KISSIMMEE, Fla. - Poise.
If Purdue just had a little bit more of that intangible, maybe its greatest opportunity at an early season resume win wouldn't have gone so terribly sideways so quickly and so spectacularly.
Look, I understand that some things worked in Purdue's favor for it to make its 97-87 loss to No. 5 Oklahoma State a game at the end.
The Cowboys got punched in the face with the same foul trouble that bludgeoned the Boilermakers earlier, including four fouls that pinned Oklahoma State wunderkind Marcus Smart to the bench for an extended stretch and helped turn the game in Purdue's favor.
But Purdue's spirited comeback might not have been needed to be quite so spirited had it just handled itself better throughout the game.
Oklahoma State is good. And Oklahoma State is confident and brash and carries itself as such. They talk, a whole bunch.
Like a couple catfish, Jay Simpson and Ronnie Johnson took the bait.
Simpson lost his head and took a swipe at a player who taunted him after an offensive foul; it was the dreaded clap-at-someone taunt.
Ronnie Johnson keyed Purdue's early second-half run, then returned trash-talk and fouled out on a double-tech.
Really? Really?
Purdue got within four late. Think of what could have been had it had its point guard/leading scorer and its second-best big man. For as solid as Travis Carroll was on the boards in the second half, Oklahoma State went at him like he was opening the doors to Wal-Mart on Black Friday.
In the first half, it was no one particular player's fault as Purdue just didn't function on offense, a bunch of different guys doing hero-ball-type stuff. The Boilermakers practically blew themselves out in the first half.
There was that sequence, too, when Purdue gave up four straight dunks while it was climbing back into the game, two of them off guys getting back-doored, two off getting beat down the floor, all of them of inattention at critical times.
Add it all up and it put Purdue in an unhappy position at the happiest place on earth.
With all this said, Oklahoma State is really, really good. They'll make their oilman sugar daddy proud this season. You have to credit those guys. Marcus Smart is beyond legitimate and was Oklahoma State's best player today by only a slim margin over Markel Brown.
But Purdue showed that when it plays with all its synapses firing then it can be pretty good. The narrative at halftime would have been much different, but the Boilermakers showed great fight and toughness coming back and doing so behind not-so-likely sources.
Purdue's freshmen aren't even its best players, but sometimes they look like it.
Bryson Scott isn't perfect, but when he's good, he's really good.
I hear people say, 'He's not a point guard. '
Who cares? He's also not a left-handed middle-reliever or a long-snapper.
He gets things done and when you're a certain size and a certain defensive matchup, you play a certain position. Point guards come in a lot of different forms, and they're not all John Stocktons.
Does Scott get others involved? Only sometimes.
Does he make people around him better? Debatable.
Does he impact games? Indisputable.
His will late kept Purdue afloat.
And he makes his free throws.
That said, Scott needs to play to his strengths. He made jumpers today, but was too quick to in some instances.
But the Big Ten Freshman-of-the-Week just put 18 on the No. 5 team in the country. Hard to poke holes in that.
And Kendall Stephens' crunch-time shooting was brilliant.
Basil Smotherman blends in sometimes because he's not the offensive factor his classmates are, but he's running, attacking, and good for about one hustle putback per game, and those things add up. It's what Purdue needs from him at this stage of his career.
You know what Purdue really needs? A.J. Hammons.
The foul trouble has to be getting old and when he is in the game, he has to get the ball. Whether it's on him that he's not getting the ball or on his teammates - somewhere in the middle the truth likely lies - I don't know, but the reality is Purdue needs to get it squared away.
Right now, Purdue's promise (i.e. up-side) lies in the fact that Hammons has hardly done anything on offense yet. That's a pretty big sleeping giant right there and you have to figure at some point it wakes up and makes this team better.
Purdue could have used more than two field goal attempts in 18 minutes.
But what Purdue needed most on a day when it played Smart was to just play intelligently and with poise.
We'll see what ultimately comes out of this game.
We'll find out tomorrow against Washington State, which does in fact have a basketball program, in case you were wondering.
Purdue needs its second half today to be real momentum, not just a fleeting burst in the face of a blowout to a team that was without its All-American late.
Sounds silly to say this, because it's so early, but if Purdue comes out tomorrow in a coma the way it did against another Pac-12 team, Oregon State, last year, this thing could go sideways the way New York City did a year ago.
Purdue says it's a more mature team this year, but it just played like kids for 20 minutes and lost two key players to silliness.
Now, it has to prove it.
Copyright, Boilers, Inc. 2013. 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.
