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Thoughts after getting back from NO game

Woodsa

Redshirt Freshman
Jul 18, 2004
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So much to love about this team. I attended the game tonight and its a different vibe over the break w/o students.

Hope Zach gets to feeling better soon as he is a DOMINANT force that was missed

TKR had an impressive night but was getting pushed around at the start. Then he found his groove and dynamic foot work to go around people. 20+ points so happy for him.

Gillis returned and looked good and Furst continues to play well.

Bothered by the missed free throws as that is unlike Purdue.

I will say this only once, Purdue is the #1 team in the country. No doubt they will get people's best effort night after night. But Purdue needs to play with a bit more confidence (chip on their shoulder) and learn to put teams away early.

Painter needs to have 7 guys on defense and spend the rest of this year practicing pressing defenses and how to break them. It is indefensible that Purdue turns the ball over when pressed. 5 passes, little dribble, ends in a 2-on-1 dunk so teams just abandoned it.

3-point shots were forced in some instances and not taken in other instances. Just need to settle down and let the guards drive or feed it down low for the kick out. This is where we missed Zach. But the team figured it out late in the first half and started to separate and then maintained that for the entire 2nd half thanks largely to TKR becoming beast.

All in all, a fun night was had as it was enjoyable to be back in Mackey arena.
 
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The outside shooting is still a huge concern. A game like this is where you find that stroke back.

Second, some of the other concerns are minor to me. Team was finding its way without its best player. Eventually they did. Obviously things would be much different vs real competition but we are lucky Zach’s illness is now vs later in the year.
 
The outside shooting is still a huge concern. A game like this is where you find that stroke back.

Second, some of the other concerns are minor to me. Team was finding its way without its best player. Eventually they did. Obviously things would be much different vs real competition but we are lucky Zach’s illness is now vs later in the year.
My guess is that Edey could have played if he had to. If this was the IU game he would have played.
 
So much to love about this team. I attended the game tonight and its a different vibe over the break w/o students.

Hope Zach gets to feeling better soon as he is a DOMINANT force that was missed

TKR had an impressive night but was getting pushed around at the start. Then he found his groove and dynamic foot work to go around people. 20+ points so happy for him.

Gillis returned and looked good and Furst continues to play well.

Bothered by the missed free throws as that is unlike Purdue.

I will say this only once, Purdue is the #1 team in the country. No doubt they will get people's best effort night after night. But Purdue needs to play with a bit more confidence (chip on their shoulder) and learn to put teams away early.

Painter needs to have 7 guys on defense and spend the rest of this year practicing pressing defenses and how to break them. It is indefensible that Purdue turns the ball over when pressed. 5 passes, little dribble, ends in a 2-on-1 dunk so teams just abandoned it.

3-point shots were forced in some instances and not taken in other instances. Just need to settle down and let the guards drive or feed it down low for the kick out. This is where we missed Zach. But the team figured it out late in the first half and started to separate and then maintained that for the entire 2nd half thanks largely to TKR becoming beast.

All in all, a fun night was had as it was enjoyable to be back in Mackey arena.

Appreciate the thoughts and observations, Woodsa.....

@ about 8:24 - lol with Matt Painter saying "Assistant said he didn't travel on that, but we'll wait to see..." (referring to Trey Kaufman-Renn's play waived off with a dubious call.)

Some good stuff throughout as usual but interesting comments at the latter stage for Ethan Morton's defending and Braden Smith's impact on the game and his make-up.

 
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The outside shooting is still a huge concern. A game like this is where you find that stroke back.

Second, some of the other concerns are minor to me. Team was finding its way without its best player. Eventually they did. Obviously things would be much different vs real competition but we are lucky Zach’s illness is now vs later in the year.

No question that the team has to shoot better from outside or it will eventually catch up to them - 15/73 combined the last three games. With Rutgers, Ohio State, and Penn State coming up - they'll pay for poor shooting.....and as conference season plays out.

I've gone back and forth on this, as there are some "glass half full" thoughts on this too. They are for the most part getting good looks and making good decisions....and last night was a little different with Zach Edey out but still got opportunities. Brandon Newman seems to be more comfortable and having the game come to him, which I think will translate. David Jenkins, Jr. hopefully finds it soon. Fletcher Loyer is too good a shooter, and I think will get some rhythm back, but we will see.

They are much better shooters than they've shown, so if they're patient and still do the right things, eventually, you'd think things will even out. Again, we shall see, and I understand the concerns of some.

