IOWA CITY — A few final musings — yes, musings — from Purdue's 77-68 win at No. 18 Iowa.
• Sorry for the delay, but here was my night.
5 p.m.: Check into hotel. Leave nothing in room.
7 p.m. to 1:30ish a.m. — Purdue at Iowa
1:45 a.m.: Enter hotel using key to get in building, only to find key doesn't work to get into room anymore.
1:50 a.m.: Go back to front desk to get new key.
1:55 a.m.: Go back to room. Enter room. Immediately recognize 'Entertainment Tonight' theme music coming from TV, not to mention empty pizza box and multiple back packs, none of which below to me.
2 a.m.: GTFU
2:05 a.m.: Hello, Mr. Man at Front Desk ...
2:30 a.m., unbelievably: Well, we'll give you a new room, but you won't have a key, and Mr. Man at Front Desk will let me in. They'll figure out the person in my room is, they say. I assure them it's not Neubert.
2:50ish a.m.: Get in room, resume work.
3:30 a.m.: Knock on door. It's Mr. Man at Front Desk. 'I was told to check your ID.'
3:35 a.m.: Wonder ominously what I could have walked in on in my room earlier. I didn't see any actual people, but bailed before bed came into view.
Anyway, carry on ...
• Huge win for Purdue. Beat Rutgers and win two in Indy and I say Purdue's in. Beat Rutgers and win one in Indy and, hey, you never know. I don't think really knows anything these days in terms of what absolutely gets a team in and what doesn't. But this was a big-time win, and if the human element comes into play, suggests Purdue is ending the season on an uptick after that four-game swoon. Historically that's mattered — who's playing well at the end of the year.
Again, I think Purdue has shown itself to be an NCAA Tournament-caliber team. It's just a matter of whether it has the résumé when its reckoning comes.
• Purdue was real good with its offensive execution, I thought, but Iowa's less-than-awesome defense plays into that some. They do not have the sort of perimeter presences who can gum things up for the Boilermakers in halfcourt offense and Garza's not the monolith on defense (or the glass even) that, say, Kofi Cockburn is.
But I thought Purdue executed well, and the offensive rebounding made a good offensive showing essentially great.
Great might be overstatement, but considering Purdue won in essentially a rout after turning the ball over way too much, especially early, obviously it did a lot really well.
• I hate when seniors lose on their senior day or night. I just do. It's sad.
• In a lot of ways, Purdue has sort of gone this season as Eric Hunter has. He was terrific tonight. He was terrific at Ohio, he was terrific at IU and he made the winning plays at Northwestern. Not a coincidence that Purdue has won on the road when the player with the ball in his hands the most has been good.
• All of Purdue's upperclassmen really showed up tonight, Evan Boudreaux and Jahaad Proctor and juniors Nojel Eastern and Matt Haarms. Again, Eastern was so good at what Eastern's so good at tonight.
• Great passing game for Purdue, but maybe a few too many at times. Trevion Williams has got to attack when he has a guard or wing on him, for one thing.
• Purdue has done an unbelievable job defensively against Iowa, largely by controlling the tempo, largely by having offensive success. But they've also dominated on the point guard, taken away Joe Wieskamp and tried to make Connor McCaffery beat them, which he can't.
Purdue's got the blueprint for Iowa, that's for sure.
Thanks for reading, and if one of you happens to be reading from Room 2-8 at the Coralville Fairfield, you owe me like an hour.
• Sorry for the delay, but here was my night.
5 p.m.: Check into hotel. Leave nothing in room.
7 p.m. to 1:30ish a.m. — Purdue at Iowa
1:45 a.m.: Enter hotel using key to get in building, only to find key doesn't work to get into room anymore.
1:50 a.m.: Go back to front desk to get new key.
1:55 a.m.: Go back to room. Enter room. Immediately recognize 'Entertainment Tonight' theme music coming from TV, not to mention empty pizza box and multiple back packs, none of which below to me.
2 a.m.: GTFU
2:05 a.m.: Hello, Mr. Man at Front Desk ...
2:30 a.m., unbelievably: Well, we'll give you a new room, but you won't have a key, and Mr. Man at Front Desk will let me in. They'll figure out the person in my room is, they say. I assure them it's not Neubert.
2:50ish a.m.: Get in room, resume work.
3:30 a.m.: Knock on door. It's Mr. Man at Front Desk. 'I was told to check your ID.'
3:35 a.m.: Wonder ominously what I could have walked in on in my room earlier. I didn't see any actual people, but bailed before bed came into view.
Anyway, carry on ...
• Huge win for Purdue. Beat Rutgers and win two in Indy and I say Purdue's in. Beat Rutgers and win one in Indy and, hey, you never know. I don't think really knows anything these days in terms of what absolutely gets a team in and what doesn't. But this was a big-time win, and if the human element comes into play, suggests Purdue is ending the season on an uptick after that four-game swoon. Historically that's mattered — who's playing well at the end of the year.
Again, I think Purdue has shown itself to be an NCAA Tournament-caliber team. It's just a matter of whether it has the résumé when its reckoning comes.
• Purdue was real good with its offensive execution, I thought, but Iowa's less-than-awesome defense plays into that some. They do not have the sort of perimeter presences who can gum things up for the Boilermakers in halfcourt offense and Garza's not the monolith on defense (or the glass even) that, say, Kofi Cockburn is.
But I thought Purdue executed well, and the offensive rebounding made a good offensive showing essentially great.
Great might be overstatement, but considering Purdue won in essentially a rout after turning the ball over way too much, especially early, obviously it did a lot really well.
• I hate when seniors lose on their senior day or night. I just do. It's sad.
• In a lot of ways, Purdue has sort of gone this season as Eric Hunter has. He was terrific tonight. He was terrific at Ohio, he was terrific at IU and he made the winning plays at Northwestern. Not a coincidence that Purdue has won on the road when the player with the ball in his hands the most has been good.
• All of Purdue's upperclassmen really showed up tonight, Evan Boudreaux and Jahaad Proctor and juniors Nojel Eastern and Matt Haarms. Again, Eastern was so good at what Eastern's so good at tonight.
• Great passing game for Purdue, but maybe a few too many at times. Trevion Williams has got to attack when he has a guard or wing on him, for one thing.
• Purdue has done an unbelievable job defensively against Iowa, largely by controlling the tempo, largely by having offensive success. But they've also dominated on the point guard, taken away Joe Wieskamp and tried to make Connor McCaffery beat them, which he can't.
Purdue's got the blueprint for Iowa, that's for sure.
Thanks for reading, and if one of you happens to be reading from Room 2-8 at the Coralville Fairfield, you owe me like an hour.
