Teams that you think are better than us now

[SnowLeopard]

Seems to me to be clearly the top 5 in the country. MSU, X, Duke, Kentucky, Villanova

Purdue is in the next tier with Maryland, Kansas, Virginia, etc. A fringe top 10 team seems about right.

We still have a lot of underclassmen, so hopefully this team will improve at a faster rate than other teams. Go from a team with an outside chance of a FF to one with the odds in its favor

 

[topurdue2]

There isn't a team we can't match up with and win today! None of these teams are UNBEATABLE. We are the best out of all those teams listed.

 

[Beeazlebub]

Seems to me to be clearly the top 5 in the country. MSU, X, Duke, Kentucky, Villanova

Purdue is in the next tier with Maryland, Kansas, Virginia, etc. A fringe top 10 team seems about right.

We still have a lot of underclassmen, so hopefully this team will improve at a faster rate than other teams. Go from a team with an outside chance of a FF to one with the odds in its favor

I don't see any team that is clearly ahead of Purdue. Call me an over-hyped homer, but I think this team is as good as or better than any team in the country.

Long way to go, but this team could win the whole damn thing.

 

[hbilskie]

I don't see any team that is clearly ahead of Purdue. Call me an over-hyped homer, but I think this team is as good as or better than any team in the country.

Long way to go, but this team could win the whole damn thing.

I think of you don't win the whole thing, then this was a disappointing season.

 

[dumpsterFyre]

I still think UK is better than us, but I would drop them a tier after their UCLA loss.

 

[TC4THREE]

I think of you don't win the whole thing, then this was a disappointing season.

That's ridiculous.

 

[hbilskie]

That's ridiculous.

I've watched a lot of teams play this year, and no team is more complete..at least not definitively. In all aspects of the game, Purdue has been the most impressive.

 

[TC4THREE]

I've watched a lot of teams play this year, and no team is more complete..at least not definitively. In all aspects of the game, Purdue has been the most impressive.

That doesn't mean that anything less than a national title is disappointing. This year has alot of parity and I think every team is beatable with no juggernauts among them. Hopefully we play well and continue to get better. If we happen to lose in the Elite 8 that doesn't mean the season was a disappointment. At least not for me.

 

[BoilerNGold013]

Haven't been able to watch all of the best teams yet but from what I have seen so far from Mich St. and Kansas have NBA level guard play with good to average front court play. We have to learn to play from the post at a much higher % clip than we are now. Haas and AJ both are playing at quite frankly all BIG levels and really All American levels right now. I don't really see that slowing down much.
There are obviously teams with an overall higher level of talent (i.e. Kentucky and Kansas) but there is no one that I have seen with the talent and skill we have at the 5 this year. No one. We have got to cash in on H&H this year.
I think the Vandy game is going to be the true water mark to see where this team will be come late March. Kansas handled them pretty easily in the second half of Maui by just overwhelming them with talent. We can't do that position by position so it will be interesting to see the performance as a whole.
Hopefully Ray will be healed and ready in two weeks time for the beginning of an extremely tough 5 game stretch of Butler, Vandy, Wisc, Iowa and Michigan.

 

[CRBoiler]

I think some nights we can play like a top 5 team, and others like today, we play like a top 25 team. Who is playing consistently like a top 5 team? I would put MSU on the list, along with 'nova, Duke, and maybe Virginia (haven't seen them). Beyond that, Xavier seemed better than their rank in the game I watched, and Vandy seems a little like us: they have the potential to dominate. Each of those teams has been far from world beating at times - all seem beatable under certain circumstances, as does our team. Maybe a true consensus #1 team will emerge, but I really doubt it this season.

 

[atmafola]

I still think UK is better than us, but I would drop them a tier after their UCLA loss.

I agree. I have UK, Kansas and UNC ahead of us. Maryland and MSU are toss-ups. I thnk we beat both this year. At the off-season, I thought Purdue was a 8 to 10th team in the nation. Its turning out to be that.

