This Purdue team does a lot of things at a very high level, including post scoring, three point shooting, offensive and defensive rebounding, and free throw differential, but it also has areas where it really needs to improve to have the best chance of making a deep run in March. This team gives up too many clean looks from three, makes too many careless turnovers, and hasn’t really proven that it can handle defensive pressure well. All these areas of weakness are correctable, but they require attention to detail and team connectedness.
I’ve seen a lot of Purdue teams struggle in similar areas in December, only to make nice strides after Christmas and through January. At times it has required shortening the rotation, but I haven’t seen signs of Painter moving in that direction yet. My question is whether this team can make significant strides in those weaker areas and get to the next level. I think that they can and if they do I this team has a great shot at a deep run in March.