Purdue at Nebraska: MASTER DISCUSSION THREAD
- Thread starter Travis Miller
- Start date
A team that plays better perimeter defense for starters
Oof. It’s that easy? Dang someone tell the team! Nebraska was hitting tough 3 balls, they weren’t all open shots. But also, sometimes, good screens are set to get guys open. I’m not saying Purdues defense was outstanding, but Nebraska hit some tough shots and had some good sets to get their shooters open.
Plenty of them were but yes once again the buzzsaw defense comes forward because the alternative would be to allow the tiniest criticism of Painter.
No you can criticize painter all you want, just be real and understand that sometimes that’s how basketball is. We can’t be perfect every night. That’s almost impossible I college bball. But We were flat and painter can do all he can, but the players still gotta play. Lance was short on 6 out of 8 3s he took. Edey was rattled (first time in a while) due to refs allowing Nebraska to beat up on him. Braden, fletch and Gillis all had multiple lazy passes that resulted into turnovers to Hoibergs kid who wouldn’t play much on any other P6 team and he had the game of his life. Did you see when he went through the lane and jumped for a layup but then finished an up and under with his off hand in traffic on the other side of opposite side of the hoop? Like it was just their night.
Painter can only coach them up so much. Players still gotta execute. And on top of that, Nebraska played almost perfect and we….had our second worst game all year.
It’s why we love sports my friend, especially college sports when these kids aren’t pro and many of them won’t play at the nba level (obv other options). Purdue doesn’t have the 5 stars or even a ton of 4 stars (yet). But if you’ve ever played a sport, sometimes, the other team is just better that night.
Nebraska came out firing and we did not but still got it to within 1 and shot well. It’s not like Nebraska played awful and we still lost. They played their best game all year. They shot 2-22 from 3 vs Creighton and Creighton shot 14-40. Thats what happens when you live and die by the three and Nebraska LIVED last night. I am willing to bet they die by the 3 this year too.
Perfect is a silly strawman. We were FAR from perfect. No one is expecting perfection. When we lose, it's the players, when we win, it's Painter. The reality is, it's both, each way. So yeah, Painter can "coach them up some more." I mean as you said, nothing is perfect, right? Neither is Painter and last night he was also far from perfect.
The larger issue is the one folks are trying to avoid by claiming "no one could have beaten Neb last night." Sure they can, the problem is Neb was successful with the one formula that continues to have success against us, exploit our lack of perimeter defense against quick guards plus using Edey's man as a screener to get open shots, and clog the paint and force us to win the game from outside. Is it a perfect strategy? No, but it's definitely THE strategy for teams that cannot match up with Edey and it's the strategy we clearly have the most problems with.
Every team we see in the tourney is going to be as talented as NW and Neb. We are going to see this formula again. Painter has the job to figure how to get his players to not struggle with it.
So why didn’t any of the teams we have beat do it? Why didn’t Arizona or Alabama do it?
Winning on neutral courts seem to be not as tough…not sure why. Is it the refs and how they call the games or are the players more laid back? Who knows.
Games against teams that you have faced twice a year in conf. know your tendencies as players and coaches and maybe painter doesn’t want to tip his hand yet (doubtful). It’s hard to win on the road in conference play. We are seeing it all over the country.
Out of the 27 games played in the B1G so far, 6 road teams have won. Purdue (at Maryland), Illinois (at Rutgers), Wisconsin (at MSU), IU (at Michigan), Minnesota (at Michigan) and Michigan (at Iowa).
But more so what I was trying to say is that we aren’t going to win every game and I’m ok with that right now. It’s the second loss and if we lose the next 4 of 7 or whatever, yeah sure, I will be concerned.
The most important thing I am focused on is us improving and playing the best ball with the best rotation possible by late Feb and into March to try and put us in a position to win 6 straight games. I don’t even mind if we don’t win the B1G. Just want to be playing our best ball down the stretch.
It’s only the second loss and IMO, before anyone gets all “sky is falling” I suggest we see how we respond and do over the next two weeks.
Because a lot of those teams have bigs that can match up with Edey. They aren't forced to go small and they aren't used to going small. It's why we have continually been able to match and perform well against the big boys and struggled with the smaller teams of a particular style and skill set.
This argument you are making is the same one made last year and the same one made the year before. If you want to keep making it, feel free, I suppose sooner or later it will be correct.
And no one said "the sky is falling." This is the same attempt to shut down ANY critique of Painter to portray it as over the top sky is falling to say, you know, I think we have a weakness with a certain type of playstyle.
Probably wont win reg season title this year. Wisc has an easy schedule. No road games at mich st or Ill.
KU just lost to UCF. At UCF. Self didn’t make those adjustments very well did he?
We know Self is a very good coach having won a National Championship in doing so he made the necessary halftime adjustments to erase a 20 point halftime deficit to N. Carolina to win the title...Painter has not even been to a Final Four, let alone win a National Championship.
Funny that the entire team was flat last night, but people still revert to picking on their favorite whipping boy(s). Some Purdue fans can be so stubborn. 
P guess what we are going to lose 2-4 more games in the Big 10. Hopeful we get better and learn from them and players gain more experience and improve. No one here accepts loses or wants them. The goal is to be playing best basketball in March, nothing hurt so far. Relax a little.
Certainly that's a concern as is overall scoring D. To say otherwise is to ignore the obvious.
It did not surprise me we lost as I kinda expected it going in, or that NE played the way they did.
Hopefully, these two B10 losses stick in their gut and gets their competitive juices going toward a big time winning streak. We will see if that is so soon enough.
So if they win it, will the other B1G fanbases all say it is not impressive cuz it was another “down year” for the B1G? Or do you think that’s only when Purdue when’s the B1G by 4 games? 😂 😂
Ok so…
Make changes? Like what? What athletic director fires a coach who has been 1 three consecutive years with home sellouts on sellouts?
Recruit better…Purdue has a top 10 class next year, so let’s see what they can do as they may be the best class painter has recruited (and yes even better than the baby boilers…but only time will tell if you give it a chance). But let's say you want even better recruits (4 and 5 stars every year)…How would one recruit those to Purdue over UConn, Duke, KU, UNC or UK? Give more NIL? Purdue has shown it’s not willing to pay for play with NIL, so that’s out. So what else can Purdue do?
Get a new coach? *sigh* This old song and dance. Well, we get a new coach, and maybe we strike gold the first year and go to the NC and the program is better than ever or maybe (a higher probability) we go on a coaching carousel the next 20 years and have up and down seasons, reaching the S16 twice and missing the tourney for 5 straight years. Which would impact recruiting—how would you get recruits to come to a program like that? (At least IU has their history—that no recruit cares about, to fall back on combined with all that old donor money in hopes of the “glory days returning”). But at least we are trying something by not accepting losing, right?
All that said with no intention of distraction I offer for all enjoyment that takes me back a few years