 

[ghostoffatjack]

On any given day any one of the top 15 teams or so could beat one another and that is why the NCAA BB Tournament is so interesting year in and year out!

 

[Ross Mackey]

I think of you don't win the whole thing, then this was a disappointing season.

And nothing on this Earth would give you more pleasure than to see Purdue fall short, given your "expert" pronouncement, right??
Take your lame trolling back to the land of mouth-breathing banner worshippers where it belongs .....

 

[IndyBoilers2000]

Kentucky is like IU and didnt play defense against UCLA...only time Ive watched them, so not sure if a one game mental lapse or teams MO

 

[boilerzz]

Kentucky is a different team when Ulis is healthy. He is the engine that makes their team go. When healthy, they are better than us.

The good news is Purdue hasn't shown a reliance on any one guy to have success. We've won 8 games and only had both of our 4 year seniors together three times.

 

[Bluegrass Boiler]

Kentucky is like IU and didnt play defense against UCLA...only time Ive watched them, so not sure if a one game mental lapse or teams MO

Arguably they were playing most of the game without their two best interior defenders. Their starting center was injured after only 4 minutes and their senior PF was in foul trouble most of the game and fouled out after only 17 minutes played. That was, by far, the worst KY has looked this year (and the best UCLA has looked in years).

 

[Sennsational1]

I think some nights we can play like a top 5 team, and others like today, we play like a top 25 team. Who is playing consistently like a top 5 team? I would put MSU on the list, along with 'nova, Duke, and maybe Virginia (haven't seen them). Beyond that, Xavier seemed better than their rank in the game I watched, and Vandy seems a little like us: they have the potential to dominate. Each of those teams has been far from world beating at times - all seem beatable under certain circumstances, as does our team. Maybe a true consensus #1 team will emerge, but I really doubt it this season.

 

[Sennsational1]

I think some nights we can play like a top 5 team, and others like today, we play like a top 25 team. Who is playing consistently like a top 5 team? I would put MSU on the list, along with 'nova, Duke, and maybe Virginia (haven't seen them). Beyond that, Xavier seemed better than their rank in the game I watched, and Vandy seems a little like us: they have the potential to dominate. Each of those teams has been far from world beating at times - all seem beatable under certain circumstances, as does our team. Maybe a true consensus #1 team will emerge, but I really doubt it this season.

So Duke is top 5 but Kentucky is not? Didn't Kentucky beat Duke. Hell the UK fans I know say we are better than both teams. We have handled everything thrown at us.

 

[delish1]

I think Kansas is in that top tier. I have a hard time believing X is really that good. It's hard not to be biased but most sources seem to think the Boilers have a shot. it really depends on the shooters. If they have a game like Saturday at the wrong time that's all it takes in the tourney.

If they shoot 40% even, I'd only be concerned about teams with really athletic big men that didn't have to double. Haven't seen that challenge yet

 

[Dryfly88]

I will stick by my early season analysis of our team: We make upper 30% of our 3's and we can beat anyone. Shoot less than that and we could lose to any top 25 team.

We need to hit outside shots to be a great team, I haven't seen us consistently do that yet..... but I'm hopeful!!

 

[proudopete]

What makes is tough to beat is the fact that we don't rely on one or two guys to carry the load. It's a lot harder planning for us then say an MSU who does rely heavily on Valentine. It may be tougher to take him out of his game then out guys. But it gives you a target and forces other guys to step up.

We do have some issues we need to tighten up. The defense has seen lapses at times. The deep shooting as well.

This team seems to be focused for the most part and all on one page. That should spell success in the conference when things get tougher. We may not score a bunch against some teams. But if we can play defense like last season. We can still win by negating those one and two man teams strongest threats.

 

[lbodel]

I will stick by my early season analysis of our team: We make upper 30% of our 3's and we can beat anyone. Shoot less than that and we could lose to any top 25 team.

We need to hit outside shots to be a great team, I haven't seen us consistently do that yet..... but I'm hopeful!!

