I randomly was glancing at the results to re-remember just how far things have come since the trio of games 2 weeks before Christmas where the fanbase openly wondered if defense had finally officially died at Purdue and if we should start hunting for a new coach. Man has the last month been a revelation.
As a quick preface to this past month, after a decent 2-2 conf start with both losses to highly ranked opponents, we witnessed the PSU miracle with Stephens doing his best Reggie Miller impression. Many fans openly were hoping a gift-win snatching a victory from the jaws of defeat like that would potentially save the season and be the medicine Purdue needed, only for so many of us on KHC to fall back into full despair when Purdue lost to an IL squad they've owned most of the last decade, playing without it's best player. It wasn't even close to our worst loss of the year, but it felt terrible because everybody knew just how winnable it was and Purdue had little room for error after that 2-4 non-conf stinker in November.
What has happened since then?
On Jan 24th Purdue crossed an important bridge, beating its first ranked team in 2.5 years in knocking off Iowa. It was no sure thing. After leading most of the way, Iowa took the lead late only to have Raphael take it back with under a minute left with what may have been the biggest 3 of the season all things considered (Stephens 3's vs PSU and Minn are right there too). Not sure what happened that day, when Purdue was able to overcome the random one-man show demon that felled them at Vandy and vs G-Webb. Maybe it was just a coincidence, but I think the team grew mentally that day and ever since then seem to have that confident look of a winner in their eye who knows how to come through in the clutch. Sure there was the gross, inexplicable 8 minutes at Minn that kept this from being a month of perfection, but as the team clicked through those wins, for a majority of the games, you can make the case the next win was as big as or bigger than the previous.
It's been such a fun run as a diehard fan. While none of us are a direct part of the act, we're indirectly involved and in the last few years have been forced to swallow hard, have had to begrudgingly grin and bear it in both major sports, holding out that things would ultimately turn for the good, largely based only on blind faith and fandom. The collective soul and psyche of the Boilermaker fan badly needed a media storm of positivity like we've seen to turn all of those frowns of doubt upside down. And man has it. As a sidebar worth full mention, "Superbowl for Purdue" debate not
withstanding, damn did that sweep of the Hoosiers feel awfully damn good.
As Brian said earlier this week, if we lose to Rutgers the season should be cancelled, so I'm going to go ahead and assume a 20 pt win there. After that, things will get as tough as they have been all season, but despite having to travel to tough venues in C'Bus and E.L. as 'dogs, can anyone proclaim a legit reason Purdue can't keep winning if they bring the same focus and energy on defense, and play with the same determination and purpose on offense which we saw in the IU pair, vs OSU, at NW, etc? I don't think you can. Purdue bball has again become Purdue bball and I don't think they're going to rest on their laurels nor look back.
Cheers to the difference-makers who bought into what coach Painter was selling -- looking at you Davis, Hammons, and Octeus for all raising your games to a new level of power, all making a bevy of SC top ten type highlights. Shout outs to Haas for flipping AJ's switch, and Mathias and Edwards for knowing how to feed the post and making many big plays when the others were having off days, and to the Soph trio for filling the gaps where needed even though they aren't getting all the PT they hoped for.
Just imagine the damage Purdue could do if the team remains engaged AND some 3's start to fall the way our FT's did in the IU sweep. What about if Edwards can explode again like he did earlier this season, like Haas did at IU making each and every one of those 12 minutes played strongly count?
In 31 more days, will I do this same exercise again and look back at the last 2 months and candidly ask, just how in the hell did this once 11-8 squad get to a point where it's going to tip off a Sweet 16 match up the next day?
Time will tell. But at the moment I sure seem optimistic that it can happen. I hope we all can continue to enjoy this ride.
This post was edited on 2/25 12:58 AM by JHetfield99
https://purdue.rivals.com/bschedule.asp
As a quick preface to this past month, after a decent 2-2 conf start with both losses to highly ranked opponents, we witnessed the PSU miracle with Stephens doing his best Reggie Miller impression. Many fans openly were hoping a gift-win snatching a victory from the jaws of defeat like that would potentially save the season and be the medicine Purdue needed, only for so many of us on KHC to fall back into full despair when Purdue lost to an IL squad they've owned most of the last decade, playing without it's best player. It wasn't even close to our worst loss of the year, but it felt terrible because everybody knew just how winnable it was and Purdue had little room for error after that 2-4 non-conf stinker in November.
What has happened since then?
On Jan 24th Purdue crossed an important bridge, beating its first ranked team in 2.5 years in knocking off Iowa. It was no sure thing. After leading most of the way, Iowa took the lead late only to have Raphael take it back with under a minute left with what may have been the biggest 3 of the season all things considered (Stephens 3's vs PSU and Minn are right there too). Not sure what happened that day, when Purdue was able to overcome the random one-man show demon that felled them at Vandy and vs G-Webb. Maybe it was just a coincidence, but I think the team grew mentally that day and ever since then seem to have that confident look of a winner in their eye who knows how to come through in the clutch. Sure there was the gross, inexplicable 8 minutes at Minn that kept this from being a month of perfection, but as the team clicked through those wins, for a majority of the games, you can make the case the next win was as big as or bigger than the previous.
It's been such a fun run as a diehard fan. While none of us are a direct part of the act, we're indirectly involved and in the last few years have been forced to swallow hard, have had to begrudgingly grin and bear it in both major sports, holding out that things would ultimately turn for the good, largely based only on blind faith and fandom. The collective soul and psyche of the Boilermaker fan badly needed a media storm of positivity like we've seen to turn all of those frowns of doubt upside down. And man has it. As a sidebar worth full mention, "Superbowl for Purdue" debate not
withstanding, damn did that sweep of the Hoosiers feel awfully damn good.
As Brian said earlier this week, if we lose to Rutgers the season should be cancelled, so I'm going to go ahead and assume a 20 pt win there. After that, things will get as tough as they have been all season, but despite having to travel to tough venues in C'Bus and E.L. as 'dogs, can anyone proclaim a legit reason Purdue can't keep winning if they bring the same focus and energy on defense, and play with the same determination and purpose on offense which we saw in the IU pair, vs OSU, at NW, etc? I don't think you can. Purdue bball has again become Purdue bball and I don't think they're going to rest on their laurels nor look back.
Cheers to the difference-makers who bought into what coach Painter was selling -- looking at you Davis, Hammons, and Octeus for all raising your games to a new level of power, all making a bevy of SC top ten type highlights. Shout outs to Haas for flipping AJ's switch, and Mathias and Edwards for knowing how to feed the post and making many big plays when the others were having off days, and to the Soph trio for filling the gaps where needed even though they aren't getting all the PT they hoped for.
Just imagine the damage Purdue could do if the team remains engaged AND some 3's start to fall the way our FT's did in the IU sweep. What about if Edwards can explode again like he did earlier this season, like Haas did at IU making each and every one of those 12 minutes played strongly count?
In 31 more days, will I do this same exercise again and look back at the last 2 months and candidly ask, just how in the hell did this once 11-8 squad get to a point where it's going to tip off a Sweet 16 match up the next day?
Time will tell. But at the moment I sure seem optimistic that it can happen. I hope we all can continue to enjoy this ride.
This post was edited on 2/25 12:58 AM by JHetfield99
https://purdue.rivals.com/bschedule.asp
