I thought it was interesting that Grambling played a zone tonight.
Because when Purdue turned the tables and ran its own work-in-progress zone, it looked like Grambling had never seen one before, the Boilermakers' visitors passing the ball around the perimeter waiting Purdue out as it if were just going to get tired and leave or something.
Purdue dominated this game on defense, albeit against a very, very, very limited team, to historic proportions, a lop-sided end to a one-sided run through this season's pool play.
Is Purdue ready now for Kansas State, Missouri/Arizona (Mizzona?) and whoever comes next?
Dunno.
Can't know.
Purdue's been the better team x 10 in all three games it's taken the floor for and run through them without having to perspire all that much.
I'll say this: Past teams might not have made things look as convincing as this one has, and that's a good thing for a team with so much new. Purdue got through three "cupcake" games without a Northern Kentucky/High Point/Siena scare.
Good.
But unsettling, these three games produced very little data, for lack of a better term, that can be applied to projections for the games to come in Maui.
The matchups were polar opposite of what they will be, and so was the style of basketball.
Starting with K-State, its time for A.J. Hammons to step to the forefront and for Purdue to lean on its centerpiece. To this point, he's been a lawn ornament on offense, a decoy taking attention away from his supporting cast.
That changes now. Suddenly, Kendall Stephens and Dakota Mathias are going to have two or three fewer feet in front of them to work with, while Hammons might be able to finally loosen his belt a little bit.
Hard to gauge Hammons so far, but you'd have liked to see fewer turnovers and a few more made free throws.
Now is his time. The guys who've been the leading men through 120 minutes now become the supporting cast again.
We'll see. The games get harder now, with legitimacy on the line for Purdue.
Last time Purdue went to Maui, Lahaina was its springboard to its resurgent season.
It got trucked by Georgia Tech, but wins over Oklahoma and DePaul were parlayed into a buzzer-beater win over ranked Virginia and before you knew it, the Boilermaker program was alive again.
Same situation now, same opportunity.
It's a golden one, one these players could have been too dialed in on and treated Thursday night's game against a hopeless opponent like a Corona commercial, feet up just drifting through it.
Purdue wasn't great against Grambling, but it didn't mess around either.
There's so much to clean up before Maui, but no apparent maturity issues like the ones that undercut Purdue in prior proving-ground trips to New York City and Lake Buena Vista the past two years.
All good. But no guarantee of anything to come.
Copyright, Boilers, Inc. 2014. All Rights Reserved. Reproducing or using editorial or graphical content, in whole or in part, without permission, is strictly prohibited. E-mail GoldandBlack.com/Boilers, Inc.
Because when Purdue turned the tables and ran its own work-in-progress zone, it looked like Grambling had never seen one before, the Boilermakers' visitors passing the ball around the perimeter waiting Purdue out as it if were just going to get tired and leave or something.
Purdue dominated this game on defense, albeit against a very, very, very limited team, to historic proportions, a lop-sided end to a one-sided run through this season's pool play.
Is Purdue ready now for Kansas State, Missouri/Arizona (Mizzona?) and whoever comes next?
Dunno.
Can't know.
Purdue's been the better team x 10 in all three games it's taken the floor for and run through them without having to perspire all that much.
I'll say this: Past teams might not have made things look as convincing as this one has, and that's a good thing for a team with so much new. Purdue got through three "cupcake" games without a Northern Kentucky/High Point/Siena scare.
Good.
But unsettling, these three games produced very little data, for lack of a better term, that can be applied to projections for the games to come in Maui.
The matchups were polar opposite of what they will be, and so was the style of basketball.
Starting with K-State, its time for A.J. Hammons to step to the forefront and for Purdue to lean on its centerpiece. To this point, he's been a lawn ornament on offense, a decoy taking attention away from his supporting cast.
That changes now. Suddenly, Kendall Stephens and Dakota Mathias are going to have two or three fewer feet in front of them to work with, while Hammons might be able to finally loosen his belt a little bit.
Hard to gauge Hammons so far, but you'd have liked to see fewer turnovers and a few more made free throws.
Now is his time. The guys who've been the leading men through 120 minutes now become the supporting cast again.
We'll see. The games get harder now, with legitimacy on the line for Purdue.
Last time Purdue went to Maui, Lahaina was its springboard to its resurgent season.
It got trucked by Georgia Tech, but wins over Oklahoma and DePaul were parlayed into a buzzer-beater win over ranked Virginia and before you knew it, the Boilermaker program was alive again.
Same situation now, same opportunity.
It's a golden one, one these players could have been too dialed in on and treated Thursday night's game against a hopeless opponent like a Corona commercial, feet up just drifting through it.
Purdue wasn't great against Grambling, but it didn't mess around either.
There's so much to clean up before Maui, but no apparent maturity issues like the ones that undercut Purdue in prior proving-ground trips to New York City and Lake Buena Vista the past two years.
All good. But no guarantee of anything to come.
Copyright, Boilers, Inc. 2014. All Rights Reserved. Reproducing or using editorial or graphical content, in whole or in part, without permission, is strictly prohibited. E-mail GoldandBlack.com/Boilers, Inc.
