then did Oklahoma guards attempt 25 free throws. In all, 7 of the 8 Sooners who saw the floor attempted a total of 46 free throws; that's more than 6 a piece on average. Purdue had a total of 4 trips to the line spread over 3 players.

All this, and the Boilermakers still were able to eke out a 4-point lead in overtime. Granted, two empty possessions helped piss that lead away.

Then it happened.

Oklahoma leads 81 - 80 when Keaton Grant tips a ball at the Oklahoma end of the court. Two Sooners and two Boilers converge on the loose ball when suddenly a whistle blows from the referee across court in front of Oklahoma's bench and OK coach Jeff Capel. No player ever established possession and the ball goes out of bounds off of Oklahoma. It should have been Purdue ball with about 24 seconds to go.

Instead, Oklahoma gets the timeout and the inadvertent whistle gives the ball to the Sooners on the alternating possession arrow. As Matt Painter pointed out in his post-game radio comments, the referee blew the call and hid behind the "inadvertent whistle." No, the referee gave Jeff Capel a timeout when his team didn't even have the ball.

I know that's one play in a game of hundreds of plays. Purdue did commit 19 turnovers. Hummel was on the bench - with fouls of course - but come on. Come the f*ck on.

I don't know if you can even fix this situation because all players on both teams will stop at the whistle. Maybe the NCAA should abandon the inadvertent whistle all together and just give the ball to whomever last had possession. For God's sake, get the call right. Don't run like a pussy behind your inadvertent whistle.

Duke next.