BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — Greetings from Bloomington, where tonight Purdue faces its arch-rival, looking for both a two-game regular season sweep and another box checked toward a Big Ten title.
Again, while Purdue may have the quote-unquote ‘easiest’ path among those in the thick of the conference title hunt, it is by no means an ‘easy’ path, because land mines remain. No matter how beaten-down Indiana may now look, this is one of those land mines.
IU has lost 10 of its last 11, but in its last two home losses, Iowa and Ohio State needed some rather improbable threes to win those games.
The ideal situation for Purdue is to keep out of a situation where it has to, but if it does, can the Boilermakers make those plays tonight?
The million-dollar question tonight is whether Indiana gives a damn. This season has gone horribly awry, and its best players are guys who aren’t gonna be wearing college uniforms a year from now. This is a game where rivals sometimes rise to the occasion. Does Indiana have that in them?
Don’t know.
But this game is obviously about Purdue, too, about the Boilermakers not helping IU get well. If the Boilermaker fall into the trap of turnovers and hero-ball in this venue, and an IU team that struggles to score gets easy offense off it, then however this game may appear on paper may become a moot point.
Purdue’s competing for a Big Ten title off the back of simplicity: Generate more possessions than the opponent, make a lot of shots that count for more, and make said opponent earn what it gets. That last part is as important as any, and it’s especially important on the road, and it’s especially, especially important on the road tonight.
It’s especially important for Carsen Edwards, who can’t play like he’s playing against 15,000 people, just the five in front of him. That trap appeared to be fallen into at Michigan State and Maryland and now this might be more of that sort of environment. The gravity he carries with this team, as he goes, Purdue goes sometimes.
We’ll be back after the game with full coverage — a game story, post-game video, analysis, Wrap Video, podcast and Final Thoughts. Lots of stuff.
In the meantime, we’ll have updates real time on the Twitter machine at @brianneubert and @GoldandBlackcom.
Discuss the game here or however you wish, but for the sake of the board, maybe considering consolidating all meltdowns to a single thread to lessen the blast radius.
Thanks.
Again, while Purdue may have the quote-unquote ‘easiest’ path among those in the thick of the conference title hunt, it is by no means an ‘easy’ path, because land mines remain. No matter how beaten-down Indiana may now look, this is one of those land mines.
IU has lost 10 of its last 11, but in its last two home losses, Iowa and Ohio State needed some rather improbable threes to win those games.
The ideal situation for Purdue is to keep out of a situation where it has to, but if it does, can the Boilermakers make those plays tonight?
The million-dollar question tonight is whether Indiana gives a damn. This season has gone horribly awry, and its best players are guys who aren’t gonna be wearing college uniforms a year from now. This is a game where rivals sometimes rise to the occasion. Does Indiana have that in them?
Don’t know.
But this game is obviously about Purdue, too, about the Boilermakers not helping IU get well. If the Boilermaker fall into the trap of turnovers and hero-ball in this venue, and an IU team that struggles to score gets easy offense off it, then however this game may appear on paper may become a moot point.
Purdue’s competing for a Big Ten title off the back of simplicity: Generate more possessions than the opponent, make a lot of shots that count for more, and make said opponent earn what it gets. That last part is as important as any, and it’s especially important on the road, and it’s especially, especially important on the road tonight.
It’s especially important for Carsen Edwards, who can’t play like he’s playing against 15,000 people, just the five in front of him. That trap appeared to be fallen into at Michigan State and Maryland and now this might be more of that sort of environment. The gravity he carries with this team, as he goes, Purdue goes sometimes.
We’ll be back after the game with full coverage — a game story, post-game video, analysis, Wrap Video, podcast and Final Thoughts. Lots of stuff.
In the meantime, we’ll have updates real time on the Twitter machine at @brianneubert and @GoldandBlackcom.
Discuss the game here or however you wish, but for the sake of the board, maybe considering consolidating all meltdowns to a single thread to lessen the blast radius.
Thanks.
