Knowing that Doyel is an IU Hack, Can anyone who was at the game give any credibility to what Doyel is saying?
Doyel: Purdue star Jaden Ivey lets his game do the talking... well, most of the time.
Gregg Doyel
Indianapolis Star
INDIANAPOLIS – No idea if he’s in a bad mood or what, but Purdue guard Jaden Ivey is doing unspeakable things to the Butler basketball team and screaming unprintable things into the crowd. The No. 4 Boilermakers are battering Butler 77-48 Saturday in the Crossroads Classic, a game that was never going to be fair — Purdue is historically good, while Butler is missing three of its best five players — so the story really isn’t what happened, or why.
But, for the sake of argument:
Purdue happened. Jaden Ivey is why.
With that out of the way, let’s go to the first half, when Butler is sticking around, getting within 14-13 as Aaron Thompson probe-dribbles for
15 seconds before seeing an opening in the lane and attacking, spinning home a reverse layup against Trevion Williams.
More:Jaden Ivey, defense carry Purdue past Butler in Crossroads Classic
More:It doesn't matter who starts, Trevion Williams or Zach Edey, Purdue's bigs stand tall.
The Bulldogs are within a single point and there are 10½ minutes left in the half and Jaden Ivey is about to come back into the game, and normally I’d suggest you cover your ears, but that’s not necessary today. The Purdue band is sitting courtside, right behind me as a matter of fact, and the trombones are tickling the back of my head. Can’t hear a damn thing.
But we can see.
And Jaden Ivey is about to put on a show.
Never mind your ears. But if you’re a Butler fan, cover your eyes.
Is Jaden Ivey shouting at Kelan Martin?
We’re going to miss this thing, you know? After 11 years, some better than others but all better than nothing, the Crossroads Classic breathed its last on Saturday, with the gray December light bumping into the windows high above opposite ends of Gainbridge Fieldhouse.
Don’t cry for the schools, of course. They’ll be fine without this event, and in the case of all but Butler, they’re probably better off without it.
Scheduling is a big-money, big-recruiting tool, and schools with the reach of Purdue, IU and Notre Dame can do better than a mid-December day in Indianapolis. For the rest of us, though, it sucks. For a decade this event brought the state’s four biggest college basketball programs downtown, a boon for restaurants and hotels and parking garages, and more thread for the basketball fiber that cloaks us all.
Purdue Boilermakers guard Jaden Ivey (23) looks to pass the ball during the Crossroads Classic college basketball tournament on Saturday, Dec. 18, 2021, at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. The Purdue Boilermakers took on the Butler Bulldogs.
In what will surely be his last Crossroads Classic, and his last game at Gainbridge Fieldhouse until he’s playing against the Pacers or for them — please? — Purdue sophomore Jaden Ivey came back into the game after a brief rest and got to the rim, because he can do that whenever he wants, and missed a dunk in traffic from Carl Lewis long-jump territory. All that activity left Williams alone, and he’s 6-10 and 260 pounds and can score pretty easily at the rim by himself.
Then Ivey is getting a handoff from Williams above the key and hitting a 3-pointer. He's averaging nearly 17 ppg on 46% shooting from 3-point range, but there's more to his game than that.
Like, this:
Now he has the ball after a Zach Edey defensive rebound and he’s dribbling it 70 feet, all the way to the rim, and he’s elevating. He has no idea what he’ll do with the ball, but he jumps pretty high and figures he’ll find somebody before he lands. And there he is, the 7-4 Edey filling the lane and standing nearly a foot taller than everyone for Butler. Ivey finds him for a dunk.
Here it comes. Hide the children. Because Ivey is burying a 3-pointer and running back for defense and heading toward the crowd opposite the Purdue bench, screaming something at a handful of gentlemen sitting there. Some of them are in Notre Dame green. No idea why Ivey’s shouting in their direction, but they’re raising their eyebrows and smiling. They enjoyed it, whatev—
Sorry. The game is continuing and Ivey is stealing a Butler pass and he’s being chased by the Butler defense, the way a pack of children chase a car accelerating down the street. Ivey dunks and lands and spins toward the crowd, this time finding a single man sitting across from the Butler bench.
The guy’s tall, and he looks familiar, and I have no idea why Jaden Ivey is shouting at Butler legend Kelan Martin, now with the Pacers.
But I’m going to find out.
But only after I spot former Purdue guards Dakota Mathias and Ryan Cline in the crowd. I run that way and tell them, deadpanning it the whole way, “I see a lot of you two in Jaden Ivey’s game.”
Mathias, an NBA guard, is laughing with me, maybe at me. Cline, who’s in sales and playing a lot of golf and probably making more money than any of us, is nodding.
