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Welcome to this week's “BOILING OVER,” GoldandBlack.com’s weekly information-clearinghouse and analysis column meant for our site members and site members only. We appreciate everyone’s cooperation in helping us keep what is sometimes delicate or proprietary information confined to this message board. This feature allows us to be more flexible in our reporting, to our readers' benefit, and we lose that ability if we can't keep this feature secure and the value of our site's membership at its peak. Additionally, we address recruiting and hiring processes in-depth and often without filter in this feature and we do it behind a subscription-protected barrier for a reason, in hopes of avoiding situations where our reporting can impact the recruiting process, which can happen occasionally.
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Apologies again for the delay today, but just wanted to get as much in this as we could.
PURDUE BASKETBALL
A couple of notes and impressions from the preseason ...
• At the risk of over-loading you with the same stuff again and again, Braden Smith keeps standing out. He was excellent at Thursday's practice and it wasn't a coincidence that Purdue shot really well off his passes, Brandon Newman and Fletcher Loyer especially.
Smith has a knack for getting people the ball where they need It, and that's going to be part of a team this season that should be a solid passing and ball-movement group. Smith, Ethan Morton and Loyer provide real value there.
Smith is making threes, playing hard and seems (intangibly) to be taking command of things.
• Brandon Newman was excellent on Thursday, shooting the ball from distance. The tone around him seems pretty positive right now.
• Caleb Furst and Trey Kaufman-Renn are both generally overwhelmed trying to guard Zach Edey in drills and competitive work, but Kaufman-Renn — the king of head fakes, shoulder shimmies and up-and-unders — has shown he can score one-on-one on Edey and Furst got him on a pick-and-roll lob at least once today. That's something Edey mentioned at media day — the value of him having to guard those players in practice every day.
Furst also had a sequence where he rim-ran end to end, beat everyone down the floor, caught a pass and delivered to Loyer filling the corner for a three. Furst's ability to change ends is another new dimension Purdue probably benefits from this season.
• One thing that really stands out about Cam Heide Is his ability to attack from the wing or at the baseline when he has an angle against a scrambling defender. That's where his height, length, long strides and athleticism show up. When he gets his chance, if he shows he can make transition threes enough to make people close hard on him, he's going to be a weapon in that regard.
• William Berg and Brian Waddell are currently sidelined by minor injuries. Camden Heide was sidelined for a few days as well, but is back in full.
Our educated guess is that Berg and Heide are bound for redshirt seasons, but that is not official.
Requisite note that just because a player Isn't mentioned here, that doesn't mean he's terrible or transferring. In all seriousness, guys like Mason Gillis and Ethan Morton, I can't really come up with anything new or than to just keep saying 'rock solid,' stuff like that. (BN)
PURDUE BASKETBALL RECRUITING
The visitor for Purdue for Saturday's day fan day scrimmage is 2025 forward target E.J. Walker of the Cincinnati area, who'll be making at least his third visit in a matter of a couple months.
Dezmon Briscoe may be coming back as well. He was supposed to at one point, but he just visited for a practice so we'll see If he comes back. Guard Azavier Robinson just visited this week, so he's probably not coming back.
Commitments Myles Colvin and Kanon Catchings will be in attendance. (BN)
PURDUE FOOTBALL
A couple PFF notes on this weekend's opponent, Wisconsin.
• Strangely, Wisconsin grades overall really well, with the exception of tackling but even then it's not horrific. The PFF profile either suggests a team that's better than its record or flaws in this grading system.
• QB Graham Mertz is the offense's highest-graded player. He completes better than 50 percent of his downfield (20+) throws, with seven touchdowns against just one interception. The grade there is nearly flawless, as two deep balls have gone down as drops, which doesn't affect Mertz's grade. That's especially relevant to Purdue right now given its vulnerability against the deep ball.
His passing splits ...
Clean: 87-127, 14 TD, 3 TD (Impeccable grade)
Pressure: 19-40, 240, TD, 3 INT (awful grade)
Blitzed: 32-56, 401, 4 TD, 5 INT
No Blitz: 74-111, 1,016, 11 TD, INT (great grade)
In short, get pressure on him, but beware the big play.
• Based on the grades, Wisconsin's running backs and tight ends are horrific in pass protection. The grades are redder than the Badgers' home uniforms.
• Wisconsin's passing concepts ...
Playaction: 17-25, 278, 3 TD, 11.1 yards per
No Playaction: 89-142, 1,139, 12 TD, 6 TD, 8.0 yards per
Screen: 9-10, 116 yards, 11.6 yards per
No screen: 97-157, 1,301, 15 TD, 6 INT, 8.3 yards per
• Wisconsin's probably going to run most — and most effectively — off right end based on Its data thus far. It averages 6.3 yards there, but that's beefed up by a 96-yard TD run.
Braelon Allen runs most off left end.
The Badgers average 2.95 yards after contact in the run game. That's always a huge category in these games. They're credited with 55 forced missed tackles, which doesn't seem like a big number. (Purdue's credited with 62.)
• Wisconsin's missed 60 tackles this season.
• Edge rusher Nick Herbig and nose tackle Keanu Benton account for 19 and 17 quarterback pressures, respectively. Benton's gotten 10 hits on the quarterback.
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