So, with Purdue's 68-55 win over Vanderbilt, it finished non-conference play 12-1 and, in light of its prior win over Florida, established itself as the clear team to beat this season in the SEC.
I kid.
Now, the games matter a little more, at least in the context of Purdue's Big Ten championship aspirations. But this is a season in which the Boilermakers are playing for a résumé, too, and this game was important in that sense.
Purdue now opens Big Ten play with a chance to do something, to do something big, though the lingering fallout of that Butler game remains. You've seen inconsistent effort from the Boilermakers these past two games and that seems like a red flag. And the shooting has gone sideways.
Prior to the Butler game, Purdue was playing like a 30-win team. I predicted before the season 27. You know what the difference is between 27 and 30 wins, right?
Anyway, that's a long way off now.
Purdue got a win it really needed Tuesday night despite a suspect first half and broken shooting throughout.
But its bigs re-asserted themselves after that Butler disappointment and A.J. Hammons played one of those halves that makes you think, 'How in the hell is this guy still in college?'
What's funny is I'm not sure who started off their Big Ten Defensive Player-of-the-Year campaign stronger tonight, Hammons with his seven blocks or Rapheal Davis with his shutout of Riley LaChance (he of 26 points against Purdue last season)?
(That's zero field goals for Kellen Dunham and LaChance now against Davis the past two games.)
Purdue's non-conference season has to be considered a success. We'll see how much that Butler loss matters down the line if Purdue is fortunate enough to be in that top-three-seed sort of conversation months from now. That's a long, long way off. That would have been a valuable résumé win, on top of the fact that it would have actually gotten Purdue a win over one of these schools it always seems to lose to.
You can't lose to Butler, Notre Dame, Xavier, Cincinnati, whoever else it may be in your region, literally every time you play them and expect to not hear about it in recruiting. But that's past Purdue now.
What matters now is competing in the Big Ten and putting itself in a great spot come March.
This team has shown that when things are clicking, it can be really, really, really good. It's also shown it can (still) brick threes wholesale and get outrebounded by people for stretches it has no business getting outrebounded by. And Isaac Haas, Purdue's best player through the early portion of the season, has encountered some difficulties lately. He is trending downward as Caleb Swanigan is trending up when Purdue could really use all three of its bigs playing at optimal levels.
There are going to be potential pit-falls out there for Purdue, at least on paper. There are guys on this team who'd be averaging 15 under a lot of different circumstances averaging nine for the Boilermakers. There are players worthy of 25 minutes a game playing 15.
There are no signs of issues to come, but these are things Matt Painter seems to have been trying to get out in front of. If this group winds up truly being unaffected by such things and plays together - the second-half deficit against Vandy was a great test, one Purdue obviously passed - and with the sort of effort and smarts this program tries to define itself with, then it is capable of big things. If it doesn't, it may wind up just a good team that could have been something more.
We'll see which direction they go in, starting next week in Madison.
Have a great holiday everyone.
I kid.
Now, the games matter a little more, at least in the context of Purdue's Big Ten championship aspirations. But this is a season in which the Boilermakers are playing for a résumé, too, and this game was important in that sense.
Purdue now opens Big Ten play with a chance to do something, to do something big, though the lingering fallout of that Butler game remains. You've seen inconsistent effort from the Boilermakers these past two games and that seems like a red flag. And the shooting has gone sideways.
Prior to the Butler game, Purdue was playing like a 30-win team. I predicted before the season 27. You know what the difference is between 27 and 30 wins, right?
Anyway, that's a long way off now.
Purdue got a win it really needed Tuesday night despite a suspect first half and broken shooting throughout.
But its bigs re-asserted themselves after that Butler disappointment and A.J. Hammons played one of those halves that makes you think, 'How in the hell is this guy still in college?'
What's funny is I'm not sure who started off their Big Ten Defensive Player-of-the-Year campaign stronger tonight, Hammons with his seven blocks or Rapheal Davis with his shutout of Riley LaChance (he of 26 points against Purdue last season)?
(That's zero field goals for Kellen Dunham and LaChance now against Davis the past two games.)
Purdue's non-conference season has to be considered a success. We'll see how much that Butler loss matters down the line if Purdue is fortunate enough to be in that top-three-seed sort of conversation months from now. That's a long, long way off. That would have been a valuable résumé win, on top of the fact that it would have actually gotten Purdue a win over one of these schools it always seems to lose to.
You can't lose to Butler, Notre Dame, Xavier, Cincinnati, whoever else it may be in your region, literally every time you play them and expect to not hear about it in recruiting. But that's past Purdue now.
What matters now is competing in the Big Ten and putting itself in a great spot come March.
This team has shown that when things are clicking, it can be really, really, really good. It's also shown it can (still) brick threes wholesale and get outrebounded by people for stretches it has no business getting outrebounded by. And Isaac Haas, Purdue's best player through the early portion of the season, has encountered some difficulties lately. He is trending downward as Caleb Swanigan is trending up when Purdue could really use all three of its bigs playing at optimal levels.
There are going to be potential pit-falls out there for Purdue, at least on paper. There are guys on this team who'd be averaging 15 under a lot of different circumstances averaging nine for the Boilermakers. There are players worthy of 25 minutes a game playing 15.
There are no signs of issues to come, but these are things Matt Painter seems to have been trying to get out in front of. If this group winds up truly being unaffected by such things and plays together - the second-half deficit against Vandy was a great test, one Purdue obviously passed - and with the sort of effort and smarts this program tries to define itself with, then it is capable of big things. If it doesn't, it may wind up just a good team that could have been something more.
We'll see which direction they go in, starting next week in Madison.
Have a great holiday everyone.
