So it's still the blog, but it's now called 'Final Thoughts' because I wanted a plural subject, because I'm a word geek.
Anyway, some final thoughts from Purdue's 75-56 exhibition win over Marian University.
• Hard to take much from this one exhibition, but this looks like a Purdue team with the widest range of possibilities, um, possible.
Is this a sure-fire NCAA Tournament team? Hell if I know.
Is it a middle-of-the-pack Big Ten and bubble team? Maybe.
Does somewhere in the middle the truth lie? Yeah, possibly.
Point is, everything here is new and very little known. Even what is known — Carsen Edwards is good — comes with some unknown because known-commodity players' roles are changing.
This looks like a team that might be able to beat anyone on its best night or lose to anyone on its worst, not uncommon for youth, but also for teams that are going to be so dependent on one guy to generate offense. There were times tonight when Purdue really struggled to score, especially in the first half.
• Ryan Cline may be the breakout player in the Big Ten, however you want to define "breakout."
Is this improvement or opportunity? Probably more the latter, because here's a guy who'd go two weeks last season hardly taking a shot in a game to a player who may average nine or 10 three-point attempts per game.
He's not going to average 20 a game, but there's good reason to think here that Purdue has found a solid No. 2 scorer — not just scorer, but offensive player — to go with Carsen Edwards and he's been right there the whole time.
• Same sort of principle for Matt Haarms. I'm sure he's better than last season in some ways, but simple opportunity is going to shine a spotlight on everything he already did well. He seems poised to be a much more impactful scoring threat than I think most realize. It's just that Purdue's post-generate offense now comes completely differently, as Haarms showed to not with pick-and-roll dunks, a face-up drive and runner off the glass and the threes he took and missed but looked good shooting.
• Defensive discipline may be a hot-button for this team, one that is going to want to be aggressive on defense and quick to trigger fast breaks but is gonna need to keep its head at times, too.
Along that hot-and-cold theme from earlier, Purdue's gonna get some pick-sixes this season. It just needs to get far more of them than it allows bunnies because it sold out for the pick-six.
This is an energetic, exuberant and athletic group. It is not an experienced group.
That's going to come with some trade-offs, most likely.
• Yes, it is Marian, not Michigan, but 14 offensive rebounds is a good number for Purdue. Active big men — Matt Haarms and Evan Boudreaux combined for six — are a good thing and so can be a freakingly large point guard who can physically dominate people on the boards, as Nojel Eastern did on at least one occasion.
• I don't know if Trevion Williams can help Purdue this season or not. Hell, he's their third center. But, I've seen him in scrimmages and now an exhibition and that kid is a load under the basket. He averaged approximately 220 rebounds per game, give or take, as a senior in high school, and the early read here in that that portion of his game is going to translate.
