Bad draw - plain and simple

[slidde01]

we got beat by the best team 30 minutes from their campus.

It was a great season. Looking forward to next year.

To all the venom spewers and arm chair coaches.

Piss off.

 

[RegionWarrior101]

If we were 30 days from their campus it would have been a similar result. We did not defend guards well all year and were not good against athletic teams. They had great guards and were much more athletic.

 

[Casey and his Brother]

2006 George Mason got a bad draw: Michigan State, North Carolina, Wichita State, Connecticut, Florida.

 

[slidde01]

If we were 30 days from their campus it would have been a similar result. We did not defend guards well all year and were not good against athletic teams. They had great guards and were much more athletic.

What is your point?

You are supposed to be a Purdue fan not a KU fan. You should know what Purdue's strengths and weaknesses are by now.

 

[slidde01]

2006 George Mason got a bad draw: Michigan State, North Carolina, Wichita State, Connecticut, Florida.

LOLZ at you fools.

 

[Casey and his Brother]

How dare you?!?!?!?!?!

 

[vilehoopster]

Really, that's what you're going with to defend Painter? It was a bad draw?

What about last year? Was it the draw that that tough ALR team that kept us from the Final Four or Elite Eight?
Or was it also the draw the year before when we lost to Cincy?
Or the year before that?
Or the year before that?
I can do "year before that" question for 12 total years, all 12 years of Painter's tenure.

 

[objetivecarl92]

man you guys really got destroyed last night

 

[jaffinatordotte]

Really, that's what you're going with to defend Painter? It was a bad draw?

What about last year? Was it the draw that that tough ALR team that kept us from the Final Four or Elite Eight?
Or was it also the draw the year before when we lost to Cincy?
Or the year before that?
Or the year before that?
I can do "year before that" question for 12 total years, all 12 years of Painter's tenure.

You missed the three years we lost to eventual national champions (and potentially this, the fourth), including one bad ACL tear from making us title contenders.

Lemme ask - who do you want to coach this team? For as long as the one-and-done rule is in place, we will be constantly out-recruited for five stars (there were no fewer than three times as many on Self's roster last night as Painter has had in his entire tenure) by the blue bloods - schools like UK and KU that can offer a guaranteed conference title and a deep run every single year.

Painter's not perfect, but you would be hard pressed to find someone that can dramatically improve our situation at that position.

 

[vilehoopster]

"Painter's not perfect, but you would be hard pressed to find someone that can dramatically improve our situation at that position."

This is where you and I really disagree. Maybe we can't find someone who will "dramatically improve our situation," but there has to come a time where the Purdue faithful should try to improve it, and I think that that time is well past.

I strongly believe that it would extremely, extremely unlikely that Purdue couldn't replace Painter with someone who could do, at least, as good of a job as Painter in a 12-year body of work: winning two Big Ten titles and getting to 3 Sweet Sixteens. I think Purdue could easily find three guys each from the MAC or MVC who could do that at Purdue. I think it would be extremely unlikely for Purdue not to find another coach who could do as well as Painter.

 

[cprh9u]

Really, that's what you're going with to defend Painter? It was a bad draw?

What about last year? Was it the draw that that tough ALR team that kept us from the Final Four or Elite Eight?
Or was it also the draw the year before when we lost to Cincy?
Or the year before that?
Or the year before that?
I can do "year before that" question for 12 total years, all 12 years of Painter's tenure.

This. Every year is a "bad draw" because we get beat in the sweet 16 or well before. We always hear how VCU was playing out of their mind or we got a bad matchup against KU or UALR was just too mighty for us.

Serious question. When is the last time CMP beat a team seeded higher? It happens multiple times every year, but we are virtually never able to do it.

