Don't look now people, but A.J. Hammons is starting to play like a draft pick.
I know some of you may not want to hear that, but it's true.
It's been three games in a row now - and the better part of the Big Ten season, really - that the Boilermaker junior big man has been markedly more efficient offensively; cut down his turnovers dramatically, Penn State aside; changed games defensively; team-defended better, etc., etc.
And most importantly, his team is winning basketball games because of it all, exactly what Matt Painter said in the spring was the next step for the center after he wisely decided to return to West Lafayette for this season.
Hammons carried Purdue at Northwestern this evening, spitting on the court, figuratively speaking, of the Boilermakers' House of Recent Horrors, with a near double-double, stacked high with three blocked shots and tarnished by not a single turnover.
This is the Hammons Purdue hoped for this season, and it's no coincidence that his uptick in play, and more importantly consistency, has mirrored the modest winning streak that is changing the definition of "possible" for this season.
Make no mistake: Purdue is nowhere near the NCAA Tournament, not even reasonably in the discussion if you ask me. Those bad losses, man. But Purdue is playing its way into a position where those bad losses may matter, and it didn't seem like that'd be the case about a month ago, did it?
But it just won back-to-back games that may count on Judgment Day as "quality" ones and just responded when it had to tonight in a game that had Purdue lost, it would have amounted to rolling up whatever résumé it has right now like origami, stuffing a hand grenade in it and pulling the pin.
Purdue is playing well right now in a league in which every game that doesn't involve Badgers is there for the taking for whoever's on the court.
I mean, even Rutgers - whose coach got up at Big Ten media day and literally said, "We just hope to be competitive" - is putting scares in people.
The Boilermakers have not arrived to stay; that much was evident in the bizarre final eight minutes of that game tonight in which it seemed like Purdue just made a conscious decision to keep this game interesting.
What its sophomores were doing in that time, I have no idea. And Purdue did collectively seem to lay off the throttle after it went up X number of points.
But the deluge it slapped the Wildcats with coming out of the locker room was way too much for Northwestern, who may have preferred tonight's start-of-the-second-half romp to their usual end-of-the-second-half agony, I don't know. But Purdue was brilliant in the first few minutes of the second half. Its offensive execution the past two games has been through the roof, even if they still can't make a three.
Hammons is playing at a very high level right now, and Rapheal Davis is quietly playing at an All-Big Ten level. As I said in this week's digital magazine, if people could properly pronounce his first name, maybe they'd talk about him.
Vince Edwards played one of his better games of the Big Ten season after hitting a bit of a wall and Isaac Haas may have caught his second wind.
Purdue is winning right now without Jon Octeus playing as well as he had been - he was good tonight, though - and with Kendall Stephens as almost a non-factor, though he is clearly Purdue's best post-entry guy and that's a big piece.
It was very strange to watch that second half and feel like Purdue needed Dakota Mathias on the floor. Stephens isn't right and that's a bad thing and a good thing, because the potential for him to get righted represents real upside for this team.
Purdue can get better, way better, but right now, it's playing well, led by Hammons, who's more active - you have to like what he's doing in more screen-and-roll situations as opposed to just being anchored in the paint - and more energized and more productive and efficient. Offensively for him lately, less has been more and he's always been better when that's been the case. And the turnover thing is just astounding. None tonight, and I think just two over the past four games.
As soon as it was made known last spring Hammons would be back for this season, he became the central figure in Purdue's hopes for a successful - however you might define it - season this year.
Right now, he is delivering.
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.
I know some of you may not want to hear that, but it's true.
It's been three games in a row now - and the better part of the Big Ten season, really - that the Boilermaker junior big man has been markedly more efficient offensively; cut down his turnovers dramatically, Penn State aside; changed games defensively; team-defended better, etc., etc.
Hammons carried Purdue at Northwestern this evening, spitting on the court, figuratively speaking, of the Boilermakers' House of Recent Horrors, with a near double-double, stacked high with three blocked shots and tarnished by not a single turnover.
This is the Hammons Purdue hoped for this season, and it's no coincidence that his uptick in play, and more importantly consistency, has mirrored the modest winning streak that is changing the definition of "possible" for this season.
Make no mistake: Purdue is nowhere near the NCAA Tournament, not even reasonably in the discussion if you ask me. Those bad losses, man. But Purdue is playing its way into a position where those bad losses may matter, and it didn't seem like that'd be the case about a month ago, did it?
But it just won back-to-back games that may count on Judgment Day as "quality" ones and just responded when it had to tonight in a game that had Purdue lost, it would have amounted to rolling up whatever résumé it has right now like origami, stuffing a hand grenade in it and pulling the pin.
Purdue is playing well right now in a league in which every game that doesn't involve Badgers is there for the taking for whoever's on the court.
I mean, even Rutgers - whose coach got up at Big Ten media day and literally said, "We just hope to be competitive" - is putting scares in people.
The Boilermakers have not arrived to stay; that much was evident in the bizarre final eight minutes of that game tonight in which it seemed like Purdue just made a conscious decision to keep this game interesting.
What its sophomores were doing in that time, I have no idea. And Purdue did collectively seem to lay off the throttle after it went up X number of points.
But the deluge it slapped the Wildcats with coming out of the locker room was way too much for Northwestern, who may have preferred tonight's start-of-the-second-half romp to their usual end-of-the-second-half agony, I don't know. But Purdue was brilliant in the first few minutes of the second half. Its offensive execution the past two games has been through the roof, even if they still can't make a three.
Hammons is playing at a very high level right now, and Rapheal Davis is quietly playing at an All-Big Ten level. As I said in this week's digital magazine, if people could properly pronounce his first name, maybe they'd talk about him.
Vince Edwards played one of his better games of the Big Ten season after hitting a bit of a wall and Isaac Haas may have caught his second wind.
Purdue is winning right now without Jon Octeus playing as well as he had been - he was good tonight, though - and with Kendall Stephens as almost a non-factor, though he is clearly Purdue's best post-entry guy and that's a big piece.
It was very strange to watch that second half and feel like Purdue needed Dakota Mathias on the floor. Stephens isn't right and that's a bad thing and a good thing, because the potential for him to get righted represents real upside for this team.
Purdue can get better, way better, but right now, it's playing well, led by Hammons, who's more active - you have to like what he's doing in more screen-and-roll situations as opposed to just being anchored in the paint - and more energized and more productive and efficient. Offensively for him lately, less has been more and he's always been better when that's been the case. And the turnover thing is just astounding. None tonight, and I think just two over the past four games.
As soon as it was made known last spring Hammons would be back for this season, he became the central figure in Purdue's hopes for a successful - however you might define it - season this year.
Right now, he is delivering.
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.