“Oh yeah,” says Cline, whose next dunk will be his first. “Lot of similarities here.”
Giggle.
More
oyel: Dakota Mathias, Purdue send Kelan Martin, Butler home And now Jaden Ivey's shouting at Demetrius Jackson?
Here’s the thing with Jaden Ivey:
He’s the nicest basketball killer in the world. He doesn’t like talking about himself in interviews, but when he gets on the court, something happens. After that dunk, Ivey’s screaming something about being “locked in,” but he’s not using that precise language. Might be a colorful adjective in there, or an adverb. Hard to conjugate such a colorful sentence, know what I mean?
In any event, Kelan Martin tells me Ivey wasn’t shouting at him here in the front row, but at a handful of Purdue fans sitting just behind Martin.
Just to be sure, though, I’m pushing Martin, telling him: It sure looked like he was shouting at you.
“Well, maybe he was,” Martin says. “I wasn’t paying attention. But I know him. We’re good. I worked out this (past) summer at Purdue.”
Martin’s smiling. He likes Ivey, you can tell, and loves his game. Probably wouldn’t mind seeing him next season in the Pacers locker room either. We could talk more about that, Kelan and I, but there’s that cluster of fans down the front row, a group of guys I know Ivey was shouting at. So I’m heading that way, to the dude who looks like a (really) young Denzel Washington, and asking what Ivey had yelled at him. The Denzel dude is smiling and speaking quietly, so as not to offend anyone I guess, and telling me Jaden’s family is three seats farther down the row.
“In the blue hat,” my Denzel-looking friend is telling me quietly. OK, fine:
Denzel Dude’s real name Jean Kenol, he’s a Notre Dame grad and a lawyer from Chicago, and he’s 45. Looks 30. I’m mad at him for looking so young, but no time for anger. We’re on the move.
Purdue Boilermakers guard Jaden Ivey (23) shoots a lap past the Butler Bulldogs forward Myles Wilmoth (5) and Butler Bulldogs guard Jair Bolden
(52) during the Crossroads Classic college basketball tournament on Saturday, Dec. 18, 2021, at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. The Purdue Boilermakers took on the Butler Bulldogs.
We’re standing now in front of the guy in the blue hat. Looks to be in decent shape. Might be able to hang with me in the gym, I’m thinking, as I ask the most clever question in my arsenal:
“Are you Jaden’s family?”
Guy in the blue hat is nodding.
“He’s my brother,” he says.
“Just so you know,” I’m telling Blue Hat, “I love Jaden. He’s safe, you’re safe, but if you don’t mind telling me … what was he shouting at you?”
Blue Hat’s smiling. He’s going to tell me the G-rated version.
“He was just saying he’s locked in,” Blue Hat says.
I’m asking his name, and he tells me “Demetrius.” As I’m walking away, I hear the second name: “Jackson.”
I’m spinning and heading back. I know that name, I’m telling former Notre Dame guard Demetrius Jackson, and nobody ever told me Jaden is your brother!
Jackson, who turned pro after averaging 15.8 ppg and 4.7 assists as a Notre Dame junior in 2016, tilts his head and rolls his eyes in a nice way at himself, at this distinction I’m forcing him to make:
“Godbrother,” he says.
Better. But now it’s the second half and Ivey is crossing over a Butler defender for a 3, then driving the baseline and hanging in the air — he’s maybe 15 feet from my press seat, and the look on his face is placid — and finding Caleb Furst alone at the rim for a dunk.
Now Ivey is getting a handoff from Williams for another 3, and I’m looking at the stats and realizing I’m watching something special: Ivey has 19 points in 21 minutes, and he’s 5-for-5 on 3-pointers, and this is a perfect game I’m watching and—
Wait, what’s he doing now?? He’s got the ball one more time, and he’s about to ruin it. He does one of those huge NBA backward steps off the dribble, leaping well behind the 3-point arc and beyond the reach of his defender, and rises for a 3-pointer with a high degree of difficulty. I’m literally groaning out loud — Noooo — because he’s about to ruin his perfect game, and my story about it.
Swish.
Ivey, with 22 points in 24 minutes and 6-for-6 shooting on 3-pointers, is running down the court with a gleeful smile on his face. He’s passing Kelan Martin, and I don’t care what anyone says, he’s saying something to his summer workout partner.
Now Kelan Martin is trying not to smile. That’s his alma mater, Butler, that Jaden Ivey is destroying. But that’s his friend, and his future NBA colleague, and perhaps if we’re both lucky his future NBA teammate. And now Kelan Martin is looking down, in case anyone is looking, and cracking a small smile.
