I tend to agree with this

[purdue4sure]

"The Boilermakers' interior trio of A.J. Hammons, Isaac Haas, and Caleb Swanigan is as good a front-court triumvirate as there is in college basketball and once this team gets outside the Big Ten, that could be a major difference maker."

http://www.cbssports.com/collegebas...g-ten-team-could-make-a-run-to-the-final-four

 

[rjmpu82]

Tell that to Seth Davis

 

[*4purdue*]

"The Boilermakers' interior trio of A.J. Hammons, Isaac Haas, and Caleb Swanigan is as good a front-court triumvirate as there is in college basketball and once this team gets outside the Big Ten, that could be a major difference maker."

http://www.cbssports.com/collegebas...g-ten-team-could-make-a-run-to-the-final-four

I think teams playing us on short rest, will have a difficult time preparing for us. Getting to the second game each weekend is going to be the test for Purdue.

 

[BoilerFan#35]

Tell that to Seth Davis

But the guard play!!!!

 

[lbodel]

I think teams playing us on short rest, will have a difficult time preparing for us. Getting to the second game each weekend is going to be the test for Purdue.

Success in the NCAA Tournament is all about match-ups and playing your game. You play a lot of unfamiliar teams in the tournament unlike your conference season. Getting off-track of your own game plan can be easy - as obviously both teams are trying to accomplish that.

 

[DG10]

Success in the NCAA Tournament is all about match-ups and playing your game. You play a lot of unfamiliar teams in the tournament unlike your conference season. Getting off-track of your own game plan can be easy - as obviously both teams are trying to accomplish that.

Success in the NCAA Tournament also is generally tied to guard play...it probably goes back even further, but look at the last 10 National Championship games and having a dominant guard was a key factor for virtually each of the 20 teams that played for the title.

For that matter...what will create the biggest obstacle/issue for Purdue in the tournament? A dominant backcourt would be their matchup nightmare.

 

[boilerzz]

I'd say Michigan State has a pretty dominant backcourt and we did OK the other night.

A versatile stretch four is our biggest challenge right now.

 

[rgarlitz]

Just my $.02, but I think it goes a little deeper than just guard play vs. bigs.

Purdue's guards do need to be more consistent shooters. They don't have to be on fire every night, but they have to be a consistent threat to maximize the interior advantages.

That said, turnovers continue to be a big issue, and that's not just a guard issue. AJ and Isaac seem to be doing a better job taking care of the ball in the post, but Caleb is still a turnover machine.

I love having Swanigan on our team, and there's not doubt he's a great rebounder. But, his shot selection and ball handling alone could get us beat in the NCAA tournament.

 

[gr8indoorsman]

I'm not as heartened by the win over MSU as some, apparently. Rapheal Davis isn't going to hit 6 threes to cover up our defensive issues and turnovers very often. MSU missed three dunks (one of which was blocked by Hammons). We gave up 40-some-odd points in a half again while scoring 20-some-odd. That's the fifth or sixth time that's happened in a game against a quality opponent. Sometimes, good shooting masks other issues, but I really didn't see much in the MSU game that gave me any hope that our ceiling is any higher than the Sweet 16.

We struggle to defend ball screens, and as others have mentioned stretch fours and fives give us issues. Good wing play gives us issues in general, whether it's a guard or a 3.

I can very easily see Michigan beating us on Saturday and the IU game could get very ugly. There are a lot of teams out there capable of beating us, and we do enough to help them almost every night out, whether it's turning the ball over or taking poor shots. I have yet to see us play a game against a quality opponent where we don't go through some stretch of playing just dumb basketball, and it's often Swanigan, Davis, Hill, and Stephens (earlier in the year) that are the most likely culprits when it comes to shots that are as good as turnovers.

There is still time to sort it out before March, but we've got to get the number of truly empty possessions - those that end with a turnover or a shot that's as good as a turnover - way down if we want to do anything past the first weekend.

 

[BoilerDeac]

I'm not as heartened by the win over MSU as some, apparently. Rapheal Davis isn't going to hit 6 threes to cover up our defensive issues and turnovers very often. MSU missed three dunks (one of which was blocked by Hammons). We gave up 40-some-odd points in a half again while scoring 20-some-odd. That's the fifth or sixth time that's happened in a game against a quality opponent. Sometimes, good shooting masks other issues, but I really didn't see much in the MSU game that gave me any hope that our ceiling is any higher than the Sweet 16.