If Purdue just had a little bit more of that intangible, maybe its greatest opportunity at an early season resume win wouldn't have gone so terribly sideways so quickly and so spectacularly.
Look, I understand that some things worked in Purdue's favor for it to make its 97-87 loss to No. 5 Oklahoma State a game at the end.
The Cowboys got punched in the face with the same foul trouble that bludgeoned the Boilermakers earlier, including four fouls that pinned Oklahoma State wunderkind Marcus Smart to the bench for an extended stretch and helped turn the game in Purdue's favor.
But Purdue's spirited comeback might not have been needed to be quite so spirited had it just handled itself better throughout the game.
Oklahoma State is good. And Oklahoma State is confident and brash and carries itself as such. They talk, a whole bunch.
Like a couple catfish, Jay Simpson and Ronnie Johnson took the bait.
Simpson lost his head and took a swipe at a player who taunted him after an offensive foul; it was the dreaded clap-at-someone taunt.
Ronnie Johnson keyed Purdue's early second-half run, then returned trash-talk and fouled out on a double-tech.
Really? Really?
Purdue got within four late. Think of what could have been had it had its point guard/leading scorer and its second-best big man. For as solid as Travis Carroll was on the boards in the second half, Oklahoma State went at him like he was opening the doors to Wal-Mart on Black Friday.
In the first half, it was no one particular player's fault as Purdue just didn't function on offense, a bunch of different guys doing hero-ball-type stuff. The Boilermakers practically blew themselves out in the first half.
There was that sequence, too, when Purdue gave up four straight dunks while it was climbing back into the game, two of them off guys getting back-doored, two off getting beat down the floor, all of them of inattention at critical times.
Add it all up and it put Purdue in an unhappy position at the happiest place on earth.
With all this said, Oklahoma State is really, really good. They'll make their oilman sugar daddy proud this season. You have to credit those guys. Marcus Smart is beyond legitimate and was Oklahoma State's best player today by only a slim margin over Markel Brown.
But Purdue showed that when it plays with all its synapses firing then it can be pretty good. The narrative at halftime would have been much different, but the Boilermakers showed great fight and toughness coming back and doing so behind not-so-likely sources.
Purdue's freshmen aren't even its best players, but sometimes they look like it.
Bryson Scott isn't perfect, but when he's good, he's really good.
I hear people say, 'He's not a point guard. '
Who cares? He's also not a left-handed middle-reliever or a long-snapper.
He gets things done and when you're a certain size and a certain defensive matchup, you play a certain position. Point guards come in a lot of different forms, and they're not all John Stocktons.
Does Scott get others involved? Only sometimes.
Does he make people around him better? Debatable.
Does he impact games? Indisputable.
His will late kept Purdue afloat.
And he makes his free throws.
That said, Scott needs to play to his strengths. He made jumpers today, but was too quick to in some instances.
But the Big Ten Freshman-of-the-Week just put 18 on the No. 5 team in the country. Hard to poke holes in that.
And Kendall Stephens' crunch-time shooting was brilliant.
Basil Smotherman blends in sometimes because he's not the offensive factor his classmates are, but he's running, attacking, and good for about one hustle putback per game, and those things add up. It's what Purdue needs from him at this stage of his career.
You know what Purdue really needs? A.J. Hammons.
The foul trouble has to be getting old and when he is in the game, he has to get the ball. Whether it's on him that he's not getting the ball or on his teammates - somewhere in the middle the truth likely lies - I don't know, but the reality is Purdue needs to get it squared away.
Right now, Purdue's promise (i.e. up-side) lies in the fact that Hammons has hardly done anything on offense yet. That's a pretty big sleeping giant right there and you have to figure at some point it wakes up and makes this team better.
Purdue could have used more than two field goal attempts in 18 minutes.
But what Purdue needed most on a day when it played Smart was to just play intelligently and with poise.
We'll see what ultimately comes out of this game.
We'll find out tomorrow against Washington State, which does in fact have a basketball program, in case you were wondering.
Purdue needs its second half today to be real momentum, not just a fleeting burst in the face of a blowout to a team that was without its All-American late.
Sounds silly to say this, because it's so early, but if Purdue comes out tomorrow in a coma the way it did against another Pac-12 team, Oregon State, last year, this thing could go sideways the way New York City did a year ago.
Purdue says it's a more mature team this year, but it just played like kids for 20 minutes and lost two key players to silliness.
Now, it has to prove it.
Copyright, Boilers, Inc. 2013. 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.