Collectively though, they've also found other ways to produce/win through the drought......that can eventually pay dividends in tight games. No way I would have thought this Purdue team would be 12-0, shooting really well or not.

Long long way to go.....there will be bumps in the road.....but I like what Matt Painter is building.....
 
Appreciate the thoughts and observations, Woodsa.....

@ about 8:24 - lol with Matt Painter saying "Assistant said he didn't travel on that, but we'll wait to see..." (referring to Trey Kaufman-Renn's play waived off with a dubious call.)

Some good stuff throughout as usual but interesting comments at the latter stage for Ethan Morton's defending and Braden Smith's impact on the game and his make-up.

Yep. Braden Smith is a winner. I knew that Painter offered him for a reason, but I did not expect him to be this impactful this early. It reminds me a little of Kramer’s freshman year, but Braden is even more impactful as the guy who runs the team.
 
One challenge we have with this team is our reliance on 3s and Zach. We took over the game when Smith decided to take the ball to the hoop. Challenge is we need more than just him to be able to do that because it changes the pressure of the defense.
 
Well said. I feel like last night would have been more satisfying if Purdue didn't have the #1 by its name.

Before the year if you would have told me Zach is out and TKR gets 24 in his place in a 20 pt win vs a cupcake, I would have been thrilled with that outcome.

Purdue has earned being #1 by the performance they had in Portland and other teams losing, but I'm conditioned to think that if you are a top 10 team you roll cupcakes by 40, regardless of who is playing. Reality is that this team is still relatively inexperienced overall and has yet to really hit their stride.
 
One challenge we have with this team is our reliance on 3s and Zach. We took over the game when Smith decided to take the ball to the hoop. Challenge is we need more than just him to be able to do that because it changes the pressure of the defense.

That, and they really turned up the heat on the defensive end. I agree - they're still finding the way on that, although I've seen Fletcher Loyer do it some this season (not as much last night), and I really liked Mason Gillis with the shot-fake drives.

One other item Matt Painter slipped in was that apparently Caleb Furst was under the weather last night too.
 
Well said. I feel like last night would have been more satisfying if Purdue didn't have the #1 by its name.

Before the year if you would have told me Zach is out and TKR gets 24 in his place in a 20 pt win vs a cupcake, I would have been thrilled with that outcome.

Purdue has earned being #1 by the performance they had in Portland and other teams losing, but I'm conditioned to think that if you are a top 10 team you roll cupcakes by 40, regardless of who is playing. Reality is that this team is still relatively inexperienced overall and has yet to really hit their stride.
Very much agree with this. Good news is that this team has had the best case scenario start and as MP indicated, having that #1 next to your name two years in a row has numerous benefits, including in recruiting.

As you said, the flip side is that this team has a lot of things to figure out in order to remain a Big Ten title / BTT / FF / NC contender. Zach is dominant enough to get this team a bunch of wins but the bar has been raised. That's not a bad thing as this team has an extremely high ceiling if they can work out some of those issues.
 
For the first 10 minutes NO looked like a team that was convinced we were a superstar surrounded by mid-major level players and with Zach out they could play with us. By halftime they looked like they were aware of misjudging the rest of the team
 
There was a point in the game when we stepped on the accelerator and blew away NO. About half way through the first half we shifted into a higher gear and dismantled that team and scored at will. Once we had that lead, we coasted along and enjoyed the ride. I was kind of shocked at how fast we buried them during that spurt.

I very much hope we have that ability of grabbing a higher gear in more challenging games. If we do, we are going to be difficult to beat.

:cool:
 
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For the first 10 minutes NO looked like a team that was convinced we were a superstar surrounded by mid-major level players and with Zach out they could play with us. By halftime they looked like they were aware of misjudging the rest of the team
This New Orleans team is a slightly better version of the Chicago State teams in the past. They lost by 36 against Butler, 39 against Portland, 29 to LSU and 41 to Boise State. Their three wins are against two NAIA teams (Dillard and St Francis of Illinois) and IUPUI by 3. Their Ken Pom rating is 344 out of 363. IUPUI is 363.

Its hard to take anything away from a game like this. We easily won but if we had lost it would be interesting to see if it would have been the biggest upset (based on Ken Pom) in NCAA history!
 
