Yeah - when it worked, TJ, Purdue players were getting in the passing lanes (especially Smith when he wasn't digging on the backside), but they were outside the paint.....these opposing teams know, get the ball in the paint. After that, I don't care how good the Boilers' rotation is, unless they could cleanly strip guys, going to be trailing the play and out of rebound balance - that was a broken record every Painter pre-game interview the last 5 weeks or so.
I'm with you that that help defender has either been watching (too passive) or comes with a late, soft double, which isn't very useful. Haven't seen a whole lot of good box outs either and when Purdue players are in decent position, they aren't low enough to effectively screen off the defender - for gosh sakes, give 'em something to think about. Furst was for a while last night, for what it's worth. And, you still have to jump for the ball and go get it, and Painter has talked about this several times before/after games.
Remarkably, I have not had to be on remote lockdown despite watching some frustrating games - gotta be ten times the order of magnitude for the Purdue team. They know it and can't seem to solve the puzzle.....or somebody hid the key pieces. Very difficult to stop the negative inertia - but that's a big part of big time competition and leadership......adapt, embrace, and overcome adversity.
Will be interesting either way next week.