Someone please explain to me what I just watched? Someone? I’ll take guesses… wild theories… because I cannot understand what I just saw.

Did Painter want to win, or is this just a practice game?

@Brian_GoldandBlack.com To me, it is plainly obvious what is holding this team back, dating back to last year, most painfully in the North Texas game. On both ends of the floor, our lead guards (IT and EHJ) are getting exposed by physical and aggressive opposing guards with a game plan to target them. In each of these losses (and the wins that have been more stressful than they should have been), this has been the issue. The book on how to beat Purdue is pretty simple, clear, and proven, and as a fan of the team and Painter, it is frustrating to see a lack of adaptation. As a fan of your analysis and critical thinking, I'm also surprised at how you seem to be casting this clear gap aside as "angry knuckleheads looking for someone to blame".

So -- can you or someone please ask Painter about this trend, on both offense and defense? This biggest issue is on the defensive side. They can't stop the ball, fight through screens, or rotate quickly enough, leading to layups and wide open 3s. Also, there is absolutely no pressure on the ball to disrupt the point of attack. I'm so tired of the narrative that opposing guards "just had one of those nights". There is a reason for it, and it is not a coincidence. Every guard in the league circles Purdue on the calendar, I'm sure.

On the offensive side, the issue is an inability to simply initiate the offense and be confident with the ball. This shows up in turnovers (most of which are of the pick 6 variety), but more so in the multitude of key possessions that can't even get started because they can't 'get us into' our action -- picking up their dribble, dribbling backwards, or resorting to bail-out passes from the hash mark. The lack of playmaking is a lost cause, but I would settle for just being able to start the offense against a physical defender.

I have some ideas on how to fix this, and admittedly, none of them are great, but what I'm most troubled about as a fan is that we don't seem to be trying anything different out there. Yes, the offense is highly efficient, IT has a great +/-, Purdue missed a ton of FTs, and if Williams makes a layup, Purdue wins....but it is plain to see how this team will be beaten, which was once again on full display last night.

I think many of us would appreciate some perspective on this. Thanks for your great work -- I know we all value what you bring to the site each day.

Sometimes, you have to tip your cap, acknowledge defeat, and do the necessary work to improve next opportunity out.

1) IU made the plays they needed to win the game. Rob P had the game of a lifetime. Good on him. I recall when he was a serious recruit - for us. TJD played 11 minutes? Wow! Other guys stepped up for him. Good on them. Their coach really didn't do anything out of the ordinary or made any adjustments or play any percentages that helped them. He's a non-factor guy with an '80 NIT ring. That's it. (edited for clarity)
2) We did not do the fundamental things to truly seize control of the game: Free Throws and critical boards. Questionable shot selections. We played faster than would've been optimal.
3) Work on your game - everyone. More effort - everyone. More composure - everyone. It's a team game. Win or lose, as a team.
Lastly, if we'd pulled that out, it would've been a steal. Face the facts, accept outcome, change for the better next time. You're only given so many opportunities.

If the B1G Champion has 4 losses and Purdue has 4 loses, but doesn't make up the Michigan game (for that win), Purdue loses a potential share of the B1G Championship based on winning percentage.
Might have to take an unfavorable date, just to get the game in.

Should they lose, I hope it's the result of a forward progress call.

This will be a story earlier next week, as well.

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No burning Cinci!

My memory thought when Newman was winning Frosh of the week awards last year that he was taking it to the hole more. So I looked it up. LY he shot 3.3 2s pg and 3.7 3s. TY those are 1.0 and 4.1 respectively. I know he doesn't have the greatest handles, but I'd like him to pick his spots and attack more. Higher % shots and FTs might get his confidence back.

Thoughts?

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Currently up 43-19 @ Miami FL. Looks like this will turn out to be a very solid win for us

A Gender Split Over Sniffing a Baby’s Scalp​

Mothers get more aggressive and fathers less so when they inhale a chemical found in abundance on infants’ heads​

ILLUSTRATION: TOMASZ WALENTA
By Susan Pinker, Wall Street Journal, Jan. 20, 2022 2:02 pm ET

Psychologist Susan Pinker explores new discoveries in the science of human nature. Read previous columns here.

Imagine there was an odorless substance that made men less aggressive when they inhaled it but had the opposite effect on women. Sniffing it made women bolder. Would you go online and immediately click “buy”?

There’s no need: Our bodies produce this substance already. Hexadecanal, or HEX, is one of 6,000 volatile chemicals emitted by our body secretions, like tears and sweat, and in HEX’s case, by an infant’s scalp. Chemical signals like HEX fly under our conscious radar while altering our behavior, said Noam Sobel, a professor of neurobiology at Israel’s Weizmann Institute of Science, who calls his lab “very nose-centric.”