We struggle to defend ball screens, and as others have mentioned stretch fours and fives give us issues. Good wing play gives us issues in general, whether it's a guard or a 3.

I can very easily see Michigan beating us on Saturday and the IU game could get very ugly. There are a lot of teams out there capable of beating us, and we do enough to help them almost every night out, whether it's turning the ball over or taking poor shots. I have yet to see us play a game against a quality opponent where we don't go through some stretch of playing just dumb basketball, and it's often Swanigan, Davis, Hill, and Stephens (earlier in the year) that are the most likely culprits when it comes to shots that are as good as turnovers.

There is still time to sort it out before March, but we've got to get the number of truly empty possessions - those that end with a turnover or a shot that's as good as a turnover - way down if we want to do anything past the first weekend.

The TOs are a huge issue. You CANNOT shoot 16 less shots than your opponent and expect to win.

 

[gr8indoorsman]

The TOs are a huge issue. You CANNOT shoot 16 less shots than your opponent and expect to win.

Exactly. Painter has often commented as to how his philosophy for winning basketball games is to get more better (yeah, I said it) shots than your opponent. It used to be that we forced turnovers and got more effective possessions than our opponents. Starting last year with the rule changes, we shifted away from the focus on ball pressure and forcing turnovers and into trying to force more bad shots, block more shots, and rebound the hell out of the basketball. The theory being if you can get your opponents to take a bad shot, then rebound the ball, while you take a better shot and out rebound them offensively, you're going to win a lot of games.

That's undone by taking bad shots yourself, turning the ball over, or not winning on the glass. If you look at our five losses and even the MSU game when we struggled, that's exactly what happens. We don't value every possession well enough, but ultimately that's the reason we're seeing PJT play a lot more than Hill now, even though Hill is more athletic and longer than PJT. That's the reason Kendall's minutes dwindled in favor of Cline even though Kendall is a better defender.

 

[lbodel]

I'm not as heartened by the win over MSU as some, apparently. Rapheal Davis isn't going to hit 6 threes to cover up our defensive issues and turnovers very often. MSU missed three dunks (one of which was blocked by Hammons). We gave up 40-some-odd points in a half again while scoring 20-some-odd. That's the fifth or sixth time that's happened in a game against a quality opponent. Sometimes, good shooting masks other issues, but I really didn't see much in the MSU game that gave me any hope that our ceiling is any higher than the Sweet 16.

We struggle to defend ball screens, and as others have mentioned stretch fours and fives give us issues. Good wing play gives us issues in general, whether it's a guard or a 3.

I can very easily see Michigan beating us on Saturday and the IU game could get very ugly. There are a lot of teams out there capable of beating us, and we do enough to help them almost every night out, whether it's turning the ball over or taking poor shots. I have yet to see us play a game against a quality opponent where we don't go through some stretch of playing just dumb basketball, and it's often Swanigan, Davis, Hill, and Stephens (earlier in the year) that are the most likely culprits when it comes to shots that are as good as turnovers.

There is still time to sort it out before March, but we've got to get the number of truly empty possessions - those that end with a turnover or a shot that's as good as a turnover - way down if we want to do anything past the first weekend.

Are there issues? Absolutely.

But if you look as in-depth into nearly every competitive game in the country, you're going to find "holes" in every team's game.

Look at the polls this year - it's been a round robin of #1 teams. There are very few (and really - if any) consistent teams.

The turnovers are #1 still. We got sloppy at times - particularly with entry passes. But at the same time, MSU is a very good defensive team and they have some experienced guys.

With rebounding hard and keeping turnovers to an average amount, we should make up for possessions to handle a stretch where we aren't sharp offensively.

Every team has strengths and weaknesses. Taking advantages of strengths and minimizing weaknesses to a reasonable level is what matters. We don't need to shoot 40% from 3 as a team - we just can't shoot 20%. We don't need to have 6 turnovers a game - we can be fine with 11-13.

Take advantage of your strengths and keep the weaknesses in check!