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BoilerMKT

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Everything posted by BoilerMKT

  1. Outstanding job, guys. Knew it would be a grind. Figured you would limit the bigs, but was surprised how well you were able to do so without exposing too much else. You needed to hit the open threes and you did. Incredible poise and patience. Keep it going!
  2. Geez, that's worse than someone having the audacity to set their wedding date in the midst of March Madness. The people you're helping must be IU fans. They never have anything to do this time of year.
  3. My favorite part of that is how for long stretches Verne and Clark don't even try to talk over it...just let it happen. BTW, my first college basketball game was also at Hinkle in 1970--Ball State at Butler. Checked to see if Purdue and North Texas had ever played, thinking the answer was no. But, there was actually one at Mackey in December, 1970, which Purdue won 90-73. That would have been the first year post-Rick Mount. The Super Pit also looks like a good place to see a game. I guess our two arenas are both going to be on TV the next couple of nights.
  4. Yeah, he's been there about 4 years now, maybe 5. He is in charge of the defense. Painter runs it like a football staff. Lutz for defense, Shewsberry (new Penn St HC) for offense and Brandon Brantley works with the bigs and player personnel in general. Before Shrewberry, the OC was Greg Gary (my cousin), who is now the HC at Mercer, who almost copied you guys with the 4-game tourney run, but run out of gas the last couple minutes vs. UNC Greensboro. Lutz will likely land an HC job this year or next.
  5. LOL. Be patient. I'm sure a couple of our village idiots will show up between now and game time.
  6. Thanks for the response. If he passes well out of it, Bell is the likely beneficiary and it looks like he's capable of knocking them down from the perimeter, so that may work well for you. Pretty sure we'll try doubling, though, because it looked like Simmons was effective one-on-one vs. Bassey, at least in the first half. Purdue is very analytically driven, so I'm certain they will focus a ton of attention on Hamlet. Eric Hunter is really good on the ball--held Notre Dame's leading scorer Prentiss Hubb to 0 points, forced Minnesota's Marcus Carr into a 2-for-13 night, held Wisconsin's D'Mitrik Trice to 2-for-10 one game after he had lit Illinois up for 29 points. Hunter and Hamlet are essentially the same size (and both left-handed), so that battle will be very interesting to watch and may be the most important matchup in the game.
  7. Great story! I remember Purdue recruited Fabian White a little bit. CJ Walker, currently a senior PG for Ohio State originally committed to Purdue and then backed out, so we "settled" for Carsen. 🙂 I think that turned out OK. Those AAU teams with Carsen and D'Aaron Fox had to be just ridiculous. You weren't at the game where he hit like 13-15 threes on the way to 50+ points, were you?
  8. My amateur assessment, albeit based on just watching your championship game is while Bassey is undoubtedly a better athlete, Trevion is a more-skilled, harder-working and smarter basketball player. Where that will show up is offensive rebounding and patience in the post, waiting for the defense to show itself. It's why his assist rate is 5x Bassey's. That said, I do think NT will do an effective job of denying post entries and forcing us to take a lot of threes With Edey, sometimes it's easier to just throw it over the top of everyone and let him handle it. Watch out for backscreens leading to alley-oops. A couple questions for you guys. On the occasions that you do feed it down to Simmons, how well does he handle double teams? He will see them, pretty much always coming from the 4 spot until he proves he can beat them. Also, if Hamlet is made to be inefficient, what is Plan B? Who's the most likely to pick up the slack? He is definitely very crafty, has good vision and an excellent floater game, but he doesn't appear to be lightning quick, which is what we sometimes struggle with.
