PISCATAWAY, N.J. - Look, I don't even know what to write here because I feel like I just watched about seven minutes worth of basketball game.
That's how long it took for Purdue to be up on Rutgers by 17 points on the scoreboard and more than a dozen in the rebounding column.
This was just a bludgeoning, like a guarantee-game, pay-for-play non-conference romp.
And when things are just so extreme, perspective can be hard to grasp, like a wet bar of soap.
Was Purdue super, incredibly awesome tonight, like the greatest team, like, ever? Scoreboard suggests so.
Is Rutgers really that, um, limited?
(Confession: Limited is a polite way of saying bad.)
Well, yes and yes, I guess.
Rutgers is dreadful, an embarrassment in the Big Ten in this one particular sport, quite honestly. We'll see what the guy who comes after Eddie Jordan can do there, but as is, this is the Scarlet Knights' normal, I would fear for them.
But that being said, Purdue played well.
Yeah, this was batting practice, it turned out, but the balls carried long and far.
The Boilermakers flexed every muscle in their arsenal and some they didn't know they had, like garbage-time maven Jacquil Taylor, who played like he had himself in FanDuel.
(IT'S A JOKE, PEOPLE. I UNDERSTAND THE SERIOUSNESS OF GAMBLING OR ANY FORMS OF LEGAL FAUX GAMBLING. DON'T E-MAIL ME.)
Anyway, if you have a stake in this, you had to like Purdue's businesslike way about it here. It didn't mess around. It dominated the first half, then increased its lead in the second half when the game turned into noon ball.
This has not always been a Purdue team that's often followed up strong halves with strong halves. It did tonight.
It looked like a bit of a killer instinct brewing, I guess, but I'll grant you that the opponent playing dead helped.
Purdue's new - or renewed - emphasis on aggressiveness on offense showed up against tonight and was a big part of the early, game-deciding surge. Purdue is so much better when Vince Edwards is scoring the way he's been scoring lately, and to a lesser extent Rapheal Davis also.
The emphasis on going quickly makes so much sense, though Purdue has to be mindful to not negate its rebounding advantages at times. That advantage was pronounced tonight. How in the world does a team get outrebounded by 40? Good for Purdue, but damn, Rutgers …
And upon closer inspection, you'll see that Purdue outrebounded Rutgers like that because it tried harder, not because it's bigger. Johnny Hill was to wandering offensive rebounds tonight what Pac-Man is to pellets.
That's another part of this, a sign of maturity, whatever else, that Purdue could have coasted through the majority of this game and still won handily. It kept playing harder than its host and because of it, dealt said host its worst ever loss on its home floor.
And Rutgers has been around forever.
And it was a historic night for Purdue for all the right reasons and a historic night for Rutgers for all the wrong ones.
Was Purdue that good or Rutgers that bad?
Somewhere in the middle, the truth probably lies.
That's how long it took for Purdue to be up on Rutgers by 17 points on the scoreboard and more than a dozen in the rebounding column.
This was just a bludgeoning, like a guarantee-game, pay-for-play non-conference romp.
And when things are just so extreme, perspective can be hard to grasp, like a wet bar of soap.
Was Purdue super, incredibly awesome tonight, like the greatest team, like, ever? Scoreboard suggests so.
Is Rutgers really that, um, limited?
(Confession: Limited is a polite way of saying bad.)
Well, yes and yes, I guess.
Rutgers is dreadful, an embarrassment in the Big Ten in this one particular sport, quite honestly. We'll see what the guy who comes after Eddie Jordan can do there, but as is, this is the Scarlet Knights' normal, I would fear for them.
But that being said, Purdue played well.
Yeah, this was batting practice, it turned out, but the balls carried long and far.
The Boilermakers flexed every muscle in their arsenal and some they didn't know they had, like garbage-time maven Jacquil Taylor, who played like he had himself in FanDuel.
(IT'S A JOKE, PEOPLE. I UNDERSTAND THE SERIOUSNESS OF GAMBLING OR ANY FORMS OF LEGAL FAUX GAMBLING. DON'T E-MAIL ME.)
Anyway, if you have a stake in this, you had to like Purdue's businesslike way about it here. It didn't mess around. It dominated the first half, then increased its lead in the second half when the game turned into noon ball.
This has not always been a Purdue team that's often followed up strong halves with strong halves. It did tonight.
It looked like a bit of a killer instinct brewing, I guess, but I'll grant you that the opponent playing dead helped.
Purdue's new - or renewed - emphasis on aggressiveness on offense showed up against tonight and was a big part of the early, game-deciding surge. Purdue is so much better when Vince Edwards is scoring the way he's been scoring lately, and to a lesser extent Rapheal Davis also.
The emphasis on going quickly makes so much sense, though Purdue has to be mindful to not negate its rebounding advantages at times. That advantage was pronounced tonight. How in the world does a team get outrebounded by 40? Good for Purdue, but damn, Rutgers …
And upon closer inspection, you'll see that Purdue outrebounded Rutgers like that because it tried harder, not because it's bigger. Johnny Hill was to wandering offensive rebounds tonight what Pac-Man is to pellets.
That's another part of this, a sign of maturity, whatever else, that Purdue could have coasted through the majority of this game and still won handily. It kept playing harder than its host and because of it, dealt said host its worst ever loss on its home floor.
And Rutgers has been around forever.
And it was a historic night for Purdue for all the right reasons and a historic night for Rutgers for all the wrong ones.
Was Purdue that good or Rutgers that bad?
Somewhere in the middle, the truth probably lies.