In 2007, we were a 9 and got beat by #1 Florida
In 2008, we were a 6 and got beat by #3 Xavier
In 2009, as a 5 we lost in the S16 to #1 Uconn
In 2010, 4 seed lost to #1 Duke
In 2011, 3 seed (best ever under CMP) lost to a 11 seed VCU.
In 2012, as a 10 seed we "upset" #7 St Mary's in the 1st before losing to #2 KU in the 2nd round
2015, after a few years off we were a 9 lost to #8 Cincy
2016, 5 seed lost to 12 UALR
2017, 4 seed lost to 1 seed KU

In 12 years of CMP, we've never been a 1 or 2 seed. The one year we were a 3, we had a serious injury and then crapped the bed against VCU. We've had one upset (not a 4/5 or 8/9) when we beat St Mary as a 10 over a 7... awesome.

Call me a hater, I don't care. CMP is not a good tournament coach that ever pulls upsets nor does he get us to a top seed that can get to the final 4 and have a chance at a NC. We can't get top seeds and we never pull the upsets like Xavier last night or Butler has multiple times or VCU or fill in the blank. I know CMP isn't going anywhere, but neither is this program.

 

[cprh9u]

"Painter's not perfect, but you would be hard pressed to find someone that can dramatically improve our situation at that position."

This is where you and I really disagree. Maybe we can't find someone who will "dramatically improve our situation," but there has to come a time where the Purdue faithful should try to improve it, and I think that that time is well past.

I strongly believe that it would extremely, extremely unlikely that Purdue couldn't replace Painter with someone who could do, at least, as good of a job as Painter in a 12-year body of work: winning two Big Ten titles and getting to 3 Sweet Sixteens. I think Purdue could easily find three guys each from the MAC or MVC who could do that at Purdue. I think it would be extremely unlikely for Purdue not to find another coach who could do as well as Painter.

Spot on. Sure it could get worse, but it could get so much better.

 

[jaffinatordotte]

"Painter's not perfect, but you would be hard pressed to find someone that can dramatically improve our situation at that position."

This is where you and I really disagree. Maybe we can't find someone who will "dramatically improve our situation," but there has to come a time where the Purdue faithful should try to improve it, and I think that that time is well past.

I strongly believe that it would extremely, extremely unlikely that Purdue couldn't replace Painter with someone who could do, at least, as good of a job as Painter in a 12-year body of work: winning two Big Ten titles and getting to 3 Sweet Sixteens. I think Purdue could easily find three guys each from the MAC or MVC who could do that at Purdue. I think it would be extremely unlikely for Purdue not to find another coach who could do as well as Painter.

Name them.

P.S. Boeheim, K, Roy and Pitino will all retire in the next five years. The Indiana job is currently open. Which of those jobs do we have an advantage over?

We. Are. Not. A. Blue. Blood.

 

[FirstDownB]

This. Every year is a "bad draw" because we get beat in the sweet 16 or well before. We always hear how VCU was playing out of their mind or we got a bad matchup against KU or UALR was just too mighty for us.

Serious question. When is the last time CMP beat a team seeded higher? It happens multiple times every year, but we are virtually never able to do it.

In 2007, we were a 9 and got beat by #1 Florida
In 2008, we were a 6 and got beat by #3 Xavier
In 2009, as a 5 we lost in the S16 to #1 Uconn
In 2010, 4 seed lost to #1 Duke
In 2011, 3 seed (best ever under CMP) lost to a 11 seed VCU.
In 2012, as a 10 seed we "upset" #7 St Mary's in the 1st before losing to #2 KU in the 2nd round
2015, after a few years off we were a 9 lost to #8 Cincy
2016, 5 seed lost to 12 UALR
2017, 4 seed lost to 1 seed KU

In 12 years of CMP, we've never been a 1 or 2 seed. The one year we were a 3, we had a serious injury and then crapped the bed against VCU. We've had one upset (not a 4/5 or 8/9) when we beat St Mary as a 10 over a 7... awesome.

Call me a hater, I don't care. CMP is not a good tournament coach that ever pulls upsets nor does he get us to a top seed that can get to the final 4 and have a chance at a NC. We can't get top seeds and we never pull the upsets like Xavier last night or Butler has multiple times or VCU or fill in the blank. I know CMP isn't going anywhere, but neither is this program.

