CHICAGO - I don't know how much there really is to say about Purdue's 71-51 loss to Wisconsin today at the Big Ten Tournament beside this: Wisconsin is really, really ^%$&#$ good.
Too often, when the team we're partial to - or we cover - loses, the focus is all on its failures and not so much the opponent.
Today, it was the opponent.
That's not to say Purdue played a flawless game in a hopeless situation today. There was so much more the Boilermakers could have done to have a chance at the end.
Like not turn the ball over.
Or blocking out better on the defensive glass.
Or maybe fighting a little harder in the post.
But the reality is that today, Wisconsin was infinitely more good than Purdue was bad, simple as that.
That team is loaded. They're big, they're skilled, they're deep, they're experienced and they're perfectly coached. Their best guy is better than everyone else's best guy.
They're a national title contender and looked the part in their final-20-minutes dismantling of one of the conference's four best teams, per the standings.
The good news is that for Purdue this game didn't matter all that much.
Purdue is in the NCAA Tournament. All doubt was removed yesterday, when the Boilermakers kept the pin in the grenade by outlasting Penn State.
The trick now is for Purdue to make sure this loss doesn't matter.
It can't linger now that it's sudden-death time. The Boilermakers hadn't been beaten like this in the Year 2015 and must not let it affect them. The guess here is it won't, but I need something to write about, you know?
The how-will-they-respond narrative is the lowest-hanging fruit.
But this was a rough ending to an otherwise tremendous Big Ten season for Purdue.
Matt Painter said that coming into conference play, he told people Purdue would need 13 Big Ten wins to get into the NCAA Tournament after its non-conference schizophrenia.
At the time it might have seemed like wishful thinking.
Purdue enters Selection Sunday with 13 Big Ten wins and Saturday afternoon's badgering doesn't change any of that.
Purdue will make the NCAA Tournament.
Its stay there, however, might be brief if it doesn't figure out this two-facedness, which is most certainly not a word, but hopefully it makes sense.
For the fifth game in a row, in some form or another, Purdue went either hot or cold in the first half, then the other extreme in the second.
It led big at Ohio State at half, then lost. It led reasonably big at Michigan State in the first half, then lost. It trailed big against Illinois, then won. It trailed reasonably big against Penn State, then won. It led reasonably big against Wisconsin - seven points is a solid advantage - then got outscored by a hearty 25 in the second half.
It doesn't make sense.
When looking at Purdue player-by-player, you see stability. Since A.J. Hammons has found consistency, this has been a pretty stable, consistent group to a man.
But the sum of those parts is equaling a very different whole, an erratic product.
But I don't think that was the case today.
More than anything, it was just an elite opponent doing what elite opponents do.
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.
Too often, when the team we're partial to - or we cover - loses, the focus is all on its failures and not so much the opponent.
Today, it was the opponent.
Like not turn the ball over.
Or blocking out better on the defensive glass.
Or maybe fighting a little harder in the post.
But the reality is that today, Wisconsin was infinitely more good than Purdue was bad, simple as that.
That team is loaded. They're big, they're skilled, they're deep, they're experienced and they're perfectly coached. Their best guy is better than everyone else's best guy.
They're a national title contender and looked the part in their final-20-minutes dismantling of one of the conference's four best teams, per the standings.
The good news is that for Purdue this game didn't matter all that much.
Purdue is in the NCAA Tournament. All doubt was removed yesterday, when the Boilermakers kept the pin in the grenade by outlasting Penn State.
The trick now is for Purdue to make sure this loss doesn't matter.
It can't linger now that it's sudden-death time. The Boilermakers hadn't been beaten like this in the Year 2015 and must not let it affect them. The guess here is it won't, but I need something to write about, you know?
The how-will-they-respond narrative is the lowest-hanging fruit.
But this was a rough ending to an otherwise tremendous Big Ten season for Purdue.
Matt Painter said that coming into conference play, he told people Purdue would need 13 Big Ten wins to get into the NCAA Tournament after its non-conference schizophrenia.
At the time it might have seemed like wishful thinking.
Purdue enters Selection Sunday with 13 Big Ten wins and Saturday afternoon's badgering doesn't change any of that.
Purdue will make the NCAA Tournament.
Its stay there, however, might be brief if it doesn't figure out this two-facedness, which is most certainly not a word, but hopefully it makes sense.
For the fifth game in a row, in some form or another, Purdue went either hot or cold in the first half, then the other extreme in the second.
It led big at Ohio State at half, then lost. It led reasonably big at Michigan State in the first half, then lost. It trailed big against Illinois, then won. It trailed reasonably big against Penn State, then won. It led reasonably big against Wisconsin - seven points is a solid advantage - then got outscored by a hearty 25 in the second half.
It doesn't make sense.
When looking at Purdue player-by-player, you see stability. Since A.J. Hammons has found consistency, this has been a pretty stable, consistent group to a man.
But the sum of those parts is equaling a very different whole, an erratic product.
But I don't think that was the case today.
More than anything, it was just an elite opponent doing what elite opponents do.
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.
