..when Purdue has upperclassmen who have come through the program.
In the last three games:
Rapheal Davis is averaging 19 points and 5 rebounds, while shooting 54.3% from the floor, 60% from 3 and 76.5% from the line while playing nasty defense.
AJ Hammons is averaging 9.7 points, 4.3 rebounds, 4.3 blocks and has just 2 TO's, while shooting 75% from the floor and 67% from the line.
Those numbers are good but don't even tell the whole story. Davis is clearly the alpha on this team and his teammates have a great deal of respect for him (see Scott's comments last night). Hammons, who's always been quiet and unassuming, has been much more vocal this year, coaching Haas whenever he gets a chance and providing support to his teammates when needed. Did anyone else see him be the guy in the 2nd half last night that pulled the team together during a free throw situation and tell the guys what they needed to do? Did you think you'd ever see that from AJ?
The struggles of the last couple of years have been well documented. IMO, those struggles are primarily due to Matt Painter's inability to retain players and grow them into "Purdue" players that have been the backbone of Purdue's success. Had Simpson not had his unfortunate condition, I think he would have 3 of those guys this year.
Leading into this year, I still had faith in Matt Painter, primarily because of the potential of the 2012, 2013 and 2014 classes. That faith wavered in part because of the painful losses but as much because of the lack of production by the 2013 class. I don't know how much of Stephens' issues are finger related but he's not as far along as I expected. The bulk of my consternation however was from the painful lack of production from Basil and Bryson. The Purdue program, and Matt Painter specifically, does not recruit well enough to have 2/3 of a class flame out. And early in the B1G season, that's exactly what was happening.
I'm not yet convinced that Basil and Bryson will become foundation upperclassmen next year and beyond, but they've finally shown glimpses to give me hope that perhaps we are building toward something good. The next few weeks are extremely important in seeing if that is here to stay or just a blip on the radar.
Boiler up, Hammer down and POTFKitties.
In the last three games:
Rapheal Davis is averaging 19 points and 5 rebounds, while shooting 54.3% from the floor, 60% from 3 and 76.5% from the line while playing nasty defense.
AJ Hammons is averaging 9.7 points, 4.3 rebounds, 4.3 blocks and has just 2 TO's, while shooting 75% from the floor and 67% from the line.
Those numbers are good but don't even tell the whole story. Davis is clearly the alpha on this team and his teammates have a great deal of respect for him (see Scott's comments last night). Hammons, who's always been quiet and unassuming, has been much more vocal this year, coaching Haas whenever he gets a chance and providing support to his teammates when needed. Did anyone else see him be the guy in the 2nd half last night that pulled the team together during a free throw situation and tell the guys what they needed to do? Did you think you'd ever see that from AJ?
The struggles of the last couple of years have been well documented. IMO, those struggles are primarily due to Matt Painter's inability to retain players and grow them into "Purdue" players that have been the backbone of Purdue's success. Had Simpson not had his unfortunate condition, I think he would have 3 of those guys this year.
Leading into this year, I still had faith in Matt Painter, primarily because of the potential of the 2012, 2013 and 2014 classes. That faith wavered in part because of the painful losses but as much because of the lack of production by the 2013 class. I don't know how much of Stephens' issues are finger related but he's not as far along as I expected. The bulk of my consternation however was from the painful lack of production from Basil and Bryson. The Purdue program, and Matt Painter specifically, does not recruit well enough to have 2/3 of a class flame out. And early in the B1G season, that's exactly what was happening.
I'm not yet convinced that Basil and Bryson will become foundation upperclassmen next year and beyond, but they've finally shown glimpses to give me hope that perhaps we are building toward something good. The next few weeks are extremely important in seeing if that is here to stay or just a blip on the radar.
Boiler up, Hammer down and POTFKitties.