Two experiments—recently published in the journal Science Advances by Prof. Sobel, data scientist Eva Mishor and a team of colleagues—revealed that breathing in HEX influences our social behavior, dialing up aggression in women but attenuating it in men. This sex difference stunned the researchers. Based on mouse studies, they expected HEX to have a calming effect across the board. “Until the end of the second study I was skeptical about the results. HEX has no odor, yet our body reacts to it, and our behavior changes,” said Dr. Mishor.

Chemical signals fly under our conscious radar while altering our behavior. The researchers made this discovery through a classic double-blind study in which 127 people were randomly assigned to an experimental or a control group, either inhaling clove oil infused with HEX or clove oil alone. Both groups played a computer-based negotiation game, believing that they were interacting with a remote opponent.

In reality the participants were playing against an algorithm that offered them egregiously unfair financial deals. “The ‘opponent’ proposes that he get 90% of a sum of money while you get 10%,” said Prof. Sobel, for example, and by the time participants reached the next phase of the experiment “they’re really mad at this person because they’re being so antisocial.” That’s when the participants moved to a reaction-time game in which they could exact their revenge. When their “opponent” lost a round, the subject could punish them with a horn blast at different volumes, each illustrated by a face showing increasing signs of distress. “What we saw was a small but consistent difference between the HEX and the control subjects,” said Dr. Mishor. “Women exposed to HEX reacted 19% more aggressively, while men were 18.5% less aggressive."

This was such an unexpected finding that the researchers did a second experiment. This time participants were tested while in a brain scanner. They were compared with themselves after inhaling either HEX or a dummy liquid. After being made to believe that money was being stolen from them in the game, would the same person react the same way in both conditions? Again, the women reacted with more aggression when exposed to HEX vs. the control liquid, this time by extracting more money from their “opponent” as retribution, while the men reacted less aggressively when exposed to HEX.
In the HEX condition, the men’s scans also showed greater connectivity to other areas of the brain, suggesting more neural engagement in regions that might control aggression. “We can look at the functional connectivity alone and distinguish men from women at 86% accuracy,” said Prof. Sobel.

What to make of the findings? The authors speculate that HEX is an ancient survival mechanism. Mothers exposed to the chemical signal would be more likely to defend their babies against threats, while fathers who inhale it would likely be less aggressive. Excited by the finding, Prof. Sobel thinks this is just the beginning of investigating olfaction as a driver of human aggression. “The next stage is to do this with actual babies’ heads instead of HEX in a jar.”

With #6, #7 (as of now) and #8 all losing, if we finish off the week strong with a win over northwestern, how far do we drop? If 6, 7 and 8 have all lost and we beat Illinois at their place this week, I think we only drop to 5 or 6. With Illinois and Wisconsin both losing too, I think we aren’t in as bad shape as I thought for the Big Ten title. MSU is not going to win this thing in my opinion. The last half of our conference schedule is certainly more favorable than the first half. So we go into next week ranked 5th or 6th with a chance to win a lot more games and go into the postseason with momentum on our side… hard to be down about that!

Iowa press claiming another victim. But Penn St hanging in there anyway so far.

Don't remember the last Big Ten press that worked as well as Iowa's. Certainly don't watch all their games, but every time I flip on Iowa game I see a turnover from their press.

the best teams $$$$ can buy.

Also, Auburn is tough. And they hit 16 FT in a row in the second half to keep UK from getting back into it.

For these next 8 days.

3 MASSIVE big ten games upcoming.
We take care of business we can easily be in second place or even tied for first based upon other schedules.

Would put us at 18-3 and back in the top 5. Regardless of the loss against IU, I am staying optimistic and am going to enjoy the hell out of this season.

I’m curious of everyone’s thoughts on our”DC” Paul Lusk? I know that there was hand wringing over Terry Johnson taking over as our “OC” due to his inexperience with that area of the team but the offense hasn’t missed a beat. I know that it ultimately all lands on Painter but it seems like I never hear anything about Lusk who I felt everyone was excited to have back.

Next to Lav in the studio on FS1? Is he some iu homer or what? His pro-iu schtick last night was obnoxious and hes piling in tonight.

Good victory for Minny and Purdue. Minny had seven players I believe.

AS bad as many people say we are on this Board we must be pretty good. As bad as we play we still only lose by a few points when we lose. WE aren't getting blown out.

I don't think we are as bad as many say but I don't I don't think we are as good as many people thought either. If all the pieces play together we can be an awesome team yet if the opposite we can look rather pedestrian as we do have a few weaknesses. But so does every other team. It would be great if we could kick every team in the ass night in and night out but that isn't realistic when dealing with college age players who can be very immature and unfocused for numerous reasons. All we can do is hope for the beat and to get red hot in March