Team loses top-scoring big man … makes Elite Eight

[Born Boiler]

It can happen -- a 6-10 junior named Dean Wade missed three games with a foot injury, then was used for only eight minutes in the Sweet Sixteen, despite the fact three of his teammates were fouling out and two others were thisclose against favored Kentucky. Yet Kansas State persisted and advanced for the third game without full use of its top scorer and top rebounder.

Credit is due the coach who devoted 18 years of his professional life to Purdue. Bruce Weber was Keady’s right-hand man for 18 years here, plus one at Western Kentucky. He finally moved on to the top posts at Southern Illinois and Illinois -- which fired him and has stunk ever since -- before landing with K State. His players maximize talents, always play hard and treasure him as a mentor. And the only thing they ever cheat is death by elimination.

Go, Bruce!!!

 

[BoilerBulldog]

I’m very happy for Bruce. Great guy.

But let’s put some perspective on this. They beat a 9 seed, 16, 5, and then got soundly beat by a 11. If CMP did that, there’d be another dozen Fire Painter threads than there already are.

 

[PaBoiler78]

It can happen -- a 6-10 junior named Dean Wade missed three games with a foot injury, then was used for only eight minutes in the Sweet Sixteen, despite the fact three of his teammates were fouling out and two others were thisclose against favored Kentucky. Yet Kansas State persisted and advanced for the third game without full use of its top scorer and top rebounder.

Credit is due the coach who devoted 18 years of his professional life to Purdue. Bruce Weber was Keady’s right-hand man for 18 years here, plus one at Western Kentucky. He finally moved on to the top posts at Southern Illinois and Illinois -- which fired him and has stunk ever since -- before landing with K State. His players maximize talents, always play hard and treasure him as a mentor. And the only thing they ever cheat is death by elimination.

Go, Bruce!!!

Go Ramblers .

 

[z_one]

Not the same as losing Haas. Haas was the hub of the wheel. Against TT the freshmen all played like freshmen.

 

[Knights2715]

I’m very happy for Bruce. Great guy.

But let’s put some perspective on this. They beat a 9 seed, 16, 5, and then got soundly beat by a 11. If CMP did that, there’d be another dozen Fire Painter threads than there already are.

Exactly. There is no real comparison here in my opinion.

 

[tjirish44]

I’m very happy for Bruce. Great guy.

But let’s put some perspective on this. They beat a 9 seed, 16, 5, and then got soundly beat by a 11. If CMP did that, there’d be another dozen Fire Painter threads than there already are.

You make a great point and are saying what I have been saying. Brackets open up. Did Bruce really do anything special in tournament? He beat a 8 seed, beat a 16 seed and a 5 seed (kentucky) which played worse then Purdue and won by 3. Then gets killed by an 11 seed. KSU will never get a better opportunity then this year.

I am done posting about Painter for this year. These boards are ridiculous. Painter is a Purdue guy, a class act, runs a clean program, seems like a good man as I have never met him. He is also a successful college basketball coach contrary to Purdue fans that dislike him. If program stops filling Mackey up and misses tournament 3 years in a roll. Then you can start speculating abut firing him.

BTW Michigan should have lost to Houston. Their fans would have been disappointed. Instead guy misses 2 FT's, Michigan hits an incredible shot and now in Final 4. But hey lets judge coaches all on how a team plays in a one and out matchup with 20 year olds playing.

 

[cprh9u]

Not the same as losing Haas. Haas was the hub of the wheel. Against TT the freshmen all played like freshmen.

If you watched the game, you realize Haas wouldn't have helped. He's below average on the boards for a big man and slow, and their athletic rebounding team would have still taken full advantage of that.

 

[BoilerAndy]

If you watched the game, you realize Haas wouldn't have helped. He's below average on the boards for a big man and slow, and their athletic rebounding team would have still taken full advantage of that.

But that isn't why Purdue lost. And that isn't the only thing that Haas contributes.

