As I see it, Purdue started the season hot and looking dominant because there was arguably no other team in America with as much continuity combined with talent as Purdue. At that point, they could almost literally show up and win. Everyone else was feeling things out, seeing who was good, who could make shots, what worked/what didn't. Purdue already had a great sense of that since it returned basically everyone.
After a month, other teams have closed that gap and have better senses of themselves. In addition, Purdue his heavily scouted, and is getting every team's best shot every night out. Of course things aren't as smooth as they were in November.
The normal progression of things at Purdue is similar to other places: it takes some time to feel things out, and Painter's teams usually start hitting on all cylinders by January. I think this year that might be delayed a little bit because Purdue is just now going through the phase where they figure things out. What they did early in the year doesn't work quite so easily right now, and they're having to defend where in early games, they could score at will and defense wasn't even really required to win games.
So let's say Purdue is developmentally delayed by about a month this year, and doesn't really hit its stride again until February. That's not the worst timing in the world. We'll see what happens.
After a month, other teams have closed that gap and have better senses of themselves. In addition, Purdue his heavily scouted, and is getting every team's best shot every night out. Of course things aren't as smooth as they were in November.
The normal progression of things at Purdue is similar to other places: it takes some time to feel things out, and Painter's teams usually start hitting on all cylinders by January. I think this year that might be delayed a little bit because Purdue is just now going through the phase where they figure things out. What they did early in the year doesn't work quite so easily right now, and they're having to defend where in early games, they could score at will and defense wasn't even really required to win games.
So let's say Purdue is developmentally delayed by about a month this year, and doesn't really hit its stride again until February. That's not the worst timing in the world. We'll see what happens.
