To this point tonight, we've posted a game story from Purdue's exhibition win over Northwestern Ohio, in addition to a notebook, analysis scraps and a video of me talking into my computer like a madman.
Through it all, we're trying to keep creative enough so that we're not just spreading the vegetables around on the plate, but rather providing some substance.
What are we left with for this blog? Garbage.
Yeah, that's right. Garbage.
Of all the many keys to Purdue's much-anticipated season, don't overlook garbage.
That's one of the columns these Boilermakers have to, well, trash people in.
Purdue is big and physical. It is not fast and quick. This is not a particularly pretty Boilermaker team, and that can be taken as a compliment.
It needs to leverage its physicality and the impossibility of its matchups on most nights to its fullest.
This should be an awesome offensive rebounding team and not only because it has 14-plus feet worth of centers in A.J. Hammons and Isaac Haas and a new weapon of mass destruction on the glass in Caleb Swanigan, but also because Vince Edwards may be one of the best offensive rebounding 3 men you'll find and Rapheal Davis is a one-time 4 man now playing the 2, at least to start games.
(What Purdue could really use is some penetrating threats to emerge to produce more reboundable misses, as counterintuitive as that may sound.)
Purdue has terrific rebounding potential at more than just the traditional rebounding positions and its 780 combined pounds of rebounders in the low post are going to command attention, freeing up opportunities for everyone else.
Second-change points might be a column Purdue owns this season, if its guards turn out to quick or savvy enough to run down more long rebounds than not.
Those are garbage points.
So are free throws of a certain kind.
Purdue's bigs are going to draw a ton of contact, lots of non-shooting fouls, lots of whistles that come from around-the-rim jostling and whatnot. Lots of arm-bar dislodgement and the like. Fun stuff.
In fact, the best case you can make for Swanigan's candidacy to be Purdue's leading scorer is just that: Free throws. He might shoot a ton of them this season and history says he will shoot them well.
Think of all the points Isaac Haas left on the table last season not just with missed free throws but with missed one-and-ones.
Swanigan will get those same chances and probably take better advantage than Haas could last season.
And so will Haas.
Look, time will tell, but I've now covered two Purdue preseason scrimmages and an exhibition game and still haven’t seen him miss a free throw. He was 4-of-4 tonight and looked different and newly natural doing it.
Hey let’s have some fun with two of my favorite things: Numbers and hypotheticals.
Last year, Haas shot 139 foul shots.
Let's say Swanigan gets that number of foul shots this season the same way Haas did last season - on top of all the other fouls Swanigan will draw within offense - and shoots 72 percent instead of 55. That's 24 more points Purdue would have scored.
Now, let's say Haas matches his attempts from last season and shoots 65 percent instead of 55 percent and that's another 14 points.
Does this make any sense? I have no idea, but who cares, it's only a blog. And lord knows that none of you will use what I write against me years later.
Anyway, point is: Purdue's garbage-points guys should A) produce even more garbage-point opportunities and B) capitalize on them at a higher rate.
I don't know if this Purdue team is going to force as many turnovers as past teams, so the easy offense its defense has always aimed to force may now more often take the form of scoring occurs with the clock stopped, without a shot having even been taken.
This is the hidden scoring that can win a team a lot of games.
This is a Purdue team capable of winning a lot of games, though it's no sure thing. There are many questions to answer, legitimate vulnerabilities to be concerned about against good opponents.
But this season will be all about Purdue leveraging its strengths to the fullest.
Its strength is size and physicality.
Because of it, Purdue needs to win games with rebounds and free throws.
------------------------------
Copyright, Boilers, Inc. 2015. All Rights Reserved. Reproducing or using editorial or graphical content, in whole or in part, without permission, is strictly prohibited.
Through it all, we're trying to keep creative enough so that we're not just spreading the vegetables around on the plate, but rather providing some substance.
What are we left with for this blog? Garbage.
Yeah, that's right. Garbage.
Of all the many keys to Purdue's much-anticipated season, don't overlook garbage.
That's one of the columns these Boilermakers have to, well, trash people in.
Purdue is big and physical. It is not fast and quick. This is not a particularly pretty Boilermaker team, and that can be taken as a compliment.
It needs to leverage its physicality and the impossibility of its matchups on most nights to its fullest.
This should be an awesome offensive rebounding team and not only because it has 14-plus feet worth of centers in A.J. Hammons and Isaac Haas and a new weapon of mass destruction on the glass in Caleb Swanigan, but also because Vince Edwards may be one of the best offensive rebounding 3 men you'll find and Rapheal Davis is a one-time 4 man now playing the 2, at least to start games.
(What Purdue could really use is some penetrating threats to emerge to produce more reboundable misses, as counterintuitive as that may sound.)
Purdue has terrific rebounding potential at more than just the traditional rebounding positions and its 780 combined pounds of rebounders in the low post are going to command attention, freeing up opportunities for everyone else.
Second-change points might be a column Purdue owns this season, if its guards turn out to quick or savvy enough to run down more long rebounds than not.
Those are garbage points.
So are free throws of a certain kind.
Purdue's bigs are going to draw a ton of contact, lots of non-shooting fouls, lots of whistles that come from around-the-rim jostling and whatnot. Lots of arm-bar dislodgement and the like. Fun stuff.
In fact, the best case you can make for Swanigan's candidacy to be Purdue's leading scorer is just that: Free throws. He might shoot a ton of them this season and history says he will shoot them well.
Think of all the points Isaac Haas left on the table last season not just with missed free throws but with missed one-and-ones.
Swanigan will get those same chances and probably take better advantage than Haas could last season.
And so will Haas.
Look, time will tell, but I've now covered two Purdue preseason scrimmages and an exhibition game and still haven’t seen him miss a free throw. He was 4-of-4 tonight and looked different and newly natural doing it.
Hey let’s have some fun with two of my favorite things: Numbers and hypotheticals.
Last year, Haas shot 139 foul shots.
Let's say Swanigan gets that number of foul shots this season the same way Haas did last season - on top of all the other fouls Swanigan will draw within offense - and shoots 72 percent instead of 55. That's 24 more points Purdue would have scored.
Now, let's say Haas matches his attempts from last season and shoots 65 percent instead of 55 percent and that's another 14 points.
Does this make any sense? I have no idea, but who cares, it's only a blog. And lord knows that none of you will use what I write against me years later.
Anyway, point is: Purdue's garbage-points guys should A) produce even more garbage-point opportunities and B) capitalize on them at a higher rate.
I don't know if this Purdue team is going to force as many turnovers as past teams, so the easy offense its defense has always aimed to force may now more often take the form of scoring occurs with the clock stopped, without a shot having even been taken.
This is the hidden scoring that can win a team a lot of games.
This is a Purdue team capable of winning a lot of games, though it's no sure thing. There are many questions to answer, legitimate vulnerabilities to be concerned about against good opponents.
But this season will be all about Purdue leveraging its strengths to the fullest.
Its strength is size and physicality.
Because of it, Purdue needs to win games with rebounds and free throws.
------------------------------
Copyright, Boilers, Inc. 2015. All Rights Reserved. Reproducing or using editorial or graphical content, in whole or in part, without permission, is strictly prohibited.