  9. Just noticed you guys are in the same conference with ODU, so that will make it Purdue's second straight CUSA opener. In '19, we played the Monarchs in a 3-14 matchup, winning 61-48. It was not a thing of beauty. We had to adjust on the fly when our starting PG rolled an ankle in pre-game warmups. They held their own rebounding, but we kept them to 27% shooting. Game was tight for the first fifteen minutes, but the last five of the first and first five of the second saw us blow it to 20 and then just trade baskets the rest of the way. All of which has nothing to do with the upcoming game. ODU profiled similarly to NT on defense, but was much worse offensively. And, Purdue was a much more 3-point reliant team in that season (remember Carsen Edwards and Ryan Cline?). In terms of total points scored, however, I won't be surprised if this game is within the same range as that one.
  10. I should clarify a bit and say we try to get them touches. With Trevion, that does not have to be on the low block due to his passing ability. There is a lot of dribble handoff action with Trevion handling the ball in the high post and hitting cutters to the basket. On low post feeds, our guards are big enough to be able to enter the ball most of the time, and if you devote too much attention to trying to eliminate it then either Ivey attacking or Stefanovic/Newman being open from three could become an issue. Again, fascinating chess match in store. Painter has a lot of respect for McCasland and knows how hard NT is going to play.
  11. If by that you mean playing Williams and Edey together, I'd say almost nil. It happened a little bit briefly in the BTT game vs. OSU, but that was when Liddell for OSU had 4 fouls late. It doesn't work well defensively.
  12. Thanks for the overview. This is going to be a really interesting chess match. Your comment about Simmons inconsistent defense and the lack of comfort with his backup are worth noting. That will really get tested, because Purdue is the most post-heavy offense in the country. We look to enter the ball into the post on damn near every possession and there will be a focus on drawing fouls on Simmons. Williams draws 5.9 fouls per 40 and Edey 7.2. Would you go small ball with Bell as the 5? That could create issues for us. You'd have a hard time stopping anything inside, but if you were trading 3s for 2s you could gain an advantage for a while at least. Defensively, we work hard to fight over the top of screens and do not hedge hard on them. If Hamlet can get into the lane all day, it will cause us a lot of problems. We try to force the ball to one side and keep it there. Once we get into rotations, a lot of freshman (and junior) mistakes start showing up.
  13. He hit 11-14 in that game 🙂
  14. Correct. First-round exits in '15 and '16, both brutal with blown late leads. But since, Sweet 16 in '17 and '18 and Elite 8 in '19 and a Virginia miracle away from the Final 4. Prior to those '15 and '16 losses, we had won 14 straight first-rounders spanning the Keady and Painter eras.
  15. Interesting choice and a great reference point. All the mistakes you see there like bringing the ball down, whacking the defender in the head, trying to dunk from too far away have been pretty much eliminated. Here's a more recent example against a much higher level of competition.
  16. Greetings, Mean Green. Boilermaker here. Congrats on winning your conference! Thought I would stop by and familiarize you with the team you will be facing in the first round. I hope you will provide the same in return. Starters: Trevion Williams--6'10", 265, junior. Trevion made first-team all-B1G, averaging about 16 and 9. He is mostly a back-to-the-basket player with a quick first step and a wide variety of post-moves. Loves the jump hook over his left shoulder, but also likes to spin and hit the reverse layup. He is an elite rebounder and an elite passer for a big man. Very patient with double teams. He is an average at best defender and occasionally takes dumb fouls. He is a very below average free throw shooter despite having what looks like good form. Was backup center on the '19 Elite Eight team. Mason Gillis--6'6", 230, redshirt freshman. Glue guy. Always seems to be around the ball. Most of his points come on putbacks or dives to the basket. Is a capable three-point shooter but not a volume one. Excellent free-throw shooter and makes them when it counts. Jaden Ivey--6'4", 200, freshman. Future NBA player. Elite athlete. Got off to a slow start this year due to a foot injury but has really come on the last two months. Averaging 14 over the last dozen games. Great at attacking the basket and finishing. Is an improving 3-pt shooter and has been about 85% at the line on high volume over those same twelve games. Also a very good on-ball defender. He makes multiple plays per game that we haven't seen at Purdue since probably Glenn Robinson. Sasha Stefanovic--6'5", 200, junior. Our best 3-point shooter and best post-feeder, which is very important in our offense. Can be stifled by really good defenders, but the attention he draws opens things up for others. Is capable of putting on the deck and finishing, but that's usually a last option. Average one-on-one defender, but is very important in the team defense concept. Backup 2 on the Elite Eight Team. Eric Hunter, Jr.