Breaking Down the Box - Purdue

Boilermakers put the Gophers on their heels en route to a 12 point win at home.

Minnesota -53
Purdue -65
BOX SCORE



The Boilermaker defense was impressive. And I could end the game review with that sentence. The pressure that they put on the Gophers was impressive and allowed them to dictate for about 35 of the 40 minutes. Minnesota ended the first half on a decent 15-2 run, until Keaton Grant drained a half-court shot as time ran out.

But the second half was all Purdue and Minnesota was never able to get into an offensive rhythm and was never able to execute on the offensive end. Those of you with the Big Ten Network got to see a lot of Gophers standing with the ball over their head and back on their heels.

Purdue coach Matt Painter summed it up well...

"I thought our pressure was good tonight. I thought we did a good job defensively; they finally just drove right at us and stopped trying to run stuff. For the most part I was pleased with the effort. We were able to put pressure on the ball throughout the game"

I for one was hopeful that an eight day lay off after a disappointing loss @Indiana would have made for a sluggish start for the Boilermakers. Not so as they applied some of the best on the ball pressure I have seen all year and jumped to a quick 3-13 start.

The Purdue pressure caused a ton of turnovers and kept the Gopher shooting percentage down. Tubby Smith didn't mince words when asked about his ball handler's ability to turn the ball over.

"Al Nolen is usually a better ball handler than he was tonight; Lawerence Westbrook has had trouble all year handling the ball. I guess the pressure got to us and we couldn't handle it."

Player of the Game - E'Twaun Moore

22 - pnts
3 - threes
5 - reb
2 - steals

I was looking forward to a Nolen / Moore match up but he was too hard to guard tonight. And I don't what that ref was thinking, photographic evidence above shows it was clearly all ball.

Tempo-Free Zone


32.2% turnovers, that was the biggest difference in the game.

Up Next - Ohio State

Three games left and have to win them all to get into bubble talk, but that is crazy. This game is kind of meaningless. There is a chance that Minnesota could steal the 5 seed in the conference tournament which would mean a bye. I guess that is something.

This game is winable. Ohio State hasn't been playing their best basketball lately and playing at home always gives us a chance to win.

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On a side note here is some totally shocking information from Big Ten Tonight...

** Gene Keady predicts Purdue will come out on top of the menage-a-trois that is the Big Ten standings.

** Jimmy Jackson thinks Indiana will win. Why? Because they score points.

** I've been a fan of Wisconsin's bid to win it all year because they play so well together and play defense. I may end up being wrong as Purdue has the easiest remaining schedule.

Big Ten Basketball Preview - Purdue

There is some serious excitement in West Lafayette. Coach Matt Painter has brought in the most talented recruiting class since the days of the "Big Dog" Glenn Robinson (and this may be better). Rivals ranked 7th nationally with 4 top 100 players. There are at least 5 talented freshmen who will contribute heavily to the Boilermakers this year. After a successful 22 win season and a contested 2nd round NCAA loss to the eventual nation champions there is reason for optimism.

What is lost in all of this hoopla is what has been lost. Only 2 starters are lost but those 2 (Landry and Teague) accounted for nearly half of Purdue's scoring. That is a LOT of experience and scoring that they have to replace. Along with the scoring Purdue has also lost their top 3 rebounders. So while there is significant talent coming in, they have some big holes to fill.

PG - Chris Kramer - Here is the most experienced player returning, and Kramer is a soph. He was on the Big Ten All-Defensive team as a freshman so there is some serious talent here. Purdue fans should be wary that Kramer had surgery this offseason and nagging injuries last year, but assuming he is healthy Kramer is a potential All-Big Ten player.

SG - E'Twaun Moore - beat Eric Gordon's team in the Indiana State Championships scoring 28 points. Moore is the most highly rated freshman of this great recruiting class and will be given every opportunity to be a playmaker for Purdue. I think people will be quick to use Mike Conley Jr's breakout freshman season as an example of what you can expect to see from Moore. But Moore is missing a guy like Greg Oden who is a once in 10 years type of freshman post player. How good will he be? I don't know but it will be fun to watch.

G - Keaton Grant - did not show up in their exhibition opener because he is suspended through the regular season opener, but it is expected that the returning guard will likely be a starter. Grant is a scorer who will likely get more opportunities to score now that Teague and Landry are gone.

F - Robbie Hummell - 6'7" freshman who started in the exhibition game on 11/6. Hummell is the guy who will rebound well, pass well and do the little things necessary to help the team win.