 

[todd brewster]

If you watched the game, you realize Haas wouldn't have helped. He's below average on the boards for a big man and slow, and their athletic rebounding team would have still taken full advantage of that.

You are an idiot and a half. Haas was limited in rebounding, because of the refs. If you ever played the game, you would know there are two types of rebounders. Haas uses his length and strength to seal off and control the boards. During the season when aggressive the refs call fouls on him. In the BTT and MM, Haas was more aggressive and averaged over 8 boards a game and 4 fouls. If you ever understood the game, you would see that the only times his man grabbed a board was when Haas went to double team or block the shot of the shooter. If I thought you were smart enough, I would explain how Haas effect defense. Being the jerk you are, you just think Haas is lucky and the other team shoots badly when he happens to be in the game.

 

[Born Boiler]

Losing Haas was bad. Losing Wade was worse. The 6-10 Wade was Kansas State’s leading scorer (16.6) and leading rebounder (6.2) and contributed assists (2.7), steals (1.6) and blocks (.8). He shot 55 percent from the field and 44 percent on threes -- the best on a team already considered to be offensively challenged. Yet, without Wade, Weber’s Wildcats whipped the first-round favorite, Creighton, then ousted everyone’s Cinderella darlings, UMBC, and finally outlasted the blue-blood that was supposed to take the Alamo by storm, Kentucky. Only Super Nun stopped them.

 

[PU pit bull]

Losing Haas was bad. Losing Wade was worse. The 6-10 Wade was Kansas State’s leading scorer (16.6) and leading rebounder (6.2) and contributed assists (2.7), steals (1.6) and blocks (.8). He shot 55 percent from the field and 44 percent on threes -- the best on a team already considered to be offensively challenged. Yet, without Wade, Weber’s Wildcats whipped the first-round favorite, Creighton, then ousted everyone’s Cinderella darlings, UMBC, and finally outlasted the blue-blood that was supposed to take the Alamo by storm, Kentucky. Only Super Nun stopped them.

Haas' numbers are very similar...........and didn't Wade get injured before the Tourney? At least KSU had some time to prepare for the loss. I'm sure he would have helped against the Loyola whipping though.

 

[mathboy]

Our whole offense was built around a super center who was a dominant force in the paint. When successful we worked the ball inside-out to get our shooters open. Pull that center out and we didn't have much of an offense. It is just that simple. Statistical similarities with the KS center be damned, they didn't run their offense like we did. The loss of Haas was plain and simple a disaster for Purdue.

 

[BoilerAndy]

Losing Haas was bad. Losing Wade was worse. The 6-10 Wade was Kansas State’s leading scorer (16.6) and leading rebounder (6.2) and contributed assists (2.7), steals (1.6) and blocks (.8). He shot 55 percent from the field and 44 percent on threes -- the best on a team already considered to be offensively challenged. Yet, without Wade, Weber’s Wildcats whipped the first-round favorite, Creighton, then ousted everyone’s Cinderella darlings, UMBC, and finally outlasted the blue-blood that was supposed to take the Alamo by storm, Kentucky. Only Super Nun stopped them.

This argument is like saying that since Purdue beat Butler and Butler beat Nova, then Purdue should beat Nova.

 

[indyogb]

I understand the complaints about Painter and our Sweet Sixteen "ceiling". I get as frustrated as anyone. We're an all-time top 20 program without anything close to the tournament success that would imply. However, any single-elimination tournament puts a pretty large emphasis on luck. We're clearly not very lucky, even on top of our repeated lackluster tournament performances. K-State deserves a lot of credit for beating the teams put in front of them, but they also had the road paved for them a bit by a bunch of upsets.

