I'm not as old/seasoned as a number of posters on this site, but I've been watching Boiler basketball for quite a long time. I haven't read a ton of posts since about 10 minutes left in our game yesterday, so apologies if what I write sounds like what a lot of folks have regurgitated already.
1. We used to get beat by a lot of bigger and/or more physical teams. I remember wanting the Greg Ostertag and Cherokee Parks that bluebloods used to beat us with in yesterday losses. We couldn't match their production or physicality in the post. As good of a defensive player JuJuan Johnson was, he couldn't defend the larger Hasheem Thabeet (UCONN) kind of guys who wrecked us in 2009, and watching Brad Miller get outmuscled and punished by Mark Madsen in 1998. Texas had no answer for our post players...none...and if you follow the games and box scores...there has not really been any team that has shut down the combined presence of Edey and Tre all season. All players and positions have 'off' games, but the 5 slot has been as reliable as Danny McBride being really funny in almost anything you watch (we will give him a pass in Your Highness...everybody gets at least one pass...and Your Highness sucked...fight me).
2. On the topic of physical, I wondered how Caleb Furst would react after taking a man's foul from Brock Cunningham in yesterday's game. Cunningham didn't do anything egregious, but as Caleb was on the basketball floor looking up after getting getting hit by the ACME anvil, and then getting his elbow attended to, he gave 9 absolutely great minutes. All of us can get a bit dramatic with what players have a star on their belly or not, but I have firm believed that all 10 guys that see minutes simply need to do their role and find the best parts of their respective games to keep advancing. Even the ones some folks choose to really display great disdain toward and argue about. I put Caleb as #2 because some folks have really dug in on whether they believe he can play the #4 or not. I'm not here to inflame those entrenched positions as much as state that Caleb had 2 really good games this weekend when his name was called and looked like he really belonged...and we needed him and his production.
3. On the topic of fulfilling your role, Mason has seemed a little more reluctant to pull the trigger, or another position could be that he is choosing to not force anything he is not comfortable with and just taking what comes his way. I wasn't sure how Mason would respond after his off-season misstep. What happened sparked a robust discussion and if he would ever get his job back with top talent Furst and TKR right behind him. It speaks to his mental acumen, and resilience just like Cline showed when he made a youthful mistake as well. That position is simply loaded and Mason seems willing to roadhouse anybody inclined to take it away from him. That Texas scrap was the perfect game for a fighting bar brawl guy like Mason...perfect first name for the way he plays. I Truly thought he would be a little bigger though...Roadhouse (Insert Peter Griffin meme).
4. I have enjoyed seeing how the potential vitriol that could be associated with Newman has turned into some form of KHC compassion and desire to see him succeed. It was a small play at the time, but when he hit the floor and saved a possession it screamed of the kind of Purdue lore associated with Brian Cardinal's knee-pads. It has always driven me nuts to see fans willing to trade players like baseball cards when they don't fulfill expectations in their respective minds. Brandon might not ever get there, but I kinda felt Painter was talking directly to him on senior night when he referenced every senior thought about transferring at some point when adversity hit. Adversity has hit Brandon Newman square between the eyes this season. These kids are far from perfect, even Ivey, Tre, and Edey face some rational criticism...which I have always believed to well within the confines of being fans and message boards in general. The part that rankles my fur is when kids that are younger than my collegiate senior at Purdue are eviscerated with lines being crossed by men and women considerable older...and should know better...and then double and triple down when they feel their ego is challenged. This is already getting too preachy for my liking, but I am hoping all 10 guys keep playing as well as their respective roles call for, and that if and/or when they do it doesn't turn into a chest beating contest where we turn to eat our own or wish failure to prove a point. As Neubert roughly stated...'It is a game and life is too shortish'.
5. Lastly, with the way the end of the season fleshed out, even Painter and his assistants were taking blasts. Eric Hunter is a really good defender, our best really, and he was still getting owned by a really good offensive player when he gets rolling in Carr. It was a good and necessary switch, and also one that he should get credit for...but wouldn't have defined his coaching prowess if Carr was simply better than Ethan, or Ethan just not good enough. That leads me to Sasha. The lightening rod has been passed to him and Isaiah, and lots of questions have emerged on whether he should be seeing as many minutes or not. For as good as Ethan, Caleb, and Mason are...none of the three have the firepower to go off in a game like Sasha. He is a guy that can hit 7 threes in a game. We are getting elite production at the 5 as aforementioned, AA play from Ivey....and just enough from the rest mostly due to EH coming of age. Texas was pretty miserable offensively...North Carolina, UCLA, Duke and Gonzaga are not. Painter knows his team, and I for one like that he is giving him a shot to work through his slump. If his hand was too bad, I am almost certain he wouldn't be out there creating 'turnovers' with bad shots. Just a kid mired in a big slump and we need him to flip the script to help us get to that magical 70 while also outscoring some really good offensive teams on the horizon no matter how improved our defense might be. Painter answered the awkward question on whether these tourney games define him as a coach just recently in the perfect Matt Painter kind of way. For very few, it is already a victory that he got past the first weekend. For others, we simply have to beat a St. Peter squad because expectations warrant it should be a gimme. For a larger crew, they will be forgiving if we lose to UCLA or UC because those are blue blood programs that recruit blue blood players and records be damned. Then the fanbase will get even smaller with 'Painter can't win in the postseason' if we reach the Holy Grail of a final four. That small fanbase will invoke the 'gifted bracket opening up' or 'he needs to prove it again like a game of HORSE' clause as their definitive evidence I'm guessing. IMO, he will be no better of a coach or worse...not unlike Porter Moser and his run with Loyola-Chicago or Tom Crean with Marquette. He needs Sasha, we need Sasha, the team needs Sasha likely to get where we all want to go, and I like that Painter hasn't shelved him as he studies the forest and not a few trees imo. Hoping to see a few of you and share a few libations in New Orleans.