Agreed, for the most part. I think there are a few things that can change things for us that can make us more efficient. Just a matter of what is realistic and what is not. For example, turnovers are a lingering problem from last year. Typically, this will improve as the season goes on, but I'd much prefer us around 10 vs. our current 13+. That can easily be a swing of 6-10 points a game.

When we start to play better opponents, they will be better suited to defend the interior. We'll need guys like a Vince to be able to create offense.

I know I've been tough on expectations at this point, but I also cannot express how great it is to see us finish games the way we have (when that has not always been a thing we've said). I think we've seen a few different flaws pointed out over the next couple weeks. Thankfully, we've still managed to win the games.

As another poster has said, I think this team is certainly capable of beating anyone. However, consistency is the problem that will make them look like a generic top 25 team in some games. For example, if we played like we did yesterday vs. Vandy and they had a typical game, we could have lost by 20. But Purdue is not alone in this situation as we've seen consistency by an issue across a lot of teams. Purdue just needs to avoid a bad loss occurring in the non-conference season as it continues to develop as a team.

 

[purdue4sure]

I think of you don't win the whole thing, then this was a disappointing season.

The last loss of the season is always disappointing. And if we don't win it all, it will be disappointing. But it isn't like we were rated highly with #1 votes coming into the season. In fact, if we only make it to the Sweet 16 I doubt that you will see anyone refer to this team as the greatest underachieving team in NCAA history. We will get what we get because the guys worked their a$$es off and the coaches got everything they could out of the talent.

 

[QuadBoiler2014]

MSU, Kansas, UNC, Villanova, and Oklahoma are my top 5. I think they are all better than us RIGHT NOW. I think they can all be beaten.

Maryland, Duke, UK, Iowa State and Purdue round out the top 10 for me with all of them being about even.

Not impressed by UK this year at all. They have 3 guards that keep them in games and Skal has looked less than 1st round material IMO. They play some great defense, which sounds weird to me, but they are not the UK teams they have had lately.

 

[BoilerTom90]

I think of you don't win the whole thing, then this was a disappointing season.

that's crazy talk. I will only be disappointed if we don't get to the F4. Even then, I'm enjoying the ride so far.

 

[jadeezra]

I don't see where any team is clearly better than us. Of course other teams are more athletic and such. Purdue is very deep and can beat you several different ways. Obviously our centers make this team what it is. Defense, depth, size and when hitting outside shots this team can beat anybody in the nation

 

[bustagator7]

I believe Purdue has shown that they are a top ten team and a team capable of beating anyone. There seems to be about ten to fifteen teams that could beat anyone and end up winning the whole thing. Purdue has positioned themselves well and have as good a chance as any with their depth and talent. I'm enjoying the ride and hoping for a long tourney run, but that isn't the only thing that makes a season a success.

 

[*4purdue*]

Seems to me to be clearly the top 5 in the country. MSU, X, Duke, Kentucky, Villanova

Purdue is in the next tier with Maryland, Kansas, Virginia, etc. A fringe top 10 team seems about right.

We still have a lot of underclassmen, so hopefully this team will improve at a faster rate than other teams. Go from a team with an outside chance of a FF to one with the odds in its favor

Nova doesn't belong in there. I've seen them and don't think they are clearly top 5. I think we are also better than MSU. Duke and UK are always going to be tough because they are going to get the calls. We are definitely top 5, maybe #1

 

[QuadBoiler2014]

Nova doesn't belong in there. I've seen them and don't think they are clearly top 5. I think we are also better than MSU. Duke and UK are always going to be tough because they are going to get the calls. We are definitely top 5, maybe #1

There's the insanity I was hoping to see

 

[IamBob]

No love for Vandy huh? As deep and talented than us.

 

[punaj]

No love for Vandy huh? As deep and talented than us.

Vandy is a scary game. After they just dropped another one they are going to be hungry for a good OOC win. At Purdue would help them a lot.