I agree with your analysis but not your conclusion. Painter's teams do not overachieve in the NCAAT. However, part of that is because, like with Keady, they often slightly overachieve (to their talent level) in the regular season.

And we simply cannot blow up the basketball program and roll the dice on a new coach, especially coming off a successful season, especially with the football program reeling. We just can't. Purdue athletics cannot afford both football and basketball to be in the toilet at the same time. Bobinski knows that. Basketball is the life boat right now as football is trying to come out of a coma. We are not in a position to trade a good, solid if not excellent basketball program for the unknown.

 

[TwinDegrees2]

Really, that's what you're going with to defend Painter? It was a bad draw?

What about last year? Was it the draw that that tough ALR team that kept us from the Final Four or Elite Eight?
Or was it also the draw the year before when we lost to Cincy?
Or the year before that?
Or the year before that?
I can do "year before that" question for 12 total years, all 12 years of Painter's tenure.

What about the 300 odd other colleges who didn't even make the field? What about the team down south who beat this same Self coached team in the first game of the year, and then lost two to this horrible Coach Painter?

What about the other teams that lost before this game, and the teams who lost last night.

It's Purdue and those other teams like Kansas simply get better players...PU doesn't. And PU's one star didn't show up much last night.

 

[FirstDownB]

I strongly believe that it would extremely, extremely unlikely that Purdue couldn't replace Painter with someone who could do, at least, as good of a job as Painter in a 12-year body of work: winning two Big Ten titles and getting to 3 Sweet Sixteens. I think Purdue could easily find three guys each from the MAC or MVC who could do that at Purdue. I think it would be extremely unlikely for Purdue not to find another coach who could do as well as Painter.

I remember when people were saying the same things about Joe Tiller.

 

[Statey]

we got beat by the best team 30 minutes from their campus.

It was a great season. Looking forward to next year.

To all the venom spewers and arm chair coaches.

Piss off.

I agree that there is no need for much of the negativity, but disagree whole-heartedly on the "bad draw, plain and simple" thread title. This is a tournament with (theoretically, at least) the best teams in the NCAA competing for a championship. There's a #1 seed in every bracket. And a lot of good teams who aren't number 1 seeds. Nobody wins a championship without going through multiple high-caliber teams. Kansas was just better; they win and move on, whereas Purdue lost goes home; that's how this thing works.

The only - ONLY - element of yesterday's game that was "bad draw" material is the location. The fan discrepancy was obvious, as you would expect. However, Purdue fans had access to the same tickets KU did. It's not like KU athletic office sold all the tickets to their own fans and gave a few to Purdue. Now, certainly there's a cost discrepancy between a basketball excursion that's 45 min away vs. a full blow mini-vacation when it's 2-3 states away. But still, Purdue fans could have filled up 50% of the venue if they wanted to. In fact, I saw several posts over the past few days where people said "if we beat KU, I'll buy cheap tickets from disgruntled KU fans and go watch Purdue play for a trip to the Final Four."

 

[BoilerMaker P]

Last year's "draw" was fine. Beat Little Rock and Iowa State and you're looking at a Sweet 16 matchup with a very beatable #1 seed Virginia in Chicago. Didn't get it done. Sometimes you have to make your own luck.

 

[FirstDownB]

However, Purdue fans had access to the same tickets KU did. It's not like KU athletic office sold all the tickets to their own fans and gave a few to Purdue. Now, certainly there's a cost discrepancy between a basketball excursion that's 45 min away vs. a full blow mini-vacation when it's 2-3 states away. But still, Purdue fans could have filled up 50% of the venue if they wanted to. In fact, I saw several posts over the past few days where people said "if we beat KU, I'll buy cheap tickets from disgruntled KU fans and go watch Purdue play for a trip to the Final Four."

