In handicapping Wednesday night's Purdue-Indiana game in advance, I was wrong.
So wrong.
Here's where I was wrong
I over-valued Indiana, particularly in turning a blind eye to how poor they can be defensively, with the fact that it has no rim protection whatsoever compounding the matter that they're just not very good at it in the first place.
Purdue handled everything IU threw at it and kept unforced errors to a minimum. That was crucial. Indiana wasn't going to turn Purdue over much, but sometimes this season Purdue has been prone to turning Purdue over.
In over-valuing Indiana, I over-valued small ball. I love small ball because quick more often than not is going to trump slow. I suspected Troy Williams might go off and Indiana would shoot threes off dribble penetration all day and make half of them.
None of that happened, because
I under-valued Purdue, because there have been signs - strong ones - lately that this is not just a better defensive team, but a good one all of a sudden. If you read our Roundup today (well, yesterday), you saw that Purdue is leading the Big Ten during the conference season in effective field goal percentage defense, and two-point field goal percentage defense. Amazing to those of us who remember the hot mess Purdue was defensively to end non-conference play.
They were great tonight, the past halfcourt defense you've seen from Purdue since opponents were trying to slap restraining orders on Chris Kramer and Keaton Grant all those years ago. It helps when A.J. Hammons is shooting plucking basketballs out of the air like apples off a tree.
Purdue was dominant on defense against a team that can dominate on offense, like the Boilermakers used to do in a building that used to be this way regularly.
Which brings us to
I under-valued the power of Mackey Arena.
Good god, if I were a visiting player, I might have rolled into the fetal position tonight. That crowd was ridiculous.
I know these players are conditioned for it but it never ceases to amaze how kids - kids, mind you - can perform in these environment.
Purdue will experience the other end of it in Bloomington in a few weeks but tonight, homecourt advantage was not only real but overwhelming.
But the Boilermakers did their part to make it so.
Nothing kills a crowd like bad basketball. Purdue gave it the best it had and 40 minutes of it tonight.
After losing 13 straight games to ranked opponents, Purdue's now won two in as many tries and the definition of "possible" here might be in line for some recalibration. The whole rest of this Big Ten season is an opportunity because of the cluster(car horn noise) nature of the league after Wisconsin.
Purdue is playing good basketball right now; it would be playing very good basketball if it could grab a damn rebound, which is beyond explanation, except for the fact that maybe quicker people are just starting to beat larger people to more loose basketballs.
Purdue is scoring and Purdue is defending right now, both at high levels.
It's taking care of the basketball consistently.
If it could just rebound and make a three - Purdue has gotten nothing the past two games from its best perimeter scorer and still beat two good teams - then this might be a pretty good team.
One that if this keeps up, won't be under-valued again.
Copyright, Boilers, Inc. 2015. 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.
So wrong.
Here's where I was wrong
I over-valued Indiana, particularly in turning a blind eye to how poor they can be defensively, with the fact that it has no rim protection whatsoever compounding the matter that they're just not very good at it in the first place.
Purdue handled everything IU threw at it and kept unforced errors to a minimum. That was crucial. Indiana wasn't going to turn Purdue over much, but sometimes this season Purdue has been prone to turning Purdue over.
In over-valuing Indiana, I over-valued small ball. I love small ball because quick more often than not is going to trump slow. I suspected Troy Williams might go off and Indiana would shoot threes off dribble penetration all day and make half of them.
None of that happened, because
I under-valued Purdue, because there have been signs - strong ones - lately that this is not just a better defensive team, but a good one all of a sudden. If you read our Roundup today (well, yesterday), you saw that Purdue is leading the Big Ten during the conference season in effective field goal percentage defense, and two-point field goal percentage defense. Amazing to those of us who remember the hot mess Purdue was defensively to end non-conference play.
They were great tonight, the past halfcourt defense you've seen from Purdue since opponents were trying to slap restraining orders on Chris Kramer and Keaton Grant all those years ago. It helps when A.J. Hammons is shooting plucking basketballs out of the air like apples off a tree.
Purdue was dominant on defense against a team that can dominate on offense, like the Boilermakers used to do in a building that used to be this way regularly.
Which brings us to
I under-valued the power of Mackey Arena.
Good god, if I were a visiting player, I might have rolled into the fetal position tonight. That crowd was ridiculous.
I know these players are conditioned for it but it never ceases to amaze how kids - kids, mind you - can perform in these environment.
Purdue will experience the other end of it in Bloomington in a few weeks but tonight, homecourt advantage was not only real but overwhelming.
But the Boilermakers did their part to make it so.
Nothing kills a crowd like bad basketball. Purdue gave it the best it had and 40 minutes of it tonight.
After losing 13 straight games to ranked opponents, Purdue's now won two in as many tries and the definition of "possible" here might be in line for some recalibration. The whole rest of this Big Ten season is an opportunity because of the cluster(car horn noise) nature of the league after Wisconsin.
Purdue is playing good basketball right now; it would be playing very good basketball if it could grab a damn rebound, which is beyond explanation, except for the fact that maybe quicker people are just starting to beat larger people to more loose basketballs.
Purdue is scoring and Purdue is defending right now, both at high levels.
It's taking care of the basketball consistently.
If it could just rebound and make a three - Purdue has gotten nothing the past two games from its best perimeter scorer and still beat two good teams - then this might be a pretty good team.
One that if this keeps up, won't be under-valued again.
Copyright, Boilers, Inc. 2015. 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.
