Some very quick thoughts from Purdue's first true test of the year:
- Edey with a very ho-hum 28-11-4. He missed a few right at the rim, but if he can deliver a 28-11-4 on an "off" night that is very good.
- Myles Colvin is shooting 70% from three (7 of 10) to start his career. That's a great weapon to have off the bench and it is not necessarily a bad thing he is coming from there.
- Figuring out the four will be interesting. Gillis, Furst and TKR can all play there. Can you find the hot player there each night?
- My bold prediction: At some point this year Braden Smith will log the second triple-double in Purdue history and first since Joe Barry Carroll. Trevion Williams has come the closest, as he finished with nine assists in the win over NC State two years ago.
- Xavier really refused to go away. They hit some tough shots and hung in the whole game. They couldn't get the sustained run they needed to tie or take the lead, but they did not let Purdue fully put them away.
- We saw the rotation get trimmed to 10 tonight. No Berg or Waddell. Generally coach Painter trims it to 8-9 by Big Ten season, so who gets trimmed from them? Heide played the fewest minutes tonight with 9, but had four points.
- Purdue shot 46.7% from three and had 11 turnovers. Well over my arbitrary "35%+ from three < 15 turnovers" as my winning formula.
- Maui will be very tough, but this was a very good challenge ahead of it. Three of the current top 4 teams in America will be there and five of the current top 11. Incredible field.