Minor point here on the ticket sales.. The majority of tickets sold for these events are sold long before the teams are announced. Only 1000 or so are reserved for each team. There was no way for Purdue fans to know they would be in the Midwest region. For Kansas fans it was almost a certainty as a 1 seed. If KU would have lost in the first weekend, a lot more tickets would have been available on secondary markets and for much less money. This region was tabbed the hottest ticket for a reason.

 

[Chuchumutha]

The folks ragging on Painter are wasting your energy. Next to Izzo, he may be the most secure coach in the B1G. He's not going anywhere.

 

[Statey]

Minor point here on the ticket sales.. The majority of tickets sold for these events are sold long before the teams are announced. Only 1000 or so are reserved for each team. There was no way for Purdue fans to know they would be in the Midwest region. For Kansas fans it was almost a certainty as a 1 seed. If KU would have lost in the first weekend, a lot more tickets would have been available on secondary markets and for much less money. This region was tabbed the hottest ticket for a reason.

That's a good point. I should have given that more consideration; thanks for pointing that out.

 

[Boilermaker]

The folks ragging on Painter are wasting your energy. Next to Izzo, he may be the most secure coach in the B1G. He's not going anywhere.

This ^

And for the record (for whatever little my humble opinion is worth) I am happy to have Matt as coach. I am not a Settler as I think in time he will achieve heretofore elusive goals (FF) and we could do much much worse (and likely would with his replacement based on hit/miss hiring odds). If I knew with high probability we could replace him with a second coming of coach K then I'd be screaming for the admin to pay $12 mil a year for the wunderkind, but we all know that is fantasy.

 

[rgarlitz]

we got beat by the best team 30 minutes from their campus.

It was a great season. Looking forward to next year.

To all the venom spewers and arm chair coaches.

Piss off.

I don't really buy the "bad draw" thing, either. Purdue got the #4 seed in the Midwest region. That bought us a couple games in Milwaukee. Given the perception of the B1G before the tournament and Purdue's inglorious exit from the B1G tourney, I think that's about the best Purdue could hope for.

Unfortunately, the price was a Sweet 16 date with a team that was almost uniquely qualified to exploit Purdue's most significant weaknesses.

Kindof frustrating that it worked out that way, but I can't complain about the draw.

 

[JohnnyDoeBoiler]

Someone explained to me today that they feel like CMP is John Thompson III with better regular season results. That was a hard line argument to why they felt CMP should be shown the door if the tourney results don't get better. They said, it was great Purdue made the Sweet 16...but they have seen double digit seeds not get pasted like Purdue did in the Sweet 16.

On a personal opinion level, I don't think Purdue's best game would have even sniffed a single digit loss last night to Kansas. Kansas, on that night, was simply the better team once they began doing what Kansas does best...coupled with Purdue NOT doing what they do best and turning the ball over, failing to rebound effectively, and playing up-tempo....led to a disasterous loss.

 

[cprh9u]

The folks ragging on Painter are wasting your energy. Next to Izzo, he may be the most secure coach in the B1G. He's not going anywhere.

I think most know that, but it doesn't mean they are happy about it.

 

[vilehoopster]

"The folks ragging on Painter are wasting your energy. Next to Izzo, he may be the most secure coach in the B1G. He's not going anywhere."

I completely disagree. I predicted when Bobinski was hired that Painter won't be here by the fall of 2021. I am sticking with that prediction.

Also, that people aren't fired isn't any proof at all that someone shouldn't be fired.

All the time in sports people keep jobs long after they should be fired. That Hazell was still at Purdue after his second season is proof of that.

 

[Statey]

Someone explained to me today that they feel like CMP is John Thompson III with better regular season results. That was a hard line argument to why they felt CMP should be shown the door if the tourney results don't get better. They said, it was great Purdue made the Sweet 16...but they have seen double digit seeds not get pasted like Purdue did in the Sweet 16.

