[Playing Purdue]

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!

[Playing Purdue]

55 minutes ago, UNTLifer said:

I have spent quite a bit of time in Indy for work the last couple of years and the Purdue fans are an example of what I discovered up there.  Good, friendly people that love their basketball, and a little auto racing.  Honestly, I am just ready for the game, and now I found out that I have been volunteered to help some people pack up to move tomorrow night at 6!  I will be recording the game and staying off of here until after I can see the game.  If you know me, please do not text me during the game.

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.

[Playing Purdue]

2 hours ago, tjreese said:

My introduction as a youngster to college basketball was in the first picture...Hinkle fieldhouse.  I was attending games 60 years ago.  I have a brother-in-law that played back then who has his picture located between (Bobby Plump---who the movie Hoosiers is about) and Gordon Hayward.  That gym served for MANY years where the high school state championship was held.

Since Indiana went to class basketball, there has been quite a notice in attendance drop, but it still is a favorite and treated as such like Texas and football...and BTW, Texas as a state has been quite good to Purdue with football players over the years.  Farther down in the link you can find Mackey Arena...where Purdue plays.  It is an amazing site to watch a game as all seats are good as is the product...and noted for being quite loud!  😉  It has reached 116 decibels...close to an airplane!

For any interested the following link is a couple of minutes a few years ago in mackey when Purdue 11 beat Ohio State 2 to see how loud and involved the crowd is at mackey...which I assume is similar to football in TExas...except the noise bounces off the walls in mackey and can be deafening and intimidating to a team visiting...

just an example of Purdue game at home

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.

 

 

[Playing Purdue]

53 minutes ago, MeanGreenTexan said:

Whoa!    I didn't know you guys had Steve Lutz on staff!

He was a guy we were seriously considering as HC around here before McCasland was hired.   Great coach!

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.

[Playing Purdue]

3 minutes ago, denton_days said:

Dang was really excited to come into the boards throwing elbows, but all the Boilermakers are really nice. No matter the outcome, honestly think this will be a fun game.

LOL.  Be patient.  I'm sure a couple of our village idiots will show up between now and game time.

[Playing Purdue]

1 hour ago, CMJ said:

MKT: I'm not sure I can answer how Simmons will do with the Boilers double teaming him.  He often plays his best when in the worst situations.  He's a tremendous passer, so I think that's how he'll try and take advantage of double teams. Not sure I'd expect him to score consistently out of them, but he might get a few assists and make Painter try another tactic.

 

When Hamlet doesn't play well we often really struggle.  He doesn't have to score a bunch for us to win (though I feel like when he's scoring, we are very tough) - but he does have to be able to break down the defense.  When he gets confused and we're just tossing it around the perimeter our offense can get really stagnant and cumbersome to watch.

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.

[Playing Purdue]

1 hour ago, kingwoodgreen said:

Carson was my sons age and we played against him for many years. He played for atascosita which is Kingwoods rival. They were some great games. Fabian white who is a senior with Houston played for both of the teams. So I went to almost all the Kingwood games and was in awe then of Carson’s talent. I went so far as to watch him in the playoffs after Kingwood was knocked out. He had one of the purest shots I have ever seen. 

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?

[Playing Purdue]

41 minutes ago, greenminer said:

I don't know why some of you all are so hung up on their forwards/centers.  We've handled strong 4s and 5s.  There is nothing Purdue offers under the basket that will be as good or better than Bassey.

I think the concerns should be about Purdue's size on the perimeter.

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.

 

[Playing Purdue]

16 minutes ago, tjreese said:

 

TJ, I'm MTobin on GBI

[Playing Purdue]

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.

[Playing Purdue]

2 minutes ago, MeanGreenTexan said:

Part of what our guys really pride themselves on defensively is the ability to deny that inbound pass to the post from the outside.   That's why those other top post players had such a hard time with NT.  Those bigs didn't get the ball as often because the perimeter D was looking to keep the passes outside, and when they did, Zach is big enough and good enough to cause disruption to the shot.

I wasn't feeling very good until you mentioned that Purdue likes to go to the post "damn near every possession".   That might work out well for NT as failure to get the ball inside could really frustrate your interior guys.

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.

[Playing Purdue]

4 minutes ago, 97and03 said:

Conversely, what do you think the chances are you go big early to try to get our starting front court in foul trouble?

 

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.

[Playing Purdue]

53 minutes ago, MeanGreen2019 said:

Welcome to the board and thanks for the insight, it was definitely a fun read. Here is a run down of the team from my perspective.

 

Starters:

Javion Hamlet- 6’4” 193 ilbs starting guard and our best player. He is the engine that makes our offense run. He averaged something like 19/7/7 in the conference tourney and averaged 15/4/3 in the regular season. He also has range and can shoot pretty well from 3 at 36.2%. You will see a lot high screens so Javion can get in the paint and either create an open opportunity (he is an excellent passer and has great vision) or finish at the rim. He has a great floater and has integrated his step-back jump shot into the mix this season. He is truly a tremendous finisher and will find ways to contort his body to finish at the rim. When Javion stalls or gets tired, our offense is not the same and can struggle like it did for 8 minutes on Saturday. If we win on Friday, Javion will be a major reason why.

James Reese- 6’ 4” 167 ilbs guard. He complements Javion really well with his ability to spot up and shoot. He’s currently averaging 10.8 ppg and 4.5 rpg. You’ll see some sets called where he gets open off some off-ball screens. I think where he’s most valuable is his perimeter defense. He brings a high level of intensity and devotion to the defensive side of the ball. His help defense and rotations are quick and top notch. He has the quickness to cut off ball handlers to prevent them from driving and creating. He can be very streaky at times on offense and weirdly misses more open shots than contested shots.

