Of course Purdue is getting foul calls

 I wore a Purdue pullover while I was on vacation, and for any Purdue alums looking to make a quick friend, I insist you do the same. My wife was annoyed by the end of the day with our gleeful "Boiler Up!" greetings to otherwise complete strangers. It was a lot of fun.

Also, on the deck of a cruise ship, it's really tough to get any updates from the mainland. There was a network of Purdue fans, though, and one gentleman pulled me aside just to tell me about the overtime affair with Northwestern. That is how I heard that the Wildcats were frustrated with the number of foul calls that went against Northwestern vs those called on Purdue. 

Me and this random other tourist completely understood what was going on, even if Northwestern coach Chris Collins didn't want to acknowledge it. Zach Edey fundamentally changes the way opponents approach a game. There are always good players that you have to pay attention to, adjust your defense around or try to find secondary scoring on offense against lock up defenders, but Edey's presence does more.

Opponents aren't willing to go inside against Edey, while on offense, the ball often goes through him for Purdue. This can work with the modern game, where players are more willing to shoot from outside, but also, most fouls are called on drives to the basket, or during low post play. If Purdue is always in the low post, particularly with Edey, they are going to get calls. If their opponent isn't getting the ball inside, Purdue isn't going to foul them as often.

It's probably not an intentional strategy for Matt Painter's team, especially with shooters like Lance Jones, Braden Smith and Fletcher Loyer willing to bomb from outside, but it is a common sense consequence of having such a presence inside. I mean, a couple of strangers figured it out on a cruise deck, surely it should make sense in Evanston, too. Right? 

Purdue's spot among the conference shuffle

 Purdue is a bit of an anomaly as a University. It is a Land Grant institution, a public school in the Midwest, big and independent of the other state school systems, Indiana and Indiana State. It's a third major state school when many states have only one or two institutions or systems. 

As it stands, Purdue fits in pretty well with the rest of the Big Ten. It seems like a private school, given the name and reputation, but it's backing comes from tax dollars, just the same as every other member of the Big Ten (save for Northwestern), though in 2023-4, that will change. The conference is adding UCLA and privately funded USC.

A lot of Purdue's graduates are from the Chicago area, and the market is generally split between Northwestern, Purdue and Illinois in inexact measure. The diaspora of Northwestern and Purdue grads is greater than that of Illinois, giving the Boilermakers a greater audience outside of Chicago when their teams are on TV. 

Purdue is pulling it's weight in the Big Ten, and fits in with what the rest of the conference is all about. Even though it was one of the first members of the conference, and is well positioned within it. It's crazy to even talk about this, but with all of the tumult of conference expansion and realignment, and two very blue blooded programs from California of all places joining next year, it seemed like a pertinent topic for discussion.

Also, perhaps more than any other school in the Big Ten, or at least as much as any, they are perfectly content with adding whichever the most high revenue schools are that they can add. Sure, there are travel issues, but they are right in the middle of the conference. They likely don't have many worries about moving east or west as they grow. 

As ever, Notre Dame is the biggest target, and they have a lot to offer the Boilermakers. An inherent rival and much less travel than other potential additions for sports outside of the revenue activities, in addition to the built in national audience. Aside from Notre Dame, the primary objective for Purdue and any additions, I imagine, is that sweet, sweet cash flow. They are athletically capable and enough of a contributor that they shouldn't feel threatened by expansion or realignment.

The way I see it, there are two  paths forward for the Big Ten, and either way should be amenable to the Boilers. The first is with Notre Dame, which would likely mean three more teams to get up to 20. I suggest Boston College, Virginia and North Carolina as additions in this scenario. The second is without Notre Dame, and the conference could work to accommodate their California brethren. In this scenario, they would raid the Pac 12 again, with Colorado, Arizona, Oregon, Washington, Stanford and California all standing as options. Heck, even Arizona State plays in the Big Ten for hockey.

Almost everyone without a financial stake in the game ranges from frustrated to distraught with conference realignment. It's not good for competition, or for fostering regional rivalries, or supportive of the little guy overcoming adversity. But Purdue does have a financial stake, and they are going to be happy to go along with anything that comes down the road. 

Purdue is back to normal

 

I went to Purdue immediately after Drew Brees led the Boilermakers to the Rose Bowl. While I was there, they continued to be a decently regarded football team, reaching bowl games each season while I was there. Thanks Kyle Orton! 

The hot ticket in town, as you might imagine, was for Ross Ade Stadium. Everyone wanted to go to Boiler football games, ESPN College Gameday came to town once and the focus of collegiate athletics in West Lafayette was on the football team.

Meanwhile, Purdue basketball was extremely pedestrian in the final years of Gene Keady's coaching career. They missed the tournament a couple of times, and didn't really make much noise in the Dance when they got there. Basketball tickets were easy to come by.

Of course, that wasn't the trend before I got there. Purdue football had enjoyed a couple of good quarterbacks through the year, but before Brees and coach Joe Tiller, Purdue football was bordering on embarrassing. Keady was in the waning years of his career while I was there, but before I got there, that career was long and storied, and marked by 1st and 2nd seeds in the Tournament, as well as superstar players, like Glenn Robinson.

Almost immediately after I left, the Boilermakers football team started veering downhill. Tiller retired, and was replaced by a couple of underwhelming head coaches. Jeff Brohm is there now, and while there is some recent success, nobody is talking about Purdue football like there were in the 2000s. They are a non factor, even when they are at their best.

Of course, on the other hand, Matt Painter seized the helm of the basketball team from his mentor Keady, and quickly recruited teams that steadily got good seeds and made it to the Sweet 16. It started with the Jajuan Johnson, E'Twaun Moore, Robbie Hummel triumvirate and continued with top recruits and eventual NBA draft picks like AJ Hammons, Carl Landry and Caleb Swanigan. They were a whisper from the Final Four in 2019 on the back of Carsen Edwards and Dakota Mathias.

And some how, they might be bringing in their best team yet. Not only do they have Trevion Williams as a veteran presence in the paint, but they also have Jaden Ivey and Zach Edey, who have been playing for their respective countries on the international stage, and will bring more experience to the roster than the typical sophomore provides.

Purdue flipped upside down a bit when I was a student, but things are back as they ever were.

Maybe it hasn't been so bad, Purdue!

In a recent article about the audacious ambitions of the University of Kansas's football team. Players there believe that they have what it takes to be Bowl eligible by the end of the year. You can laugh and say that sounds preposterous, and , well, more than you know. Take a peek at this line:

College football’s defending national champion, Clemson, won as many games last year (14) as the Jayhawks have in the post-Mangino era.

Holy buckets. To make things worse, Mangino, after starting the 2007 season 5-0, they lost the final 7 games of the year. So that's 14 wins in 7 1/2 seasons. Just when you think that your team is the worst ever, something like this comes along.

Purdue, in the abysmal Danny Hope/Darrell Hazell years from 2010-2016, won 26 games. Nice! 12 more for Purdue than Kansas! Even in the 9 win Hazell regime was more successful than Kansas during that time period.

And, yes, this is still sour grapes after Kansas throttled Purdue in the NCAA Tournament back in March.