NICEVILLE, Fla. — Some final musings — yes, musings — from Purdue's 63-60 OT loss to Florida State at the Emerald Coast Classic ...
• I think Purdue's probably in for the long haul in terms of developing as an offensive team. Without real playmakers on the perimeter and the possibility it takes a downturn as a three-point shooting team, cohesion and experience just come to the forefront now for a team that may not have the highest ceiling offensively. If you're in the "everyone who's not scoring should be benched" crowd, it's not that, it's about these guys figuring things out, learning how to handle situations, taking a deep breath every now and then and finding the poise needed to make more shots, to settle down enough to make layups and free throws and to get the ball inside as often as it can.
This is gonna be a system-driven offense, with a lot of parts surrounding a couple good bigs. Last year, it was a bunch of parts surrounding a couple good guards, and that took months to work itself out, and last year's parts are now kinda sorta Purdue's pillars.
This could take time, and there's no guarantee that the end product whenever it comes to light is elite, but Purdue has upside offensively simply in the unknown, and VCU and Florida State can't not have been experiences that move it in the right direction.
Regardless, this looks like a defense-and-rebounding team in terms of its best hope. You can win that way without great offense. Hell, look no further than Florida State. But it's a lot harder to win with defense and rebounding in the absence of great offense if your offense contributes to getting you beat.
Purdue has done a great job in recent seasons with Matt Painter's statistical affinity: Possessions. The turnover issues today were a credit to Florida State, but glaring nonetheless, and if Purdue had just got in half the number of pick-six buckets it allowed in the past 48 hours, it would have won this event.
Purdue committed 42 turnovers in its two games down here. That can't the beginning of a trend, because the Boilermakers could have the best defense in college basketball and it wouldn't mean a damn thing if the opponent is dunking on an unguarded rim.
• Again, Isaiah Thompson belongs. That's the best way to put it. In a game played against big, strong, grown men, a case study for getting old and staying old, Thompson did some really positive things in the higest-leverage moments of his career to this point. He obviously made some mistakes, but not as many as he could have. Kid can make shots and has some jets unmatched on this roster. There's an important role for him on this team, it would appear, and he may be ready for it.
• It's kinda hard to fathom that Purdue is literally simple passing-and-catching potentially away from being in a much different place than it is. The Texas game is won if not for unforced fumbles, quite literally, and you could say the same about this game. There's no telling what happens if Eric Hunter doesn't lose the ball late in regulation, or the entry doesn't go through Matt Haarms' hands, or Wheeler doesn't lose the ball twice around the rim, but you have to figure Purdue finds a point or two in there somewhere in a game it essentially lost by one point.
• I don't know what to add about Aaron Wheeler here, but obviously he's struggling, and I'll just remind that much, much more is being asked of him and others and their roles and casts around them have changed considerably. That was never guaranteed to be a hit-the-ground-running sort of deal for everyone, and Wheeler is the sort to wow people with athleticism and the simple look of him as a player. People got way ahead of themselves — way ahead of themselves — looking at him as a pro before he was really a player, and that standard was never fair to the player. It may just take him some time to settle in here, but he is too good a player for this to go on long-term if you ask me.
• The reason Nojel Eastern was a preseason All-Big Ten pick wasn't because he scores a lot but because of how he impacts a game, and I thought at the start of the second half he sort of set a tone for the half with his defensive rebounding, first boxing out a 7-footer and getting the ball to seal a Purdue stop, then rebounding another miss and advancing it to Wheeler for a dunk.
Purdue has an elite rebounder and elite defender in Eastern who has done more positive things as a facilitator this season than he's being given credit for by the vocal masses.
People did the same thing to Rapheal Davis when he helped make Purdue good again. They obsessed over what he didn't do great instead of the influence he wielded in Purdue actually being good again.
Here I go again returning fire at social media commenter guy who a year ago at this time wanted Grady Eifert to become a manager instead.
Good night, everybody.
• I think Purdue's probably in for the long haul in terms of developing as an offensive team. Without real playmakers on the perimeter and the possibility it takes a downturn as a three-point shooting team, cohesion and experience just come to the forefront now for a team that may not have the highest ceiling offensively. If you're in the "everyone who's not scoring should be benched" crowd, it's not that, it's about these guys figuring things out, learning how to handle situations, taking a deep breath every now and then and finding the poise needed to make more shots, to settle down enough to make layups and free throws and to get the ball inside as often as it can.
This is gonna be a system-driven offense, with a lot of parts surrounding a couple good bigs. Last year, it was a bunch of parts surrounding a couple good guards, and that took months to work itself out, and last year's parts are now kinda sorta Purdue's pillars.
This could take time, and there's no guarantee that the end product whenever it comes to light is elite, but Purdue has upside offensively simply in the unknown, and VCU and Florida State can't not have been experiences that move it in the right direction.
Regardless, this looks like a defense-and-rebounding team in terms of its best hope. You can win that way without great offense. Hell, look no further than Florida State. But it's a lot harder to win with defense and rebounding in the absence of great offense if your offense contributes to getting you beat.
Purdue has done a great job in recent seasons with Matt Painter's statistical affinity: Possessions. The turnover issues today were a credit to Florida State, but glaring nonetheless, and if Purdue had just got in half the number of pick-six buckets it allowed in the past 48 hours, it would have won this event.
Purdue committed 42 turnovers in its two games down here. That can't the beginning of a trend, because the Boilermakers could have the best defense in college basketball and it wouldn't mean a damn thing if the opponent is dunking on an unguarded rim.
• Again, Isaiah Thompson belongs. That's the best way to put it. In a game played against big, strong, grown men, a case study for getting old and staying old, Thompson did some really positive things in the higest-leverage moments of his career to this point. He obviously made some mistakes, but not as many as he could have. Kid can make shots and has some jets unmatched on this roster. There's an important role for him on this team, it would appear, and he may be ready for it.
• It's kinda hard to fathom that Purdue is literally simple passing-and-catching potentially away from being in a much different place than it is. The Texas game is won if not for unforced fumbles, quite literally, and you could say the same about this game. There's no telling what happens if Eric Hunter doesn't lose the ball late in regulation, or the entry doesn't go through Matt Haarms' hands, or Wheeler doesn't lose the ball twice around the rim, but you have to figure Purdue finds a point or two in there somewhere in a game it essentially lost by one point.
• I don't know what to add about Aaron Wheeler here, but obviously he's struggling, and I'll just remind that much, much more is being asked of him and others and their roles and casts around them have changed considerably. That was never guaranteed to be a hit-the-ground-running sort of deal for everyone, and Wheeler is the sort to wow people with athleticism and the simple look of him as a player. People got way ahead of themselves — way ahead of themselves — looking at him as a pro before he was really a player, and that standard was never fair to the player. It may just take him some time to settle in here, but he is too good a player for this to go on long-term if you ask me.
• The reason Nojel Eastern was a preseason All-Big Ten pick wasn't because he scores a lot but because of how he impacts a game, and I thought at the start of the second half he sort of set a tone for the half with his defensive rebounding, first boxing out a 7-footer and getting the ball to seal a Purdue stop, then rebounding another miss and advancing it to Wheeler for a dunk.
Purdue has an elite rebounder and elite defender in Eastern who has done more positive things as a facilitator this season than he's being given credit for by the vocal masses.
People did the same thing to Rapheal Davis when he helped make Purdue good again. They obsessed over what he didn't do great instead of the influence he wielded in Purdue actually being good again.
Here I go again returning fire at social media commenter guy who a year ago at this time wanted Grady Eifert to become a manager instead.
Good night, everybody.