This New Orleans team is a slightly better version of the Chicago State teams in the past. They lost by 36 against Butler, 39 against Portland, 29 to LSU and 41 to Boise State. Their three wins are against two NAIA teams (Dillard and St Francis of Illinois) and IUPUI by 3. Their Ken Pom rating is 344 out of 363. IUPUI is 363.

Its hard to take anything away from a game like this. We easily won but if we had lost it would be interesting to see if it would have been the biggest upset (based on Ken Pom) in NCAA history!

Yes, our D allowed too much against a very weak opponent. But still beat them handily.
 
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This New Orleans team is a slightly better version of the Chicago State teams in the past. They lost by 36 against Butler, 39 against Portland, 29 to LSU and 41 to Boise State. Their three wins are against two NAIA teams (Dillard and St Francis of Illinois) and IUPUI by 3. Their Ken Pom rating is 344 out of 363. IUPUI is 363.

Its hard to take anything away from a game like this. We easily won but if we had lost it would be interesting to see if it would have been the biggest upset (based on Ken Pom) in NCAA history!
That’s true, but there is talent everywhere, including on New Orleans. The Purdue team is built around Zach Edey and they had to adjust last night to playing without him, not to mention that his backup, Furst, was also limited. New Orleans had zero pressure on them and hit a lot of difficult shots that Purdue wanted them to take. Overall, I thought that last night was a positive for the team.

All that being said, there are several guys who appear to be shooting outside jumpers with very little confidence including Morton, Jenkins, Furst, and Newman (though Newman did look better last night). I think this will turn around, but it is making the games look a lot closer than they would, otherwise.
 
This New Orleans team is a slightly better version of the Chicago State teams in the past. They lost by 36 against Butler, 39 against Portland, 29 to LSU and 41 to Boise State. Their three wins are against two NAIA teams (Dillard and St Francis of Illinois) and IUPUI by 3. Their Ken Pom rating is 344 out of 363. IUPUI is 363.

Its hard to take anything away from a game like this. We easily won but if we had lost it would be interesting to see if it would have been the biggest upset (based on Ken Pom) in NCAA history!

The funny thing is I didn't think they looked THAT bad last night. I was expecting something similar to Chicago St based on their prior games, but they played really hard on defense for a 3-7 team and had several guys who could hit a contested shot.
 
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So much to love about this team. I attended the game tonight and its a different vibe over the break w/o students.

Hope Zach gets to feeling better soon as he is a DOMINANT force that was missed

TKR had an impressive night but was getting pushed around at the start. Then he found his groove and dynamic foot work to go around people. 20+ points so happy for him.

Gillis returned and looked good and Furst continues to play well.

Bothered by the missed free throws as that is unlike Purdue.

I will say this only once, Purdue is the #1 team in the country. No doubt they will get people's best effort night after night. But Purdue needs to play with a bit more confidence (chip on their shoulder) and learn to put teams away early.

Painter needs to have 7 guys on defense and spend the rest of this year practicing pressing defenses and how to break them. It is indefensible that Purdue turns the ball over when pressed. 5 passes, little dribble, ends in a 2-on-1 dunk so teams just abandoned it.

3-point shots were forced in some instances and not taken in other instances. Just need to settle down and let the guards drive or feed it down low for the kick out. This is where we missed Zach. But the team figured it out late in the first half and started to separate and then maintained that for the entire 2nd half thanks largely to TKR becoming beast.

All in all, a fun night was had as it was enjoyable to be back in Mackey arena.
They pressed Braden and quickly never tried it again until desperate later with no affect on Braden. The turnover was when Braden was on the bench. I really doubt the press hurts Purdue as long as Braden has another one or two to pass to or help get it across the court. Jenkins is a bit more shaky. Purdue will see the 1-2-2 again against Iowa who will be more effective
 
Something to bear in mind is that in the first 10 minutes, NO was 5 of 8 from 3. That's what really kept them in the game. The last 30 minutes of the game they went 1 of 8. The game would have been Ali t more comfortable if NO’s shooting was average in those first 10 min.
 
Something to bear in mind is that in the first 10 minutes, NO was 5 of 8 from 3. That's what really kept them in the game. The last 30 minutes of the game they went 1 of 8. The game would have been Ali t more comfortable if NO’s shooting was average in those first 10 min.
True, but Purdue this year is usually close with the other team for the first 10 minutes before getting some distance between them. One game Purdue started off hot and then lost the MO once the 3 ball missed...Nebraska? Some team but can't recall
 
True, but Purdue this year is usually close with the other team for the first 10 minutes before getting some distance between them. One game Purdue started off hot and then lost the MO once the 3 ball missed...Nebraska? Some team but can't recall

Hofstra, TJ, maybe? Purdue started on fire and led 24-5 and somewhat leveled off the rest of the game. Purdue finished 10-24 from deep.