I see where you're going with that, but disagree a little. If memory serves, in the majority of JTIII's exits from NCAA they've been upset by a higher seed. At least in this year's case for Painter, Purdue was done in by a superior, lower seeded team. Two years ago it was an 8/9 game, so about as "peer" as it gets. Last year... OK, I can give your friend that one.

To be fair, losing to Kansas this year is nothing to be ashamed of in and of itself. However it happened in completely embarrassing fashion. I just can't get over how Purdue managed to get absolutely murdered in a matter of 15 minutes. How do you only score 25 points in the 2nd half? The final score looked like a #1 seed playing a #16, not a #4, but it only took 15 minutes instead of 40. It's just... staggering.

 

[rgarlitz]

"The folks ragging on Painter are wasting your energy. Next to Izzo, he may be the most secure coach in the B1G. He's not going anywhere."

I completely disagree. I predicted when Bobinski was hired that Painter won't be here by the fall of 2021. I am sticking with that prediction.

Also, that people aren't fired isn't any proof at all that someone shouldn't be fired.

All the time in sports people keep jobs long after they should be fired. That Hazell was still at Purdue after his second season is proof of that.

Not to knit-pick, but Haze's record two years in was clear proof that he never should have been hired for the job to begin with.

 

[rgarlitz]

I see where you're going with that, but disagree a little. If memory serves, in the majority of JTIII's exits from NCAA they've been upset by a higher seed. At least in this year's case for Painter, Purdue was done in by a superior, lower seeded team. Two years ago it was an 8/9 game, so about as "peer" as it gets. Last year... OK, I can give your friend that one.

To be fair, losing to Kansas this year is nothing to be ashamed of in and of itself. However it just happened in completely embarrassing fashion. I just can't get over how Purdue managed to get absolutely murdered in a matter of 15 minutes. How do you only score 25 points in the 2nd half? The final score looked like #1 seed playing a #16, not a #4, but it only took 15 minutes instead of 40. It's just... staggering..

Ya, I couldn't agree more. That was almost mind-numbing...

 

[Statey]

The folks ragging on Painter are wasting your energy. Next to Izzo, he may be the most secure coach in the B1G. He's not going anywhere.

Generally speaking, I agree. Technically speaking, I think Collins and Beilein might have a little more security than Painter after their respective performances this year in the reg season and NCAA, respectively. But yes, I think Painter is far closer to the here-until-he-leaves end of the spectrum than the hot-seat end.

 

[rgarlitz]

Generally speaking, I agree. Technically speaking, I think Collins and Beilein might have a little more security than Painter after their respective performances this year in the reg season and NCAA, respectively. But yes, I think Painter is far closer to the here-until-he-leaves end of the spectrum than the hot-seat end.

I agree. And that's probably recognition on the part of the administration that the program is doing as well as it can given the level of support they're prepared to extend.

Firing a guy who wins 2/3 of his game, has reached the NCAA tournament 9 of the past 11 years, and has won multiple B1G titles and made three Sweet 16 appearances would be very risky unless the Purdue brass is willing to pony up the money that could genuinely transform Purdue into a perennial top-15 program.

 

[ghost_of_d.]

I agree. And that's probably recognition on the part of the administration that the program is doing as well as it can given the level of support they're prepared to extend.

Firing a guy who wins 2/3 of his game, has reached the NCAA tournament 9 of the past 11 years, and has won multiple B1G titles and made three Sweet 16 appearances would be very risky unless the Purdue brass is willing to pony up the money that could genuinely transform Purdue into a perennial top-15 program.

Purdue more than ponied up back in 2011, so that excuse no longer applies. Painter is the 17th highest paid coach in D1 basketball. His 2016-2017 salary is almost double that of Mark Few, Chris Mack, and Chris Holtmann. It's $750k more than Greg Gard. It's almost $500k more than both Roy Williams and Jim Boeheim.

http://www.ctpost.com/sports/articl...sketball-Sweet-16-11024196.php#photo-12600129

 

[djy2j]

Not trying to start a fire Painter argument but he (and his team) sh*t the bed in the 2nd half. Let Kansas go on a 73-33 run to close it out? Unacceptable. Kansas was hitting shots but no way they were 30 points better. We go from celebrating making it to the Sweet 16 to having the most embarrassing tournament loss in school history. That should NEVER happen to a team this talented. Athletes or not you have got to find a way to be better and not let this happen. Painter did not do this.

