Same ol' finals week result

[dwhitebash11]

I know it's an easy cop out, but damn, what is up with this event and our Boilers on finals week? They looked completely gassed after the first 4 minutes of the game, and every other year.


We were obviously the more talented team(not by much, but I still believe we win this game on any day out side of December 15-21), but between the players buying into all the hype around this team, final four caliber team, best front court in America, etc., and thinking they can just show up and receive a W after 40 minutes of action, this Purdue team looked awful for 30+ minutes of this game. Completely flat footed defensively. Couldn't get over a simple pick n roll. Offensively, played lazy, turning the ball over, not being able to catch a pass.


Also, this team being so big, I think it hurt us tonight, and possibly many more nights down the road, with officiating. Seems that the refs expect our bigs to be able to take a lot of contact down low. Butler did a great job on bringing weakside help on the post-feed, but more times than not, there was no whistle being blown. It is what it is, and I think that added to Purdue being discouraged and not WANTING this game as much as Butler.


It was nice to see them not completely fold though. Great way to fight to the finish. I'll take an early loss in December to a hard-working Butler team. Hopefully this humbles our Boilers, make them want to win every possession of every game, because that's what it's going to take to win a championship.

 

[BBG]

And what is mind bogling is that this has been going on for as long as I can remember.

 

[lbodel]

I know it's an easy cop out, but damn, what is up with this event and our Boilers on finals week? They looked completely gassed after the first 4 minutes of the game, and every other year.


We were obviously the more talented team(not by much, but I still believe we win this game on any day out side of December 15-21), but between the players buying into all the hype around this team, final four caliber team, best front court in America, etc., and thinking they can just show up and receive a W after 40 minutes of action, this Purdue team looked awful for 30+ minutes of this game. Completely flat footed defensively. Couldn't get over a simple pick n roll. Offensively, played lazy, turning the ball over, not being able to catch a pass.


Also, this team being so big, I think it hurt us tonight, and possibly many more nights down the road, with officiating. Seems that the refs expect our bigs to be able to take a lot of contact down low. Butler did a great job on bringing weakside help on the post-feed, but more times than not, there was no whistle being blown. It is what it is, and I think that added to Purdue being discouraged and not WANTING this game as much as Butler.


It was nice to see them not completely fold though. Great way to fight to the finish. I'll take an early loss in December to a hard-working Butler team. Hopefully this humbles our Boilers, make them want to win every possession of every game, because that's what it's going to take to win a championship.

Ok, a couple things.

1. This event has gone on for five years now. The first, we played a good Butler team in a thriller and lost - probably should won, but lost to a good team. The next year, we played a ranked ND team and were underdogs. The next 2 years were our bad years, not expected to win either of those games. This year, while I understand Purdue's favored on paper - I think most reasonable people expected it to be a very tight game. So I don't think there's any correlation to our success - and don't think this event is some curse. I have been very vocal about how I still do not like this event and never really have. I'd rather see us play Butler/ND as a home/home series when students are in session. This event bills it as the four best programs in the best basketball state - well play it at some of the greatest college basketball venues in the country.

2. The finals thing I don't know - Butler had finals the exact same time and they managed to be fine. I don't think our players are any more academic focused than Butler's. I think in general, most teams are less focused in finals week, but if it's equal then it's not really a disadvantage.

 

[purdue4sure]

And what is mind bogling is that this has been going on for as long as I can remember.

This. And I go back to Lee Rose. Every year I expect Purdue to lose a game they shouldn't during this time. And I always use the same words I see on this board today -- lethargic, outhustled, unfocused, passive...

If MP sees it too, and can figure out a cure, he could break the Final Exam Week Curse.

 

[njm8845]

Yeah, there definitely seems to be a correlation between how the team plays and the timing if finals.

It's weird and I'm not ready to say finals are the cause, but a lot of people were concerned about this before tipoff

 

[mk_peters]

And what is mind bogling is that this has been going on for as long as I can remember.

I've been a fan for 45 years, and I think they've lost 45 times after finals week. At least, it seems that way.

 

[Heller]

Ok, a couple things.

1. This event has gone on for five years now. The first, we played a good Butler team in a thriller and lost - probably should won, but lost to a good team. The next year, we played a ranked ND team and were underdogs. The next 2 years were our bad years, not expected to win either of those games. This year, while I understand Purdue's favored on paper - I think most reasonable people expected it to be a very tight game. So I don't think there's any correlation to our success - and don't think this event is some curse. I have been very vocal about how I still do not like this event and never really have. I'd rather see us play Butler/ND as a home/home series when students are in session. This event bills it as the four best programs in the best basketball state - well play it at some of the greatest college basketball venues in the country.