 

[BoilerBulldog]

Losing Haas was bad. Losing Wade was worse. The 6-10 Wade was Kansas State’s leading scorer (16.6) and leading rebounder (6.2) and contributed assists (2.7), steals (1.6) and blocks (.8). He shot 55 percent from the field and 44 percent on threes -- the best on a team already considered to be offensively challenged. Yet, without Wade, Weber’s Wildcats whipped the first-round favorite, Creighton, then ousted everyone’s Cinderella darlings, UMBC, and finally outlasted the blue-blood that was supposed to take the Alamo by storm, Kentucky. Only Super Nun stopped them.

Again. Pay attention. They beat a 9, 16, and 5. Then got torched by an 11. If Painter did that you’d be even more unreasonable.

 

[Born Boiler]

Again. Pay attention. They beat a 9, 16, and 5. Then got torched by an 11. If Painter did that you’d be even more unreasonable.

Again, try to grasp reality instead of repeating the meaningless seed numbers. Kansas State beat KENTUCKY despite having lost its best player plus three other starters to fouls. Imagine our bench against Kentucky -- heck, we couldn’t beat Western Kentucky with everyone healthy.

Or, if you still insist those seedings really matter, we got blown out by a lower seed that virtually every odds-maker had us favored to beat without Haas. Chalk that up, ’dog.

 

[BoilerBulldog]

Again, try to grasp reality instead of repeating the meaningless seed numbers. Kansas State beat KENTUCKY despite having lost its best player plus three other starters to fouls. Imagine our bench against Kentucky -- heck, we couldn’t beat Western Kentucky with everyone healthy.

Or, if you still insist those seedings really matter, we got blown out by a lower seed that virtually every odds-maker had us favored to beat without Haas. Chalk that up, ’dog.

I do think seedings matter. We lost to a 3 seed without the one player who could've made a difference. Your man crush got worked by an 11 seed. You may have been born a Boiler but you were raised something else.

 

[*4purdue*]

You are an idiot and a half. Haas was limited in rebounding, because of the refs. If you ever played the game, you would know there are two types of rebounders. Haas uses his length and strength to seal off and control the boards. During the season when aggressive the refs call fouls on him. In the BTT and MM, Haas was more aggressive and averaged over 8 boards a game and 4 fouls. If you ever understood the game, you would see that the only times his man grabbed a board was when Haas went to double team or block the shot of the shooter. If I thought you were smart enough, I would explain how Haas effect defense. Being the jerk you are, you just think Haas is lucky and the other team shoots badly when he happens to be in the game.

Dude... We got killed on the boards all year. Everyone knew that Purdue's biggest weakness was rebounding. Don't make it sound like he was giving up boards to box out. He's 7'2 300 lbs. He didn't need to box out, he was ALWAYS the biggest man on the floor. He should have had 10 a game without trying. Rebounding is a "want to" and he didn't. Biggie wasn't the biggest or best athlete on the floor, but he out worked everyone for them.

 

[todd brewster]

Dude... We got killed on the boards all year. Everyone knew that Purdue's biggest weakness was rebounding. Don't make it sound like he was giving up boards to box out. He's 7'2 300 lbs. He didn't need to box out, he was ALWAYS the biggest man on the floor. He should have had 10 a game without trying. Rebounding is a "want to" and he didn't. Biggie wasn't the biggest or best athlete on the floor, but he out worked everyone for them.

Dude, I think you need to take a reading comprehension class.

 

[cprh9u]

You are an idiot and a half. Haas was limited in rebounding, because of the refs. If you ever played the game, you would know there are two types of rebounders. Haas uses his length and strength to seal off and control the boards. During the season when aggressive the refs call fouls on him. In the BTT and MM, Haas was more aggressive and averaged over 8 boards a game and 4 fouls. If you ever understood the game, you would see that the only times his man grabbed a board was when Haas went to double team or block the shot of the shooter. If I thought you were smart enough, I would explain how Haas effect defense. Being the jerk you are, you just think Haas is lucky and the other team shoots badly when he happens to be in the game.

