scarey

Bittersweet on this one. On the one hand, we FINALLY get a Big Ten championship team and deny Hurley an undeserved championship (legit, they haven't impressed all year, I don't understand how they got this far). On the other hand, this Michigan squad is so unlikeable. A whole lot of douche in that locker room starting with May. Also, this just further reinforces that you can just throw money around and get a championship. The Final Four teams over the last 3 years have been: UConn x3 Purdue Alabama NC State Florida Houston Duke Auburn Michigan Arizona Illinois I would guess of those teams, Purdue, NC State, Auburn, and Illinois paid less than $10 mill for their rosters meaning 75% of teams making it to the Final Four threw significant money at their roster. I'm a fan of players being paid, but it really sucks to watch the wealthy get an advantage in any sport. I shouldn't be one to cry foul as Purdue reportedly spent $20 mill on their roster this year, but I don't think they throw that kind of money at it if they didn't need to dish out money to keep their home grown super stars. There needs to be a healthy middle ground between players not getting paid and a handful of heavy spending schools having a realistic chance of winning a championship due to money. As a fan of Purdue, Painter appears to be good at retaining most players he recruits. I have to think it sucks cheering for a Morez Johnson, then watching him walk after a year. I hope they figure out a way to make it work.

I thought Acuff was going to get 40 against Hawaii. The play a zero help defense, so it's completely 1 on 1 all game. Arkansas is handling them, but color me disappointed in only seeing 13 for him so far.

Upset alert. Duke was down 11 to Sienna at halftime but has since pulled within 4. Sienna has not subbed anybody out at all. I think they've started wearing down.

I think this is generally true. However, Purdue is the rare situation where there is movement due to the result. I had them as a 4 seed if they drop the game against Nebraska (or god forbid Northwestern). But to beat two top 11 teams and arguably the best team in the nation to get that tournament title? I think the selection committee did the right thing making them a 2 seed. BTW, lost in the excitement of Selection Sunday and Michigan going down was the fact that Purdue passed Illinois as the number 1 ranked offense on KenPom!

Fitting end to the Purdue seniors' careers. They have to watch Wisconsin chuck no look 3 pointers all game and then have Nick Boyd throw the ball at the rim between his legs over and over down the stretch to lose their final game at Mackey. Some impossibly stupid foul calls too. I never could have imagined this season to be so frustrating/disappointing/infuriating. The only thing I can hope for at this point is they can get enough games between the Big Ten tournament and the NCAA tournament to give Smith the shot at the all time assists record. If they're lucky enough to win two games in the big dance, they're gonna have to lose to Duke in the sweet 16. He needs 47 assists to pass Hurley. He's probably going to need 5 games to do that.

I had a feeling this was going to be a Purdue loss. Jake Diebler has been a very mediocre coach at Ohio State, but he's managed to go 3-0 against Purdue. Each of those matchups have been against a Purdue team that was ranked number 11 or better. I hate being a Purdue fan.

Michigan is good, but not unbeatable. The second half of the Purdue game showed me that. It'll take a great game from the Illini, but I think they're capable of winning tonight.

This Purdue team is so talented and SO FRUSTRATING! They were gifted with an unbelievably favorable schedule this year, and have failed EVERY major test they've faced at Mackey. Unless they win the Big Ten Tournament, I have ZERO faith for this team in the dance. I felt they needed to make a Final Four to have a successful season, and I don't see it happening.

The NIL kicked in for the 21-22 season when Kansas won. They only had 1 rotation player that was a transfer, but I think we can agree that the transfer process was not in full swing for that season. Since then, the last three champions have had 3-4 transfers in their rotation including players that have carried their respective teams (Tristen Newton, Cam Spencer, Walter Clayton, Alijah Martin, and Will Richard). It's hard to imagine a team winning a championship if they don't have significant dollars to spend in the transfer portal. I'm all for players getting paid, but pay-to-win is always a tough pill to swallow in sports.

I thought they showed some chinks in the armor in the second half. 14 turnovers is quite a lot. Purdue isn't typically very aggressive with on the ball defense, but when they did get aggressive, Michigan started turning the ball over in heaps. They also are VERY aggressive on closeouts. Purdue got them in the air and drew some fouls on shot fakes and closeouts a couple of times. I was surprised by how often Purdue got to the rim. I was also surprised by how much Michigan relied on jump shots. I haven't actually watched a lot of Michigan this year, so maybe this was just an approach for this game. They are an extremely talented team. The most talented I can remember since the second UConn championship team for sure. Despite that, I saw a way a good coach and disciplined players can beat them.

My prediction for a Purdue win was predicated on winning the rebound battle and hitting ten 3 pointers. They lose the battle 31-39 and only hit 8. On the positive side, Purdue showed a new level of defensive intensity in the second half. I'm pretty disappointed in the god awful performance in the first half because they played great in the second half. That shouldn't have even been a game. Reflecting on the preseason rankings, I think it's pretty obvious in retrospect how talented this Michigan team is. I think the romantic story was the battle hardened, less talented Boilermakers were the team the talking heads WANTED to be #1 over some of the clearly more talented teams. Credit to May for making all the parts work together, Kentucky and BYU certainly haven't been able to. It's pretty disheartening though to know that 4 years of cohesion and hard work just can't live up to paying for the best talent. That being said, if Purdue continues with this intensity into the tournament and shoot better, they still have a great chance at a final four.

Yeah, they definitely are showing their colors right now. I guess the loss to TCU was the fluke.

There was about a solid month where there was very little movement on the AP poll. The last few weeks have been very fun waiting for the new poll to come out each week. I'm hoping Purdue can make next week extra fun by knocking off the Wolverines on Tuesday.

No... ISU = Iowa State... With Illinois's remaining schedule, I have a hard time seeing them come in below a 2 seed.

Big shakeup night for sure. That was a rough loss for ISU. As a Purdue fan, they obviously blew me away with their win at Mackey. I'm starting to winder if they just had one of those nights where everything clicked. Their remaining schedule gets VERY tough. I wouldn't be surprised if they go from a top 5 team to a 5 seed for the tournament. Wisconsin obviously did themselves a big favor here. Some of their early schedule losses (TCU and Villanova) don't look quite as bad now. Context weighs heavily for selection Sunday though as they have 16+ point losses to Purdue, BYU, and Nebraska. It's likely the break the top 25 next week barring a huge blowout to MSU on Friday. I don't know that Illinois falls too far from the loss as ISU and Nebraska could fall father depending on what happens the rest of this week. Nebraska and Purdue is the tough one for me. That's Purdue's second top 10 road win this year which is impressive, but Nebraska did well to acquit themselves with the massive comeback to get it to OT. Purdue has an opportunity to bump themselves back into the top 10 with a win @Iowa. Without that, I don't know that they prove they should move up that far. Great resume win though. I have officially stepped back from the ledge on this Purdue season. I reserve the right to step back to it with an ugly loss to Iowa.