 

Mardrez McBride- 6’ 2” 178 ilbs guard. He plays a lot like Reese and complements Javion well. He is a great spot up shooter and possesses the ability to finish at the rim when needed. He is shooting the three ball at a clip of 39.8% and is averaging 7.6 points a game. He isn’t as quick as Reese defensively on the perimeter, but he has active hands and will usually start some fast breaks with the steals he gets. He, like Reese, can be inconsistent from the field but he can also catch fire and completely change a game. He’ll be someone to watch in this game. 
 

Thomas Bell- 6’ 6” 190 ilbs forward. He is our glue guy, especially on defense. While he is only 6’ 6” he is really athletic and plays like he is 6’ 10”. He is currently averaging 10.3 ppg and 5.7 rebounds on 52.9% from the field with a 39.5% 3pt FG percentage. His energy and motor on defense is contagious and is evident with his 1.2 bpg. He usually takes it inside where he’s most comfortable, but will take what the defense gives him. Last game WKU made him shoot from 3 and he struggled mightily until OT where hit that big shot to put us up. 
 

Zach Simmons- 6’ 10” 239 ilbs Forward. This guy has been a foundation piece for the last four years. He was with us when we were awful and he has been instrumental in where we are today as a program. Simmons is averaging 10.5 ppg with 6.3 rpg on 64% from the field. He plays with his back to the basket and usually will get 5-10 plays a game where we throw him the ball down in the post and let him work. He is somewhat inconsistent on defense, but has improved in this area over the years to where he can hold his own against almost anybody. He did a great job containing a 5 star recruit and a hell of a player in Charles Bassey on Saturday. His matchup with Trevion Williams/ Edey will be the key matchup to watch for NT.

 

Bench:

JJ Murray- 6’ 1” 179 ilbs guard. He doesn’t show up on the stat sheet very much with only 2.7 ppg on 34.5% from the field, but this guy on defense is a pure dog. He isn’t the best defender, but he is a constant nuisance. Always in the face of his guy and is always contesting shots. He averages 1.2 steals a game so occasionally he’ll start a fast break and finish at the rim. He plays a significant amount averaging about 19.2 mpg. 
 

Rubin Jones- He is out for the tourney I believe, but he played a massive role for us this season. Won’t get into detail here but he is someone we will be building our program around in the next couple of years. 
 

Abou Ousmane- 6’ 10” 250 ilbs forward. If Simmons gets in trouble, you’ll see him pop in the game. He averaged 8 minutes a game and 3ppg on 55% from the field. He’s a freshman, so he is really raw but he has already come a long way from the beginning of the season. I don’t like him on Trevion on at all so if Zach gets in foul trouble we could be in major trouble. 
 

Offense:

We like to wind the clock down and look for the extra pass. We unfortunately don’t run a motion, our system consists of on-ball and off-ball screens to get Javion the ability to create and allow our shooters to get open from three. We like to work inside-out as well when Javion is not creating. We’ll throw the ball down to Simmons to see if he can get a bucket or kick out for an easy three. Getting easy buckets at the rim first is our priority so we can open up the 3pt game. We did the opposite against WKU and we’ll have to do the same against Purdue. Our pace is glacial and we like it that way.

 

Defense: We run straight man regardless of who we play. We hedge hard on PnR and do a great job of limiting free trips to the basket. This team is known for taking charges to shift the momentum and create turnovers. Our energy is relentless and we crash the boards hard to make up for our lack of size. We didn’t double Bassey that much last game, but we’ve doubled post players before. It’ll be interesting to see how we handle Trevion. Our defense really starts by limiting drive and kick outs and forcing contested shots. Our defense has been the backbone of our entire team this year. The one thing we struggled with when playing Arkansas was limiting points in the paint by their bigs.
 

On another note, our team is not afraid of the big stage. We traveled to West Virginia on something like two days notice to play them. Coach Mac and the team aren’t scared of competition and actually thrive on it. We were leading WVU at half, were within a bucket or two of Loyola Chicago the entire time, and played just awful against Miss St. We were pretty even with Arkansas statistically, but we shot 15% from three and that buried us. We haven’t finished the big dog yet, but I don’t think it really matters to them.

Our team will come out excited to play with tons of energy, the question is will the offense be able to contribute consistently throughout the entire game.

I’m sure the rest of the board will agree or disagree with some, all, or none of my post, but this is my perspective of our squad this year. I look forward to the game on Friday and hopefully we can pull off the upset! 

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.

[Playing Purdue]

8 minutes ago, Andrew said:

Only shoots 50% from the line. Did anybody try the late game fouls on him before he got set and went to work? 

He hit 11-14 in that game 🙂

 

[Playing Purdue]

1 hour ago, CMJ said:

BoilerMKT, thanks for adding to our knowledge.  I watched Purdue one or twice, so I can't say I knew too much about this year's squad.  But I know how Painter's teams play from past years and how gritty they are.

 

I know you had a couple of years of early exits in the NCAA's, but generally Purdue isn't upset, which I also  don't like as far as matchups.  😉  I do think this is a better chance for us than Kansas State was in 2010, so at least that's something!

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.

[Playing Purdue]

This is Purdue's Option 1

 

[Playing Purdue]

49 minutes ago, greenminer said:

 

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.

 

[Playing Purdue]

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!