C - JaJuan Johnson - also started in initial exhibition game, this 6'10" lanky freshman has been called a real steal by coach Matt Painter. How well the 210 lb freshman will hold up in Big Ten play will be an interesting sub-plot in the story of how successful this team can be.

Key Bench - Tarrance Crump - here is your lone senior on the team. Crump is fast and will likely be a key player off the bench to impact the game by changing the pace of the game.
Key Bench - Scott Martin (pictured right) - good shooter and scoring freshman. 6'8", who will be relied upon to pick up the scoring load I'm sure.
Key Bench - Marcus Green - 3-pt shooting, junior
Key Bench - Gordan Watt - not on the current roster, I don't know what the story is but if he is on the team he will be a very valuable wing who started 33/34 games last season.
Key Bench - Nemanja Calasan - 6'9" Bosnian forward who is waiting to be declared eligible to play. The JUCO transfer will be important to helping in the middle.

Prediction - There is some serious young talent on this team, but 2 things concern me. 1-is the size, this team may really struggle to defend the paint. 2-experience, making up for 33 points lost is really tough to do with a combination of freshmen. With that said I really like their athleticism and their ability to defend the perimeter with speed and physicalness.

Purdue will finish the Big Ten season somewhere in the 8-10 win range. They are another team that could really come out and make me look bad with this prediction. I referenced it above but I get the feeling that Boilermaker fans are subconsciously thinking they will be this year's Ohio State. But I think they are lacking the experience Ohio State had and while their freshman class is really good, it isn't a class with 3 one-and-done players who will be drafted in the first round.

Ultimately this is a growing season for the Boilermakers and next season could be something really special. Purdue finishes 7th makes a nice run in the NIT (bubble team though). At this point I think Purdue fans will be disappointed with a finish like this, but in the long run I think they'll benefit from a few stuggles and a run of wins in the NIT.

My thoughts on Minneosta...Week 4

Game Thoughts...

• Defense really only gave up 10 first half points. Moral victory? Maybe. We all expected the Purdue offense to gash this defense for 4 quarters. Really it was 1 drive in the first qtr and then the entire 2nd half. 2 TDs in the first half are directly the responsibility of Adam Weber and the kickoff coverage.
• Stupid Fumbles- Which was worse Amir's fumble at the 12 or Jamal's blocked FG for a TD (hold on there). If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, I wouldn't have...well OK I would have. This is just something that doesn't happen to winning programs. Jamal's TD could have dramatically altered the course of the 2nd half. But he fumbled and it didn't.
  
• Let's start the games 0-21 - I think we need that 3 TD deficit to get us going so maybe if we had 4 qtrs instead of 2 we'd be just fine.
• Duane Bennett - If Pinnix is going to continue his costly fumbles, and Bennett is going to continue to run like he did then give the kid the ball. Duane looked very good and I look forward to his running over the next 4 years.
• Young offense is still good - Take a look, we have freshmen starting (or major contributor) at QB, RB, WR and OG. Sophs at OG and WR. Only 3 seniors are starting (assuming Pinnix no longer starts) and this offense is able to put up 31 points on a good (not great) Big Ten team.
• Game highlights.

Recruiting Thoughts...

• Simoni Lawrence - despite giving up 45 points and losing, the coaching staff was still able to convince at least 1 of this week's recruits visiting to commit. I'll post more later on Lawrence but he is a DB/OLB, JUCO kid who will have 3 seasons to play for the Golden Gophers.
  
• Another big recruiting weekend - Playing Ohio State may or may not help with recruits watching but this is another weekend full of recruits taking their official visits. Big names like Ryan Bass (RB), Keanon Cooper (S), Marqueis Gray (QB), Jewhan Edwards (DT), Brandon Green (WR) and Spencer Reeves (LB) will be here. The Purdue game had several nice recruits as well and hopefully another commit or two will come our way this week.
• Offensive Recruits - this offense has been rather productive and looks fun to be a part of. It is spread and gives a lot of players a chance to contribute in the passing game. But it is also committed to running so OL and RBs can have some fun too. I would imagine high school offensive players would appreciated this offense and what it can offer them.
• Defensive Recruits - this defense is taking a beating but any defensive recruit out there has to see this as an opportunity to come in and play as soon as they are ready.
  

Purdue vs. Minnesota - Guest Preview

As I'm sure you've noticed I haven't exactly been into week by week previews here at Gopher Nation. I guess that is primarily because I don't feel I'm familiar enough with our opponents that I could give an adequate and fair preview. I would have been very wrong 2/3 of the time thus far so I guess it was probably the right decision.