So I'm an idiot and a jerk and not smart enough to understand. Tough guys on message boards always use name calling when they can't use logic. Thanks for explaining his 5.7 boards per game as the biggest man in college basketball

 

[BoilerBiker]

However, any single-elimination tournament puts a pretty large emphasis on luck. We're clearly not very lucky, even on top of our repeated lackluster tournament performances. K-State deserves a lot of credit for beating the teams put in front of them, but they also had the road paved for them a bit by a bunch of upsets.

luck plays a role, but less so than seeding - the better seeds win & advance historically.
if purdue can keep earning these better seeds, any upsets that do occur, will have a greater chance to be in our favor.

(thru '17)

 

[Born Boiler]

I do think seedings matter. We lost to a 3 seed without the one player who could've made a difference. Your man crush got worked by an 11 seed. You may have been born a Boiler but you were raised something else.

Catholic. Gotta thrive on guilt. Saintly Bruce got worked by Sister Jean. We needed to re-activate Father Phil.

 

[todd brewster]

So I'm an idiot and a jerk and not smart enough to understand. Tough guys on message boards always use name calling when they can't use logic. Thanks for explaining his 5.7 boards per game as the biggest man in college basketball

I thought trolls live under bridges not in their mommy's basement. Why don't you have your mommy explain it to you?

 

[dumpsterFyre]

3 out of 4 of Matt's sweet sixteen games were missing Robbie or Isaac.

 

[mathboy]

3 out of 4 of Matt's sweet sixteen games were missing Robbie or Isaac.

Both absolute key players in his high powered offense.

 

[SqueakyClean]

Again, try to grasp reality instead of repeating the meaningless seed numbers. Kansas State beat KENTUCKY despite having lost its best player plus three other starters to fouls. Imagine our bench against Kentucky -- heck, we couldn’t beat Western Kentucky with everyone healthy.

Or, if you still insist those seedings really matter, we got blown out by a lower seed that virtually every odds-maker had us favored to beat without Haas. Chalk that up, ’dog.

Ummm....Yeah. Kentucky is obviously a household blueblood name....but this was far from one of the "great" Kentucky teams of the past. In fact, this team had the second most losses of any Callipari led team (the first being the NIT team that lost to Robert Morris). So I give KSU credit for a good run, but let's not pretend that they had anything close to resembling a "difficult" path.

 

[*4purdue*]

I do think seedings matter. We lost to a 3 seed without the one player who could've made a difference. Your man crush got worked by an 11 seed. You may have been born a Boiler but you were raised something else.

Umm... CMP lost to a 12 seed just 2 years ago & has yet to get past the round of 16. Not saying Weber is John Wooden, but he's at least been to a Final 4 & the E8
.

 

[BoilerBulldog]

Umm... CMP lost to a 12 seed just 2 years ago & has yet to get past the round of 16. Not saying Weber is John Wooden, but he's at least been to a Final 4 & the E8
.

And I’m sure you and I were equally mad when we did lose to the 12. We flat gave that game away.

 

[Born Boiler]

Ummm....Yeah. Kentucky is obviously a household blueblood name....but this was far from one of the "great" Kentucky teams of the past. In fact, this team had the second most losses of any Callipari led team (the first being the NIT team that lost to Robert Morris). So I give KSU credit for a good run, but let's not pretend that they had anything close to resembling a "difficult" path.

Kansas State had four starters out and still beat Kentucky. Easy, sure. What would we do with four starters out?

 

[purduepat1969]

Ummm....Yeah. Kentucky is obviously a household blueblood name....but this was far from one of the "great" Kentucky teams of the past. In fact, this team had the second most losses of any Callipari led team (the first being the NIT team that lost to Robert Morris). So I give KSU credit for a good run, but let's not pretend that they had anything close to resembling a "difficult" path.

Apparently you didn't watch Kentucky play at all the month prior to the NCAA tourney. They were on fire and won the SEC tournament. Purdue would have had everything they could handle with that team even with Haas. Our guards would have struggled to contain Gilgeous-Alexander.