Saturday's exhibition win over Newberry ? and the two preseason games taken as a whole - might just be an early glimpse at what lies in store for Purdue this season: Chaos.
We've covered the whole "young teams are going to be inconsistent" story ad nauseum already but now you've seen it, how a team can barely outrebound a village of Smurfs one half, then throttle it the next; how a young point guard, Ronnie Johnson, can look so poised one game, then turn it over five times the next; how another freshman, Rapheal Davis, can go 0-for-1 shooting in the first half, then almost single-handedly blow open a game in the second with a scoring outburst that might have made E'Twaun Moore be like, "Damn."
There's going to be more of that.
At times, Purdue is going to look great this season, when its talent is showing. At times, Purdue is going to look like crap, when its inexperience is showing.
The benchmark, fair or not, for this team has kind of unofficially become the '07 team just because it's the last time Purdue had this sort of youth. Remember: As good as that team turned out to be, it was god-awful at times, too, especially early in the season. When it trailed Florida International 16-0, you wondered if they'd win a Big Ten game, let alone nearly win a title.
There's going to be highs and lows again this year, as there have been through the two preseason games.
The freshmen are going to have their ups and downs. Through it all, Purdue will need its veterans to be steadying forces.
The big takeaway from the two games that don't count, to me, is how good Terone Johnson has looked. I know it's just a couple D-II teams, but he's been excellent, kind of what I personally expected coming into the season having seen the improvements he made in the offseason. I see no reason to think he can't play at this sort of level when the competition picks up and maybe wind up an All-Big Ten player when all is said and done.
The junior looks comfortable, aggressive, quick and healthy. His jumper looks natural now, not like he's just flicking the ball at the rim. When he caught an inbound pass and immediate fired ? and made ? a long jumper Saturday night, you saw him make a shot he wouldn't have made the past two years.
And he's making his free throws. Again, here's guessing he'll hit 70 percent this season. Baby steps.
If I had to cast my Big Ten Coach-of-the-Year ballot right now, I might write in Billy Keller.
Terone Johnson led an offense Saturday night that might be the template for Purdue this season.
The Boilermakers won't score 109 points again any time soon, but the blueprint for how it will generate offense might have been shown against Newberry.
Between its bigs getting the ball inside or rebounding and its guards getting to the basket, Purdue scored 58 points in the paint Saturday night. That's where the majority of its points should come from.
Unlike last year, Purdue's going to be a low-volume three-point shooting team. Saturday night it shot just 13 and made six. Less has to be more for this particular team.
Purdue forced 22 turnovers and won the boards decidedly in the second half. In many instances, that got the Boilermakers out in transition, where Davis almost single-handedly blew the game open. Davis, Terone Johnson and Ronnie Johnson can all really get theirs in transition.
This is an athletic team that should be good in the open floor. Purdue just needs to put them in those positions with defense and rebounding. Painter has always wanted offense to start with defense and that doesn't change now.
Saturday, Newberry's 21 turnovers led to 28 Purdue points.
Purdue made 23-of-30 foul shots. Scary as this notion might be, but with the complexion of its roster, this team has to get to the stripe. It has too much size and too many slashers to not play for contact around the basket.
Twenty-one offensive rebounds led to 28 points.
Purdue has to rebound. That might be the single most important phase of the game right now. Or at least second to defense. Because it's where this team's advantage should lie.
Saturday night, you saw A.J. Hammons look like the game-changer it's hoped he'll be. Granted he did it against guys who were about as big as one of his calves, but he did it nonetheless.
By the way, Purdue blocked 16 shots in two exhibitions. Four guys have blocked two or more shots in a game already.
The Boilermakers averaged three blocked shots per game last season. Just saying
Hammons has lived up so far, at both ends of the floor. It'll be a matter of him keeping it up, always being physical and exerting effort, not only on the boards, but in establishing position down low. But damn he is going to be good.
Jay Simpson showed you flashes tonight, sinking that spot-up three as part of his eight-point, four-rebound evening. There's a major role on this team for him, though it's inevitable that somebody is going to get left out of that mix in the post. Too many guys, too few minutes.
Simpson seems to be trying hard, and that's the first test he's passed, and maybe the most important one. He's taking this very seriously, by every account, and that's a very good thing for him.
But he's a question mark still.
So's this whole team.
Going into seasons, we try to predict how a team's going to look.