1. We used to get beat by a lot of bigger and/or more physical teams. I remember wanting the Greg Ostertag and Cherokee Parks that bluebloods used to beat us with in yesterday losses. We couldn't match their production or physicality in the post. As good of a defensive player JuJuan Johnson was, he couldn't defend the larger Hasheem Thabeet (UCONN) kind of guys who wrecked us in 2009, and watching Brad Miller get outmuscled and punished by Mark Madsen in 1998. Texas had no answer for our post players...none...and if you follow the games and box scores...there has not really been any team that has shut down the combined presence of Edey and Tre all season. All players and positions have 'off' games, but the 5 slot has been as reliable as Danny McBride being really funny in almost anything you watch (we will give him a pass in Your Highness...everybody gets at least one pass...and Your Highness sucked...fight me).
2. On the topic of physical, I wondered how Caleb Furst would react after taking a man's foul from Brock Cunningham in yesterday's game. Cunningham didn't do anything egregious, but as Caleb was on the basketball floor looking up after getting getting hit by the ACME anvil, and then getting his elbow attended to, he gave 9 absolutely great minutes. All of us can get a bit dramatic with what players have a star on their belly or not, but I have firm believed that all 10 guys that see minutes simply need to do their role and find the best parts of their respective games to keep advancing. Even the ones some folks choose to really display great disdain toward and argue about. I put Caleb as #2 because some folks have really dug in on whether they believe he can play the #4 or not. I'm not here to inflame those entrenched positions as much as state that Caleb had 2 really good games this weekend when his name was called and looked like he really belonged...and we needed him and his production.
3. On the topic of fulfilling your role, Mason has seemed a little more reluctant to pull the trigger, or another position could be that he is choosing to not force anything he is not comfortable with and just taking what comes his way. I wasn't sure how Mason would respond after his off-season misstep. What happened sparked a robust discussion and if he would ever get his job back with top talent Furst and TKR right behind him. It speaks to his mental acumen, and resilience just like Cline showed when he made a youthful mistake as well. That position is simply loaded and Mason seems willing to roadhouse anybody inclined to take it away from him. That Texas scrap was the perfect game for a fighting bar brawl guy like Mason...perfect first name for the way he plays. I Truly thought he would be a little bigger though...Roadhouse (Insert Peter Griffin meme).
4. I have enjoyed seeing how the potential vitriol that could be associated with Newman has turned into some form of KHC compassion and desire to see him succeed. It was a small play at the time, but when he hit the floor and saved a possession it screamed of the kind of Purdue lore associated with Brian Cardinal's knee-pads. It has always driven me nuts to see fans willing to trade players like baseball cards when they don't fulfill expectations in their respective minds. Brandon might not ever get there, but I kinda felt Painter was talking directly to him on senior night when he referenced every senior thought about transferring at some point when adversity hit. Adversity has hit Brandon Newman square between the eyes this season. These kids are far from perfect, even Ivey, Tre, and Edey face some rational criticism...which I have always believed to well within the confines of being fans and message boards in general. The part that rankles my fur is when kids that are younger than my collegiate senior at Purdue are eviscerated with lines being crossed by men and women considerable older...and should know better...and then double and triple down when they feel their ego is challenged. This is already getting too preachy for my liking, but I am hoping all 10 guys keep playing as well as their respective roles call for, and that if and/or when they do it doesn't turn into a chest beating contest where we turn to eat our own or wish failure to prove a point. As Neubert roughly stated...'It is a game and life is too shortish'.
5. Lastly, with the way the end of the season fleshed out, even Painter and his assistants were taking blasts. Eric Hunter is a really good defender, our best really, and he was still getting owned by a really good offensive player when he gets rolling in Carr. It was a good and necessary switch, and also one that he should get credit for...but wouldn't have defined his coaching prowess if Carr was simply better than Ethan, or Ethan just not good enough. That leads me to Sasha. The lightening rod has been passed to him and Isaiah, and lots of questions have emerged on whether he should be seeing as many minutes or not. For as good as Ethan, Caleb, and Mason are...none of the three have the firepower to go off in a game like Sasha. He is a guy that can hit 7 threes in a game. We are getting elite production at the 5 as aforementioned, AA play from Ivey....and just enough from the rest mostly due to EH coming of age. Texas was pretty miserable offensively...North Carolina, UCLA, Duke and Gonzaga are not. Painter knows his team, and I for one like that he is giving him a shot to work through his slump. If his hand was too bad, I am almost certain he wouldn't be out there creating 'turnovers' with bad shots. Just a kid mired in a big slump and we need him to flip the script to help us get to that magical 70 while also outscoring some really good offensive teams on the horizon no matter how improved our defense might be. Painter answered the awkward question on whether these tourney games define him as a coach just recently in the perfect Matt Painter kind of way. For very few, it is already a victory that he got past the first weekend. For others, we simply have to beat a St. Peter squad because expectations warrant it should be a gimme. For a larger crew, they will be forgiving if we lose to UCLA or UC because those are blue blood programs that recruit blue blood players and records be damned. Then the fanbase will get even smaller with 'Painter can't win in the postseason' if we reach the Holy Grail of a final four. That small fanbase will invoke the 'gifted bracket opening up' or 'he needs to prove it again like a game of HORSE' clause as their definitive evidence I'm guessing. IMO, he will be no better of a coach or worse...not unlike Porter Moser and his run with Loyola-Chicago or Tom Crean with Marquette. He needs Sasha, we need Sasha, the team needs Sasha likely to get where we all want to go, and I like that Painter hasn't shelved him as he studies the forest and not a few trees imo. Hoping to see a few of you and share a few libations in New Orleans.
