Greetings from the bowels of Mackey Arena, where Purdue plays its first game of the season against a Counting Crows song — Omaha.
This might just be the most irrelevant game of the season, so I'm not going to pretend it to be something different by trying to manufacture analysis here. This may not be the worst game on the schedule (I see you, Nicholls State), but its placement at 2 p.m. on a holiday weekend Friday 24 hours before the Bucket game definitely make this a game where a month from now you'll probably have no recollection whatsoever of this game being played.
Here's the biggest thing about this game, and the only thing I'm going to take the time to type out: Attention span.
Purdue should be on top of the world right now after vaulting itself into the stratosphere with that win over Villanova. Now you're jammed full of tryptophan, sugary deserts and starches and playing at 2 p.m. on a weekday.
This would be the ultimate snooze-bar sort of game, so I guess a game like this can be a worthwhile test of a team's maturity, focus, professionalism and whatever else. It is almost physically impossible for Purdue to lose a game like this, but it's not impossible for them to sleepwalk just enough to look bad in victory.
Purdue is not a finished product. It needs to keep getting better, and every game that's played is a chance to do that, in one way or another. A lot of the same dynamics that might apply to getting ready to play Omaha on a Friday afternoon on Nov. 26 might apply to getting ready to play Northwestern at 1 p.m. on Jan. 23.
It's a chance to build habits.
That's it, folks.
No TV on this one, unless you're a BTN+ groupie, so follow along here and on Twitter at @brianneubert if you're so inclined.
Full coverage afterward.
This might just be the most irrelevant game of the season, so I'm not going to pretend it to be something different by trying to manufacture analysis here. This may not be the worst game on the schedule (I see you, Nicholls State), but its placement at 2 p.m. on a holiday weekend Friday 24 hours before the Bucket game definitely make this a game where a month from now you'll probably have no recollection whatsoever of this game being played.
Here's the biggest thing about this game, and the only thing I'm going to take the time to type out: Attention span.
Purdue should be on top of the world right now after vaulting itself into the stratosphere with that win over Villanova. Now you're jammed full of tryptophan, sugary deserts and starches and playing at 2 p.m. on a weekday.
This would be the ultimate snooze-bar sort of game, so I guess a game like this can be a worthwhile test of a team's maturity, focus, professionalism and whatever else. It is almost physically impossible for Purdue to lose a game like this, but it's not impossible for them to sleepwalk just enough to look bad in victory.
Purdue is not a finished product. It needs to keep getting better, and every game that's played is a chance to do that, in one way or another. A lot of the same dynamics that might apply to getting ready to play Omaha on a Friday afternoon on Nov. 26 might apply to getting ready to play Northwestern at 1 p.m. on Jan. 23.
It's a chance to build habits.
That's it, folks.
No TV on this one, unless you're a BTN+ groupie, so follow along here and on Twitter at @brianneubert if you're so inclined.
Full coverage afterward.
