Nebraska played about as well as they can with who they had available, so I'll give them credit for that. However, Purdue still could have won this game.
-In general, I don't think Purdue's ever going to go far in the NCAA Tournament (they've had great man-to-man defenders and still come up short) either without lots of elite talent or more importantly (and more fixable IMO), without practicing more than one base defense all of the time. Just like this in any game they play in, there were defensive possessions in this game where it would have been more beneficial to show a different look (an aggressive 1-3-1 zone, an aggressive 2-3 zone, a box-and-1, something along those lines) in order to stymie the opponent and make them have to reconsider their plan of attack. Like a lot of opponents, Nebraska's plan of attack was to use high-ball screens and dribble-drive action to get to the rim and score or move Purdue's man defenders out of position enough to get their teammates open. As most of us know, this Purdue team's strength is offensively, as they are obviously not along the lines of a team like the '09-'10 team defensively (Kramer, Grant, Johnson, Hummel, etc.). However, that '09-'10 would have benefitted from practicing more than one defense as well, which goes back to coaching.
-The players cannot be afraid to take the big shots in close games. By now, everyone knows that Swanigan is the #1 option in games that go down to the wire. The coaches should anticipate that opponents already know this, and have sets or even just suggestions of where to move to if option #1 breaks down. They need to instill confidence in the #2, #3, and #4 options and encourage them to make a play if option #1 breaks down. Clearly today in one of the crucial final possessions, once Swanigan was doubled and unable to make a move, he passed it back it out to Vince Edwards, who seemed either in fear or unaware of what to do next. He decided to make a tough bounce pass to Dakota Mathias. The pass was catchable, but maybe Mathias wasn't expecting it (or maybe he just had fumble-fingers) and it led to a turnover. This situation should be like a quarterback checking down all of his options and one of the options being able to make a play after their catch instead of uncertainty and discombobulation, which ties to my next point.
-Often players and teams seem to mirror the personality of their head coach. I noticed that Painter seemed to be losing any speck of composure in the final 3 or 4 possessions that he appeared to possess previously in the game. That has to rub off on or affect a lot of his players in those close-game situations. It would be almost impossible for it not to affect them negatively in some way.
-If Vince's back is really affecting his play, we really need to hope that there's some way for the pain to ease up, because he's a valuable to the team as any player (Swanigan included) with him and Carsen being the two players capable of consistently scoring in 5 different ways (6 for Vince): off-the-catch on the perimeter, off-the-bounce on the perimeter, off-the-catch in-mid range, off-the-bounce in mid-range, off-the-dribble in the paint, and Vince can score off-the-catch in the paint.
-Painter and the coaching staff need to practice other defensive sets and emphasize high pick & roll action or isolations for CE or else I'm afraid we wil see similar results in the NCAA Tournament(s) as we've seen in the past under Painter.
-Limiting turnovers are correctable: Swanigan and Haas need to be coached better on how to anticipate double-teams when they post up.
-In general, I don't think Purdue's ever going to go far in the NCAA Tournament (they've had great man-to-man defenders and still come up short) either without lots of elite talent or more importantly (and more fixable IMO), without practicing more than one base defense all of the time. Just like this in any game they play in, there were defensive possessions in this game where it would have been more beneficial to show a different look (an aggressive 1-3-1 zone, an aggressive 2-3 zone, a box-and-1, something along those lines) in order to stymie the opponent and make them have to reconsider their plan of attack. Like a lot of opponents, Nebraska's plan of attack was to use high-ball screens and dribble-drive action to get to the rim and score or move Purdue's man defenders out of position enough to get their teammates open. As most of us know, this Purdue team's strength is offensively, as they are obviously not along the lines of a team like the '09-'10 team defensively (Kramer, Grant, Johnson, Hummel, etc.). However, that '09-'10 would have benefitted from practicing more than one defense as well, which goes back to coaching.
-The players cannot be afraid to take the big shots in close games. By now, everyone knows that Swanigan is the #1 option in games that go down to the wire. The coaches should anticipate that opponents already know this, and have sets or even just suggestions of where to move to if option #1 breaks down. They need to instill confidence in the #2, #3, and #4 options and encourage them to make a play if option #1 breaks down. Clearly today in one of the crucial final possessions, once Swanigan was doubled and unable to make a move, he passed it back it out to Vince Edwards, who seemed either in fear or unaware of what to do next. He decided to make a tough bounce pass to Dakota Mathias. The pass was catchable, but maybe Mathias wasn't expecting it (or maybe he just had fumble-fingers) and it led to a turnover. This situation should be like a quarterback checking down all of his options and one of the options being able to make a play after their catch instead of uncertainty and discombobulation, which ties to my next point.
-Often players and teams seem to mirror the personality of their head coach. I noticed that Painter seemed to be losing any speck of composure in the final 3 or 4 possessions that he appeared to possess previously in the game. That has to rub off on or affect a lot of his players in those close-game situations. It would be almost impossible for it not to affect them negatively in some way.
-If Vince's back is really affecting his play, we really need to hope that there's some way for the pain to ease up, because he's a valuable to the team as any player (Swanigan included) with him and Carsen being the two players capable of consistently scoring in 5 different ways (6 for Vince): off-the-catch on the perimeter, off-the-bounce on the perimeter, off-the-catch in-mid range, off-the-bounce in mid-range, off-the-dribble in the paint, and Vince can score off-the-catch in the paint.
-Painter and the coaching staff need to practice other defensive sets and emphasize high pick & roll action or isolations for CE or else I'm afraid we wil see similar results in the NCAA Tournament(s) as we've seen in the past under Painter.
-Limiting turnovers are correctable: Swanigan and Haas need to be coached better on how to anticipate double-teams when they post up.