--6'4", 170, junior. Our best perimeter defender, having shut down some of the B1G's elite scorers. Generally a good decision-maker at the point. Is a very capable but often inconsistent scorer who is most comfortable in the mid-range pull-up game. Backup point on the Elite Eight Team. Bench: Zach Edey--7'4", 285, freshman. An absolute revelation. The #429 recruit in his class. Has only been playing basketball for three years after spending his youth playing hockey and baseball in Canada. Everyone expected him to redshirt, then he went out and scored 36 points in the first two games of the season vs. Liberty and Clemson. I saw someone refer to him as really slow, but he actually moves very well for his size, and when your wingspan looks like it covers the whole lane you probably don't have to be all that quick. Great hands and footwork, soft touch (except for when he's tearing down rims). Flushes alley-oops while barely jumping. Unlike Trevion, an excellent free throw shooter. He is not yet an elite shot blocker. Will generally just wall up to try to avoid fouls. And if drawn out high in P&R situations, he is pretty easy to get around. Is foul prone, but draws a ton of them, too. Finished the regular season with 21 and 20 vs. Wisconsin and Indiana in just 39 minutes. Brandon Newman--6'5", 195, redshirt freshman. Our next best three-point shooter. Can score at all three levels, but most shots are from three. Good rebounder for a guard and pretty good defender. Started most of the season until the emergence of Ivey and the return of Sasha from COVID. Foul prone. Has not totally adjusted to coming off the bench. Had a 29-point game vs. Minnesota. Aaron Wheeler--6'9", 205, junior. Message board whipping boy for most of the last two years as his shot wasn't falling like it did during his freshman season, but has found himself again over the last few games, dropping 7 of 11 from distance. Has always rebounded well and is very athletic. Began the season as a starter, but now splits minutes about 60/40 with Gillis depending on who's having the better night. Key bench contributor on the Elite 8. Isaiah Thompson--6'1", 160, sophomore. Backup point. Provides some quickness and occasionally gets hot from three. Can be overpowered by more physical guards. Offensive approach: Purdue runs a mix of motion offense and sets that have options off of options off of options. Looks to play through the post most of the time, taking advantage of Williams one-on-one moves and passing ability and Edey's ability to obliterate the sun. They like to shoot the three, but have not made them at the rate they've grown accustomed to in recent years. Medium to below average pace. Have worked in more P&R this year because of Ivey's capabilities. Shot selection has consistently gotten better as the freshman have matured. Still a bit more turnover prone than a typical Painter team. Very good offensive rebounding team. Defensive approach: 100% man-to-man. Not a pressing team, but will pick up the primary ball-handler for 94 feet. Switch almost everything. General philosophy is to force tough twos. Can be exposed by elite P & R teams, and the freshmen still make freshmen mistakes on that end. Also vulnerable to teams that have bigs who can shoot the three. Miscellaneous: The team does not quit. Won a game they trailed by 17 at half at Michigan State, and just went to overtime two days ago vs. Ohio State after trailing by 18 at half. Won their last five and eleven of their last fourteen regular season games and finished 4th. At the beginning of the year, being on the bubble was a reasonable expectation, but the freshmen have played well beyond their years and the juniors have stepped into leadership roles. Playing with house money at this point. It's next year that should be really fun. Again, don't know anything about NT. KenPom makes it look like you are very good defensively, very good at shooting the three and play at a Wisconsin pace, meaning you will force us to defend. Would love to hear your thoughts and looking forward to the game Friday. Oh, by the way. We won't be allowed to play at Mackey Arena of course, but if the game is at Assembly Hall in Bloomington, recognize that is our auxiliary home court 🙂 Cheers!
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