After two exhibition games, the answer for Purdue is clearly both good and bad.
We've covered the whole "young teams are going to be inconsistent" story ad nauseum already but now you've seen it, how a team can barely outrebound a village of Smurfs one half, then throttle it the next; how a young point guard, Ronnie Johnson, can look so poised one game, then turn it over five times the next; how another freshman, Rapheal Davis, can go 0-for-1 shooting in the first half, then almost single-handedly blow open a game in the second with a scoring outburst that might have made E'Twaun Moore be like, "Damn."
There's going to be more of that.
At times, Purdue is going to look great this season, when its talent is showing. At times, Purdue is going to look like crap, when its inexperience is showing.
The benchmark, fair or not, for this team has kind of unofficially become the '07 team just because it's the last time Purdue had this sort of youth. Remember: As good as that team turned out to be, it was god-awful at times, too, especially early in the season. When it trailed Florida International 16-0, you wondered if they'd win a Big Ten game, let alone nearly win a title.
There's going to be highs and lows again this year, as there have been through the two preseason games.
The freshmen are going to have their ups and downs. Through it all, Purdue will need its veterans to be steadying forces.
The big takeaway from the two games that don't count, to me, is how good Terone Johnson has looked. I know it's just a couple D-II teams, but he's been excellent, kind of what I personally expected coming into the season having seen the improvements he made in the offseason. I see no reason to think he can't play at this sort of level when the competition picks up and maybe wind up an All-Big Ten player when all is said and done.
The junior looks comfortable, aggressive, quick and healthy. His jumper looks natural now, not like he's just flicking the ball at the rim. When he caught an inbound pass and immediate fired ? and made ? a long jumper Saturday night, you saw him make a shot he wouldn't have made the past two years.
And he's making his free throws. Again, here's guessing he'll hit 70 percent this season. Baby steps.
If I had to cast my Big Ten Coach-of-the-Year ballot right now, I might write in Billy Keller.
Terone Johnson led an offense Saturday night that might be the template for Purdue this season.
The Boilermakers won't score 109 points again any time soon, but the blueprint for how it will generate offense might have been shown against Newberry.
Between its bigs getting the ball inside or rebounding and its guards getting to the basket, Purdue scored 58 points in the paint Saturday night. That's where the majority of its points should come from.
Unlike last year, Purdue's going to be a low-volume three-point shooting team. Saturday night it shot just 13 and made six. Less has to be more for this particular team.
Purdue forced 22 turnovers and won the boards decidedly in the second half. In many instances, that got the Boilermakers out in transition, where Davis almost single-handedly blew the game open. Davis, Terone Johnson and Ronnie Johnson can all really get theirs in transition.
This is an athletic team that should be good in the open floor. Purdue just needs to put them in those positions with defense and rebounding. Painter has always wanted offense to start with defense and that doesn't change now.
Saturday, Newberry's 21 turnovers led to 28 Purdue points.
Purdue made 23-of-30 foul shots. Scary as this notion might be, but with the complexion of its roster, this team has to get to the stripe. It has too much size and too many slashers to not play for contact around the basket.
Twenty-one offensive rebounds led to 28 points.
Purdue has to rebound. That might be the single most important phase of the game right now. Or at least second to defense. Because it's where this team's advantage should lie.
Saturday night, you saw A.J. Hammons look like the game-changer it's hoped he'll be. Granted he did it against guys who were about as big as one of his calves, but he did it nonetheless.
By the way, Purdue blocked 16 shots in two exhibitions. Four guys have blocked two or more shots in a game already.
The Boilermakers averaged three blocked shots per game last season. Just saying
Hammons has lived up so far, at both ends of the floor. It'll be a matter of him keeping it up, always being physical and exerting effort, not only on the boards, but in establishing position down low. But damn he is going to be good.
Jay Simpson showed you flashes tonight, sinking that spot-up three as part of his eight-point, four-rebound evening. There's a major role on this team for him, though it's inevitable that somebody is going to get left out of that mix in the post. Too many guys, too few minutes.
Simpson seems to be trying hard, and that's the first test he's passed, and maybe the most important one. He's taking this very seriously, by every account, and that's a very good thing for him.
But he's a question mark still.
So's this whole team.
Going into seasons, we try to predict how a team's going to look.
After two exhibition games, the answer for Purdue is clearly both good and bad.