Makes two of us, Kelan.
Doyel: Purdue star Jaden Ivey lets his game do the talking... well, most of the time.
Gregg Doyel
Indianapolis Star
INDIANAPOLIS – No idea if he’s in a bad mood or what, but Purdue guard Jaden Ivey is doing unspeakable things to the Butler basketball team and screaming unprintable things into the crowd. The No. 4 Boilermakers are battering Butler 77-48 Saturday in the Crossroads Classic, a game that was never going to be fair — Purdue is historically good, while Butler is missing three of its best five players — so the story really isn’t what happened, or why.
But, for the sake of argument:
Purdue happened. Jaden Ivey is why.
With that out of the way, let’s go to the first half, when Butler is sticking around, getting within 14-13 as Aaron Thompson probe-dribbles for
15 seconds before seeing an opening in the lane and attacking, spinning home a reverse layup against Trevion Williams.
More:Jaden Ivey, defense carry Purdue past Butler in Crossroads Classic
More:It doesn't matter who starts, Trevion Williams or Zach Edey, Purdue's bigs stand tall.
The Bulldogs are within a single point and there are 10½ minutes left in the half and Jaden Ivey is about to come back into the game, and normally I’d suggest you cover your ears, but that’s not necessary today. The Purdue band is sitting courtside, right behind me as a matter of fact, and the trombones are tickling the back of my head. Can’t hear a damn thing.
But we can see.
And Jaden Ivey is about to put on a show.
Never mind your ears. But if you’re a Butler fan, cover your eyes.
Is Jaden Ivey shouting at Kelan Martin?
We’re going to miss this thing, you know? After 11 years, some better than others but all better than nothing, the Crossroads Classic breathed its last on Saturday, with the gray December light bumping into the windows high above opposite ends of Gainbridge Fieldhouse.
Don’t cry for the schools, of course. They’ll be fine without this event, and in the case of all but Butler, they’re probably better off without it.
Scheduling is a big-money, big-recruiting tool, and schools with the reach of Purdue, IU and Notre Dame can do better than a mid-December day in Indianapolis. For the rest of us, though, it sucks. For a decade this event brought the state’s four biggest college basketball programs downtown, a boon for restaurants and hotels and parking garages, and more thread for the basketball fiber that cloaks us all.
Purdue Boilermakers guard Jaden Ivey (23) looks to pass the ball during the Crossroads Classic college basketball tournament on Saturday, Dec. 18, 2021, at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. The Purdue Boilermakers took on the Butler Bulldogs.
In what will surely be his last Crossroads Classic, and his last game at Gainbridge Fieldhouse until he’s playing against the Pacers or for them — please? — Purdue sophomore Jaden Ivey came back into the game after a brief rest and got to the rim, because he can do that whenever he wants, and missed a dunk in traffic from Carl Lewis long-jump territory. All that activity left Williams alone, and he’s 6-10 and 260 pounds and can score pretty easily at the rim by himself.
Then Ivey is getting a handoff from Williams above the key and hitting a 3-pointer. He's averaging nearly 17 ppg on 46% shooting from 3-point range, but there's more to his game than that.
Like, this:
Now he has the ball after a Zach Edey defensive rebound and he’s dribbling it 70 feet, all the way to the rim, and he’s elevating. He has no idea what he’ll do with the ball, but he jumps pretty high and figures he’ll find somebody before he lands. And there he is, the 7-4 Edey filling the lane and standing nearly a foot taller than everyone for Butler. Ivey finds him for a dunk.
Here it comes. Hide the children. Because Ivey is burying a 3-pointer and running back for defense and heading toward the crowd opposite the Purdue bench, screaming something at a handful of gentlemen sitting there. Some of them are in Notre Dame green. No idea why Ivey’s shouting in their direction, but they’re raising their eyebrows and smiling. They enjoyed it, whatev—
Sorry. The game is continuing and Ivey is stealing a Butler pass and he’s being chased by the Butler defense, the way a pack of children chase a car accelerating down the street. Ivey dunks and lands and spins toward the crowd, this time finding a single man sitting across from the Butler bench.
The guy’s tall, and he looks familiar, and I have no idea why Jaden Ivey is shouting at Butler legend Kelan Martin, now with the Pacers.
But I’m going to find out.
But only after I spot former Purdue guards Dakota Mathias and Ryan Cline in the crowd. I run that way and tell them, deadpanning it the whole way, “I see a lot of you two in Jaden Ivey’s game.”
Mathias, an NBA guard, is laughing with me, maybe at me. Cline, who’s in sales and playing a lot of golf and probably making more money than any of us, is nodding.
