JJ-Hummel-Moore-Kramer vs Current Team

[Bleedinggoldandblack]

Saw the current group play for the first time on ESPN last night,
while tremendous upside potential as talented as they may be ,
they don't have the same energy - closeness that the old group had.
When and if they do come together they will be unstoppable.

They are fragmented .....3 pointers needed to show up consistently,
otherwise they all sag in on the bigs.

You just can't predict who's going to show up and help Hammons....

Got another month plus to figure it out.

Like your posts confirm over the months , best talent we have ever had on floor.

 

[lbodel]

Saw the current group play for the first time on ESPN last night,
while tremendous upside potential as talented as they may be ,
they don't have the same energy - closeness that the old group had.
When and if they do come together they will be unstoppable.

They are fragmented .....3 pointers needed to show up consistently,
otherwise they all sag in on the bigs.

You just can't predict who's going to show up and help Hammons....

Got another month plus to figure it out.

Like your posts confirm over the months , best talent we have ever had on floor.

I mean, it's really tough to compare and contrast - especially if you are watching 1 game out of an entire season.

A few notes:

That team certainly had strengths, but they also had weaknesses. For example, in our best season (when Robbie blew his knee against Minnesota), they lost 3 in a row, including to Northwestern. In that Northwestern game, we shot 22% from 3 (5-23), shot 35% for the game, and were out rebounded by 19!

Secondly, that team was also a core team that played together for a long time. Last night, we played 2 "regulars" with Davis and Hammons, but the rest of our line-up was: Hill (1st year player, even though a senior), PJ (sophomore), Edwards (sophomore), Swanigan (freshman), Cline (freshman) , etc. It's not as "steady" of a bunch as it was with Hummel/Moore/Johnson.

 

[*4purdue*]

Saw the current group play for the first time on ESPN last night,
while tremendous upside potential as talented as they may be ,
they don't have the same energy - closeness that the old group had.
When and if they do come together they will be unstoppable.

They are fragmented .....3 pointers needed to show up consistently,
otherwise they all sag in on the bigs.

You just can't predict who's going to show up and help Hammons....

Got another month plus to figure it out.

Like your posts confirm over the months , best talent we have ever had on floor.

That group was fantastic, but not near as deep as this group. The difficult thing about this team is CMP has to figure out on the fly who is playing well each game. That team was probably alot easier to coach because you knew each of those 4 was going to be on the floor as long as they wanted.

 

[Bleedinggoldandblack]

Thanks for the good positive intelligent feedback......

 

[BoilerDeac]

There wasn't a team I didn't think Purdue could beat the season RH tore his knee up the first time.

I can't say the same about this group just yet, but they have time. Like the OP said, the guy to step up and help Hammons this season has been too random.

You KNEW you were getting contributions from Hummel, E'twaun and JJ on every night, and other guys had perfectly defined roles (Grant, Kramer, Lew Jack, Calasan, etc.). It just worked. Unfortunately, it's weakness was depth, which was exposed when Hummel went down, but that team, comparing to this team NOW (not where it will be by March) is way better than this year's.

 

[boiler-deuce]

This team is deeper but not as good......yet. It's not as well rounded as the Hummel team. Could we ever use a Kramer type player right now!

 

[dwhitebash11]

If you put either Haas or Hammons on that team, they lose maybe a game or two all year. The ONLY thing they lacked was a true center, and a player or two on the bench. JJ was great, but very thin, and more of a tall 4 than a 5.


That said, I think the Hummel team was better because of its' consistency. You knew they were going to be in every game, you knew who the top 3 scorers were going to be. Each player had their role and embraced it emphatically.



This team we have, is so inconsistent, it's scary. You have no clue who is scoring, but you know Hammons is going to do his thing, but Edwards might lead the team, CS may have a huge night, maybe Mathias/Cline hits a hot streak, possibly RD with his streaky shooting, or Haas dominates down low.

The scary part is that this team can lose by 20 against teams like Illinois who get hot and we have no answer for them because of the streaky outside shooting. But we could also beat any team in the country by 20 because our bigs are that dominant, hit our 3s, and don't turn the ball over.

 

[Bleedinggoldandblack]

Could use some K "man" ( Kramer intensity and focus now) ...............he played that way the whole game .....did not see much of that the other day......short bursts....but nothing sustained.

 

[septimusharding]

It's really hard to say who would win that matchup. I have to think that a junior-year Hummel would abuse Swanigan, but maybe Edwards would guard him instead. The current team's strong post presence would be hard for JJ to handle, and if he got into foul trouble, then it would be either Patrick Bade time or Hummel would have to slide over to guard the five. Starters vs. starters, I think the 2010 team has an edge, but in an actual game, where nothing ever goes as planned, I actually think this year's squad has a slight advantage.