 

[rgarlitz]

Purdue more than ponied up back in 2011, so that excuse no longer applies. Painter is the 17th highest paid coach in D1 basketball. His 2016-2017 salary is almost double that of Mark Few, Chris Mack, and Chris Holtmann. It's $750k more than Greg Gard. It's almost $500k more than both Roy Williams and Jim Boeheim.

http://www.ctpost.com/sports/articl...sketball-Sweet-16-11024196.php#photo-12600129

Fair enough. But I bet that North Carolina, Syracuse, and maybe even Wisconsin are all pouring more resources into their basketball program than Purdue is.

 

[icewind7]

You can say you have bad luck 1 year, 2 year.. just cannot use this excuse for year 12. When you have 12 years of data, it should be pretty accurate as the statistics point of view.

 

[mathboy]

Since we are fussing about the game performance in this thread, did anyone really think about the way we played in the second half? I read a lot of meaningless generalizations about teams 3-4 years in the past that are supposed to be part of some sort of argument, but the reality is each year's team is different, and each year Painter seems to coach better. Some guys are even going back 12 years, after Painter had, what? 1 years experience as head coach? What kind of analysis is that? It is virtually meaningless.

So what happened in the second half? Keep in mind MSU just got clobbered by these guys by 20 points in the S16 game, so maybe Izzo has lost it too? Yeh, probably not. Maybe Kansas is really good, NC good.

I saw a Boilermaker team come out loose and play well for a half and a quarter. We had an excellent game plan and executed it very well. Then, Kansas got the lead. We had a guy try his best to win the game by himself, and he tried to play hero ball. The ball would go into Biggie and never come out. Painter was yelling to pass out of the double quickly, but sometime folks get really stubborn. They think they can win the game by themselves. We stopped getting open 3's because we stopped passing back out of the paint. I am not "blaming anyone". I am just saying that the must-win psychology affected our play in the second half, especially a kid who was barely 18 years old. Unfortunately, we played into their hands on the court, regardless of the coaching.

Fire Painter? Not going to happen, nor do I think it should. He is simply too good a coach, and runs a clean well respected program. His results are on a steady upswing since the dark-time-of-no-recruiting-budget. We are not pulling in the Donnie Hales now. We are getting Wheeler, Haarms, and Eastern type players. One of these kids could turn out to be a Mason. (Note, Mason was not a Burger Boy). We will have better balance of classes too, with several very good seniors next year. Something we have not had for a while. IMHO, with Painter, we will be a perennial contender for the BIG title, and we will be in the top 20 just about every year. It is only a matter of time before we will see FF's

 

[Chuchumutha]

Generally speaking, I agree. Technically speaking, I think Collins and Beilein might have a little more security than Painter after their respective performances this year in the reg season and NCAA, respectively. But yes, I think Painter is far closer to the here-until-he-leaves end of the spectrum than the hot-seat end.

My opinion on Izzo, Beilein, and Collins is they are more likely to voluntarily leave their respective programs for other/better opportunities than Painter is. Not only is Painter secure, he doesn't have as many options.