2. The finals thing I don't know - Butler had finals the exact same time and they managed to be fine. I don't think our players are any more academic focused than Butler's. I think in general, most teams are less focused in finals week, but if it's equal then it's not really a disadvantage.

Depends on how finals are handled at Butler. OSU had final and I'm sure a couple of their players actually took one. All things are not equal but given this happens every year to Purdue teams I'm going to go out on a limb and think Purdues are harder than most.

 

[lbodel]

Depends on how finals are handled at Butler. OSU had final and I'm sure a couple of their players actually took one. All things are not equal but given this happens every year to Purdue teams I'm going to go out on a limb and think Purdues are harder than most.

Goodness gracious. I've never seen so many unsubstantiated excuses than I have from Purdue fans. Now our finals week is more stressful for our basketball players than other teams and Purdue's finals are harder than most other schools? Come on...

What was the problem of yesterday's game? Turnovers. What was our worst statistic coming into the game? Turnovers. Finals week or not, I and others have been mentioning turnovers as a big red flag for this team. It screwed us yesterday. It's hard to win against disciplined teams when you have high turnovers - that was the case last year and it's the case this year. We improved last year through conference season and hopefully we'll improve on it in the coming weeks.

 

[BoilerJS]

Goodness gracious. I've never seen so many unsubstantiated excuses than I have from Purdue fans. Now our finals week is more stressful for our basketball players than other teams and Purdue's finals are harder than most other schools? Come on...

What was the problem of yesterday's game? Turnovers. What was our worst statistic coming into the game? Turnovers. Finals week or not, I and others have been mentioning turnovers as a big red flag for this team. It screwed us yesterday. It's hard to win against disciplined teams when you have high turnovers - that was the case last year and it's the case this year. We improved last year through conference season and hopefully we'll improve on it in the coming weeks.

No one is questioning Purdue played bad and out of character, the question is why. The winning % of Purdue teams after finals week speaks volumes. This is not a coincidence. Do other teams have finals-yes. Maybe Purdue should look at how IU for example, handles finals for their athletes. Not an excuse just a fact.

 

[lbodel]

No one is questioning Purdue played bad and out of character, the question is why. The winning % of Purdue teams after finals week speaks volumes. This is not a coincidence. Do other teams have finals-yes. Maybe Purdue should look at how IU for example, handles finals for their athletes. Not an excuse just a fact.

Is it that much of a mystery?

We've played in the Crossroads Classic 5 times and have been underdogs 3 of those times. We had 2 bad teams in that stretch and played a very good ND team the other time. The other 2 times we played very good Butler teams.

Why did we struggle yesterday? Maybe it had something to do with us playing our first ranked team of the year?????

 

[Boiler_Bulldog]

The other 2 times we played very good Butler teams.

This is really the only good Butler team Purdue has played in the Crossroads Classic. The previous two that Purdue has played did not make the NCAAs.

 

[LousiBFree]

Heard it summed up nicely on the radio today - "Purdue came to play a basketball game. Butler came to compete in a basketball game."

Still lots of upside this season. Go Boilers!

 

[troggy]

This is really the only good Butler team Purdue has played in the Crossroads Classic. The previous two that Purdue has played did not make the NCAAs.

Agreed, Purdue definitley should have beaten Butler back in 2011. That Butler team had no perimeter shooting and suffered for it the entire season. Purdue led by double digits in the second half of that game and let it get away.

That said, all of this carping about finals is really weak. This game is on the calendar every year. It's not like it's sneaking up on anyone.

 

[Heller]

Agreed, Purdue definitley should have beaten Butler back in 2011. That Butler team had no perimeter shooting and suffered for it the entire season. Purdue led by double digits in the second half of that game and let it get away.

That said, all of this carping about finals is really weak. This game is on the calendar every year. It's not like it's sneaking up on anyone.

If you had a history of being hit by a rock on a certain date every year, don't you think after so many years you would conclude that it wasn't your time? No one is using it as an excuse, just pointing out that it almost always happens.

 

[troggy]

If you had a history of being hit by a rock on a certain date every year, don't you think after so many years you would conclude that it wasn't your time?

I might even conclude that it's a coincidence. That makes as much sense as anything I've read here.

 

[purdue4sure]

I might even conclude that it's a coincidence. That makes as much sense as anything I've read here.

Coincidence? Hmm. People have been pointing it out for decades, and you think it's a coincidence.