So instead of me breaking down the MN/Pur matchup I have asked Off the Tracks, a Purdue blog who has been brilliant in the Big Ten Pick'em , to give Gopher Nation his take on Saturday's game.

1. If Minnesota is going to win, schematically what will they have to do to the Boilermakers?

Honestly its going to take Purdue turning the ball over, a lot. Last week The Boilers had five turnovers and still won comfortably against Central Michigan. So far Purdue has been able to pass, pass, pass, but what is keeping teams honest is the ground game. before Jaycen Taylor got hurt Purdue had both him and Kory Sheets splitting the carries just about evenly. Sheets ran for 144 yards and two TD's last week, plus Curtis Painter has proven the past two years he can run the ball if he has to. This year Purdue seems to have more balance than in past seasons. Sheets will be the man now, but true freshman Dan Dierking will see more action with the first unit. In mop up action he already has mroe than 100 yards and a pair of TD's.

Minnesota's best hope is to probably use its ground game to keep the Boilermaker offense off the field. The Gophers also can't afford to turnt he ball over like they did against Florida Atlantic. If Purdue gets a short field often, it will be over in a hurry. Purdue also has so many dangerous receivers that someone is going to be open that can catch the ball. minnesota will need to get to Painter and not give him time to throw, something that no one has done yet. To my knowledge Painter has been sacked just once so far. If he has all day to throw like he has in the first three games he's going to find someone, and he's already thrown TD passes to eight different receivers. He has yet to throw an interception and only came close once, but an Eastern Illinois defender dropped the pass. Last season Painter led the nation with 19 picks in 14 games.


2. Over the years Pur / Min has typically been a high scoring affair with yards and points piled up. Going back to the games with Alstott and Chris Darkins running all over the field these teams have combined for 60+ points in 9 of their last 12 games.

2005 - 42-35 (OT)
2001 - 28-35 (OT)
2000 - 24-38
1999 - 28-33
1998 - 21-56
1997 - 43-59
1995 - 39-38
1994 - 37-49
1993 - 59-56

Will they combine for over 60 on Saturday and if so, how many of those points will Purdue have?

Purdue's averaging just under fifty on their own and I have seen where Minnesota can score in a hurry as well, so this should be a fun one. Purdue defense is much improved over the last two seasons, but it was hard to get much worse. They've improved to the point that they can now get the occasional stop and hold teams to about 20-25 points. Last year we gave up 35 to one of the worst 1-AA teams in the country in Indiana State. People may say that we're a product of our schedule, but that result from last year tells we couldn't stop anybody. This year we've played slightly better teams in our first three games and have never been threatened.

I think there will be sixty points scored, and honestly unless Minnesota's defense shows drastic improvement or Purdue throws a lot of interceptions about 45 of those will be Purdue's.

3. If Painter breaks his leg in the 1st qtr who will replace him, is he any good and how many yards will he have?

Joey Elliott is our backup and he has seen only some very limited action the past two seasons. So far on the season he is 1 for 4 for 7 yards and an interception while primarily handing off to Dan Dierking to kill the clock. Elliott is big at 6'3" and is a redshirt sophomore, and was 6 of 10 for 72 yards, 1 TD, and 1 INT last year. He honestly hasn't played a ton, and not at all in a real game situation, but as a redshirt this is his third year in the system. He's also the only other quarterback who has actually seen the field, so he would play in a situation like that.

I honestly can't say what Elliott would do, but I'd probably be unconcious from a heart attack if Painter left the game anyway. I think he would do alright, but simply from lack of actual game experience there would be a serious dropoff. What makes Painter so good is that he has had essentially the same receiving options since he became the starter two years ago. They've grown intot he offense together and it is very hard to repalce that.

4. Which Golden Gopher is the one who strikes fear in the hearts of Boilermaker fans, players and coaches?

Amir Pinnix. The last two season we have struggled to stop the running game and it has killed us. We've faced a couple of good backs so far in Toledo's Jalen Parmele and Central Michigan's Ontario Sneed, but they are only good by MAC standards. Pinnix is in a different class and if our defense really isn't that much better Pinnix could be in a field day. I attended the game in minneapolis two years ago and both Gary Russell and Laurence Maroney tore us up. Last year Pinnix didn't find the end zone, but he did rush for more than 170 yards.

If Purdue can contain him then suddenly the defense will have a lot more confidence for the rest of the season, as Pinnix is one of the top backs in the league and Minnesota has always had a good running game. Minnesota needs to use him to control the tempo and keep the Purdue offense off the field.