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Yale v. Purdue Game Thread (NCAA Tournament - East - First Round)

Purdue Grad in Texas

All-American
Mar 22, 2010
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Good afternoon, Ladies and Gentlemen. It's Friday afternoon in Milwaukee, Wisconsin for an EAST Region first round game between the 14-seed Yale Bulldogs and the 3-seed Purdue Boilermakers. Tip is scheduled for approximately 2:00 pm (Eastern) with televisions coverage on TBS. The winner of this game will face the winner of the game to follow, which is between the 11-seed Virginia Tech and the 6-seed Texas, on Sunday for the right to advance to the Regional games in Philadelphia next Friday.

On paper, this game appears to be a mismatch weighted in favor of Purdue, but you never know come tournament time - expect the unexpected. There’s not a lot of size or experience, but Yale gets after it defensively. The Bulldogs do a nice job of getting out on three and connecting everyone, and they're strong enough on the boards to clean up the misses to close out possessions. Yale also has the ability to slow the pace down - limiting the number of possessions would help the Bulldogs' chances as Purdue is just about at the top of the NCAA for scoring per possession. Yale is coming off three straight victories, the last being a 66-64 triumph over Princeton on Sunday for the Ivy League tournament title. It was the 13th triumph in 16 contests for Yale. Azar Swain leads them offensively; he's a senior guard and first on the team with an average of 19.2 points and recorded a game-high 23 against Princeton for his third straight 20-point performance and fourth in five outings. Purdue will certainly need to keep an eye on him.

For the Boilers, who are coming off a disappointing loss to Iowa in the Big Ten Tournament Championship game, it's a lot of the same focus points - limit turnovers (they had another bushel-full against the Hawkeyes), control the glass, and make their FT's (they missed several front-end opportunities against Iowa). We'll see if they mix up the offense a little more with the motion and letting Jaden Ivey create off of ball screens. Maybe we'll see some more of him off the ball and cutting or trying to attack the weak side glass - as a change of pace. Regardless, Purdue needs Sasha Stefanovic to get back on track a little - he's had a tough finish to the season. Look for Eric Hunter, Jr. to try and check Swain and continue to select opportunities on offense - driving when there and hitting the open three-pointer. I expect Purdue to really try and establish the interior paint presence with Zach Edey and Trevion Williams. Yale doesn't match-up well there, and that should create some good looks for the Boilers. If they execute and make the good shots, Purdue should be able to wear down Yale and advance.

It's been a little while, though, since Purdue played a complete game.....can they take a step toward that today and look to establish themselves again as a tournament contender?

We shall see coming up in less than an hour or so.

Boiler up, my friends.

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Good afternoon, Ladies and Gentlemen. It's Friday afternoon in Milwaukee, Wisconsin for an EAST Region first round game between the 14-seed Yale Bulldogs and the 3-seed Purdue Boilermakers. Tip is scheduled for approximately 2:00 pm (Eastern) with televisions coverage on TBS. The winner of this game will face the winner of the game to follow, which is between the 11-seed Virginia Tech and the 6-seed Texas, on Sunday for the right to advance to the Regional games in Philadelphia next Friday.

On paper, this game appears to be a mismatch weighted in favor of Purdue, but you never know come tournament time - expect the unexpected. There’s not a lot of size or experience, but Yale gets after it defensively. The Bulldogs do a nice job of getting out on three and connecting everyone, and they're strong enough on the boards to clean up the misses to close out possessions. Yale also has the ability to slow the pace down - limiting the number of possessions would help the Bulldogs' chances as Purdue is just about at the top of the NCAA for scoring per possession. Yale is coming off three straight victories, the last being a 66-64 triumph over Princeton on Sunday for the Ivy League tournament title. It was the 13th triumph in 16 contests for Yale. Azar Swain leads them offensively; he's a senior guard and first on the team with an average of 19.2 points and recorded a game-high 23 against Princeton for his third straight 20-point performance and fourth in five outings. Purdue will certainly need to keep an eye on him.

For the Boilers, who are coming off a disappointing loss to Iowa in the Big Ten Tournament Championship game, it's a lot of the same focus points - limit turnovers (they had another bushel-full against the Hawkeyes), control the glass, and make their FT's (they missed several front-end opportunities against Iowa). We'll see if they mix up the offense a little more with the motion and letting Jaden Ivey create off of ball screens. Maybe we'll see some more of him off the ball and cutting or trying to attack the weak side glass - as a change of pace. Regardless, Purdue needs Sasha Stefanovic to get back on track a little - he's had a tough finish to the season. Look for Eric Hunter, Jr. to try and check Swain and continue to select opportunities on offense - driving when there and hitting the open three-pointer. I expect Purdue to really try and establish the interior paint presence with Zach Edey and Trevion Williams. Yale doesn't match-up well there, and that should create some good looks for the Boilers. If they execute and make the good shots, Purdue should be able to wear down Yale and advance.

It's been a little while, though, since Purdue played a complete game.....can they take a step toward that today and look to establish themselves again as a tournament contender?

We shall see coming up in less than an hour or so.

Boiler up, my friends.

isaachayes1x18x10x05xmc.jpg


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Thx, Tex. We've all waited since last March for this moment. Let's make some memories! Ready at the beach
 
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