“Oh yeah,” says Cline, whose next dunk will be his first. “Lot of similarities here.”
Giggle.
More
oyel: Dakota Mathias, Purdue send Kelan Martin, Butler home And now Jaden Ivey's shouting at Demetrius Jackson?Here’s the thing with Jaden Ivey:
He’s the nicest basketball killer in the world. He doesn’t like talking about himself in interviews, but when he gets on the court, something happens. After that dunk, Ivey’s screaming something about being “locked in,” but he’s not using that precise language. Might be a colorful adjective in there, or an adverb. Hard to conjugate such a colorful sentence, know what I mean?
In any event, Kelan Martin tells me Ivey wasn’t shouting at him here in the front row, but at a handful of Purdue fans sitting just behind Martin.
Just to be sure, though, I’m pushing Martin, telling him: It sure looked like he was shouting at you.
“Well, maybe he was,” Martin says. “I wasn’t paying attention. But I know him. We’re good. I worked out this (past) summer at Purdue.”
Martin’s smiling. He likes Ivey, you can tell, and loves his game. Probably wouldn’t mind seeing him next season in the Pacers locker room either. We could talk more about that, Kelan and I, but there’s that cluster of fans down the front row, a group of guys I know Ivey was shouting at. So I’m heading that way, to the dude who looks like a (really) young Denzel Washington, and asking what Ivey had yelled at him. The Denzel dude is smiling and speaking quietly, so as not to offend anyone I guess, and telling me Jaden’s family is three seats farther down the row.
“In the blue hat,” my Denzel-looking friend is telling me quietly. OK, fine:
Denzel Dude’s real name Jean Kenol, he’s a Notre Dame grad and a lawyer from Chicago, and he’s 45. Looks 30. I’m mad at him for looking so young, but no time for anger. We’re on the move.
Purdue Boilermakers guard Jaden Ivey (23) shoots a lap past the Butler Bulldogs forward Myles Wilmoth (5) and Butler Bulldogs guard Jair Bolden
(52) during the Crossroads Classic college basketball tournament on Saturday, Dec. 18, 2021, at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. The Purdue Boilermakers took on the Butler Bulldogs.
We’re standing now in front of the guy in the blue hat. Looks to be in decent shape. Might be able to hang with me in the gym, I’m thinking, as I ask the most clever question in my arsenal:
“Are you Jaden’s family?”
Guy in the blue hat is nodding.
“He’s my brother,” he says.
“Just so you know,” I’m telling Blue Hat, “I love Jaden. He’s safe, you’re safe, but if you don’t mind telling me … what was he shouting at you?”
Blue Hat’s smiling. He’s going to tell me the G-rated version.
“He was just saying he’s locked in,” Blue Hat says.
I’m asking his name, and he tells me “Demetrius.” As I’m walking away, I hear the second name: “Jackson.”
I’m spinning and heading back. I know that name, I’m telling former Notre Dame guard Demetrius Jackson, and nobody ever told me Jaden is your brother!
Jackson, who turned pro after averaging 15.8 ppg and 4.7 assists as a Notre Dame junior in 2016, tilts his head and rolls his eyes in a nice way at himself, at this distinction I’m forcing him to make:
“Godbrother,” he says.
Better. But now it’s the second half and Ivey is crossing over a Butler defender for a 3, then driving the baseline and hanging in the air — he’s maybe 15 feet from my press seat, and the look on his face is placid — and finding Caleb Furst alone at the rim for a dunk.
Now Ivey is getting a handoff from Williams for another 3, and I’m looking at the stats and realizing I’m watching something special: Ivey has 19 points in 21 minutes, and he’s 5-for-5 on 3-pointers, and this is a perfect game I’m watching and—
Wait, what’s he doing now?? He’s got the ball one more time, and he’s about to ruin it. He does one of those huge NBA backward steps off the dribble, leaping well behind the 3-point arc and beyond the reach of his defender, and rises for a 3-pointer with a high degree of difficulty. I’m literally groaning out loud — Noooo — because he’s about to ruin his perfect game, and my story about it.
Swish.
Ivey, with 22 points in 24 minutes and 6-for-6 shooting on 3-pointers, is running down the court with a gleeful smile on his face. He’s passing Kelan Martin, and I don’t care what anyone says, he’s saying something to his summer workout partner.
Now Kelan Martin is trying not to smile. That’s his alma mater, Butler, that Jaden Ivey is destroying. But that’s his friend, and his future NBA colleague, and perhaps if we’re both lucky his future NBA teammate. And now Kelan Martin is looking down, in case anyone is looking, and cracking a small smile.
Makes two of us, Kelan.