They did have a 14 pt lead at Nebraska as well, but that was the last stages of the first half and early second half.
 
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Hofstra, TJ, maybe? Purdue started on fire and led 24-5 and somewhat leveled off the rest of the game. Purdue finished 10-24 from deep.

They did have a 14 pt lead at Nebraska as well, but that was the last stages of the first half and early second half.
I have so much going on I'm afraid my brain is in a fog sometimes. I appreciate the help. ;) Sitting in Mackey I tried a couple of times to add to the forum, but no internet. I hadn't even had time to see who Purdue was playing before. It was a good win. I hope the light came on for Trey! Like Mason putting the ball on the court on hard close outs. Thanks!
 
Very much agree with this. Good news is that this team has had the best case scenario start and as MP indicated, having that #1 next to your name two years in a row has numerous benefits, including in recruiting.

As you said, the flip side is that this team has a lot of things to figure out in order to remain a Big Ten title / BTT / FF / NC contender. Zach is dominant enough to get this team a bunch of wins but the bar has been raised. That's not a bad thing as this team has an extremely high ceiling if they can work out some of those issues.
Another reason to thank Zach no easy baskets underneath back to midrange or three point shots
 
The funny thing is I didn't think they looked THAT bad last night. I was expecting something similar to Chicago St based on their prior games, but they played really hard on defense for a 3-7 team and had several guys who could hit a contested shot.
Even bad teams are going to give us their best.
 
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I have so much going on I'm afraid my brain is in a fog sometimes. I appreciate the help. ;) Sitting in Mackey I tried a couple of times to add to the forum, but no internet. I hadn't even had time to see who Purdue was playing before. It was a good win. I hope the light came on for Trey! Like Mason putting the ball on the court on hard close outs. Thanks!
How the heck are we supposed to recruit high level players if they can't access reliable internet during the game???
 
How the heck are we supposed to recruit high level players if they can't access reliable internet during the game???
good point, but I don't have enough power to make it happen. Imagine a high recruit watching Purdue pummel a team and not being able to play games on his phone when bored? ;)
 
So much to love about this team. I attended the game tonight and its a different vibe over the break w/o students.

Hope Zach gets to feeling better soon as he is a DOMINANT force that was missed

TKR had an impressive night but was getting pushed around at the start. Then he found his groove and dynamic foot work to go around people. 20+ points so happy for him.

Gillis returned and looked good and Furst continues to play well.

Bothered by the missed free throws as that is unlike Purdue.

I will say this only once, Purdue is the #1 team in the country. No doubt they will get people's best effort night after night. But Purdue needs to play with a bit more confidence (chip on their shoulder) and learn to put teams away early.

Painter needs to have 7 guys on defense and spend the rest of this year practicing pressing defenses and how to break them. It is indefensible that Purdue turns the ball over when pressed. 5 passes, little dribble, ends in a 2-on-1 dunk so teams just abandoned it.

3-point shots were forced in some instances and not taken in other instances. Just need to settle down and let the guards drive or feed it down low for the kick out. This is where we missed Zach. But the team figured it out late in the first half and started to separate and then maintained that for the entire 2nd half thanks largely to TKR becoming beast.

All in all, a fun night was had as it was enjoyable to be back in Mackey arena.
Overall, Purdue had only 8 turnovers. I'm sure Painter is very happy with the improvement. But, yeah, they still need to cut out the ones that make you shake your head.
 
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Well said. I feel like last night would have been more satisfying if Purdue didn't have the #1 by its name.

Before the year if you would have told me Zach is out and TKR gets 24 in his place in a 20 pt win vs a cupcake, I would have been thrilled with that outcome.

Purdue has earned being #1 by the performance they had in Portland and other teams losing, but I'm conditioned to think that if you are a top 10 team you roll cupcakes by 40, regardless of who is playing. Reality is that this team is still relatively inexperienced overall and has yet to really hit their stride.
Matt is playing a lot of players which delays chemistry some as does the minutes spread. 40 pt wins don’t help the team improve…better just having practice. No question the team can improve even though it is really good right now
 
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