 

[The Boiler Special]

Coming into this year I told myself I wouldn't get excited until Purdue beat a top team. They failed at home against Nova, played a terrible game against Louisville, and then had a great second half and beat a fringe top 25 ND team for their lone decent pre B1G win. I looked at the B1G and didn't see a top 10 team in it so I knew what we did in conference, though great, wouldn't really tell the full story. Last night was the final test. Did this team improve as they should have through the year enough at least to compete? I honestly knew the ceiling for this team was the sweet 16 so I didn't think they would win, I just wanted to see them compete... Like West Virginia or Michigan did in the games before... They didn't. Again, a CMP coached team was deer in headlights... It happens all too often to this program. Especially ever since the big 3 stepped off campus. I wasn't going to be upset they lost, cause I knew they would, I just wanted them to compete. That is the first step in getting over the hump as a program. It builds confidence for the future. Does no one else wonder why they can be so hot and cold? Why through a 40 minute game Purdue can look like KU did for 20 minutes and also look like Purdue did for 20 minutes? Why they consistently blow leads like Iowa, Cincinnati, ALR, Iowa St... ect. ect.? You see, you absolutely cannot be so inconsistent against top teams, or what happened against KU, though 32pt's is a bit rich, will happen every time you face a top program. Even go back to the baby Boilers against a similarly young Duke team in the B1G-ACC challenge... Lost by double digits at home... You see, at some point you are just ok with what the program is. a program that win the B1G every 5 or so years, wins a B1G tourney every 5 or so years, and is happy with a sweet 16 run 2 of 5 years... If you are seriously happy with that. Sure CMP should stay. If you think this program can and should go farther... Maybe it's time to move on... And if you want more, you move on but there are down years searching for a coach to take the program to the next level... Honestly, I would rather that than be what the program is now. Oh and this is coming from a guy who defended CMP for years! Even the lean years after Hummel graduated...

 

[The Boiler Special]

Since we are fussing about the game performance in this thread, did anyone really think about the way we played in the second half? I read a lot of meaningless generalizations about teams 3-4 years in the past that are supposed to be part of some sort of argument, but the reality is each year's team is different, and each year Painter seems to coach better. Some guys are even going back 12 years, after Painter had, what? 1 years experience as head coach? What kind of analysis is that? It is virtually meaningless.

So what happened in the second half? Keep in mind MSU just got clobbered by these guys by 20 points in the S16 game, so maybe Izzo has lost it too? Yeh, probably not. Maybe Kansas is really good, NC good.

I saw a Boilermaker team come out loose and play well for a half and a quarter. We had an excellent game plan and executed it very well. Then, Kansas got the lead. We had a guy try his best to win the game by himself, and he tried to play hero ball. The ball would go into Biggie and never come out. Painter was yelling to pass out of the double quickly, but sometime folks get really stubborn. They think they can win the game by themselves. We stopped getting open 3's because we stopped passing back out of the paint. I am not "blaming anyone". I am just saying that the must-win psychology affected our play in the second half, especially a kid who was barely 18 years old. Unfortunately, we played into their hands on the court, regardless of the coaching.

Fire Painter? Not going to happen, nor do I think it should. He is simply too good a coach, and runs a clean well respected program. His results are on a steady upswing since the dark-time-of-no-recruiting-budget. We are not pulling in the Donnie Hales now. We are getting Wheeler, Haarms, and Eastern type players. One of these kids could turn out to be a Mason. (Note, Mason was not a Burger Boy). We will have better balance of classes too, with several very good seniors next year. Something we have not had for a while. IMHO, with Painter, we will be a perennial contender for the BIG title, and we will be in the top 20 just about every year. It is only a matter of time before we will see FF's

Come on man... Comparing CMP to Izzo is ridiculous... Especially in this circumstance... Also it kinda hurts your argument... the 9 seeded injury laden MSU got out lasted by KU... I saw an MSU team play very hard. At times too hard but just ran out of steam... Last night a fully healthy, B1G champion, 4 seed Purdue team got beat by 12 more points than MSU did... Oh and Izzo has many things Painter doesn't. I don;t think many MSU fans are ready to fire Izzo yet...

 

[The Boiler Special]

My opinion on Izzo, Beilein, and Collins is they are more likely to voluntarily leave their respective programs for other/better opportunities than Painter is. Not only is Painter secure, he doesn't have as many options.

I could see Collins leave... Beilein and Izzo? Don't see it.