First appeared on February 25, 2016
in The Lebanon Reporter
It’s Sunday morning in the coffee shop and the old crows are lined up at the counter squawking about Saturday night’s game.
“Know why Indiana University got rid of Water Polo?” Lester asks, forearms sprawled out on the counter.
“Why’s that?” Earl answers, blowing steam from his coffee.
“All their horses drowned.”
So another installment of the greatest college basketball rivalry in the state of Indiana is over and what have we learned that we didn’t already know? Indiana is an amazing three point shooting team and Purdue loves to beat people up inside. The Boilers can’t make shots outside of the paint and the Hoosiers struggle to maintain defensive intensity.
Saturday night marked a massive opportunity for both. Boiler Head Coach Matt Painter hoped to derail his group’s sojourn into the land of underachievement. Meanwhile Indiana’s Tom Crean needed another quality win to bolster his team’s resume and give sportswriters, real sportswriters mind you, reason to vote them higher than 22nd.
“Know what you call a pretty girl on Purdue’s campus?” Earl asks.
“What’s that?” Lester answers, spoon clanking while stirring up his sugar.
“A visitor.”
In the end the Hoosiers hung on, despite a furious comeback by their nemesis. But more than resumes and statement wins, this was about two seniors. Two players who thumbed their nose at the conventional wisdom that to stay four years means to kill your professional prospects.
In staying four years Yogi Ferrell and AJ Hammons did more than become better basketball players, they became legends amongst the diehards. Despite their impending graduations, both are primed to leave campus forever welding their legacies with greatness.
Ferrell came in as a lightning fast guard who could score the ball. He will leave as a top ten scorer and school’s all time assists leader, as well as being a more competitive defender whose not only stronger physically, but a stronger floor leader and all around basketball player.
“What’s the difference between Indiana’s basketball team and a mosquito?” Asks Lester.
“Reckon I don’t know.” Earl grumps.
“Mosquitos stop sucking at some point.”
Before landing in West Lafayette Hammons wasn’t a household name in recruiting circles. In four years under Painter’s guidance he’s gone from being an often-disinterested talent to one capable of completely dominating both ends of the court. By the end of his junior season Hammons had amassed 1,000 points, 600 rebounds and 250 assists, becoming just the third Big Ten player to do so since Ronald Reagan first won the White House.
And now both teams must move on. Purdue will try to regroup and focus on busting out of the funk that’s seen them drop four of their last eight. And, with a huge game in Iowa City looming, Indiana must avoid overlooking Illinois Thursday night. Indiana’s conference title hopes are alive and Purdue must work towards NCAA Tournament seeding.
“Know why Purdue’s golf course only has 14 holes?”
“’Spose I don’t.” Says Earl.
“Because a Boilermaker never gets to the Final Four.”
If anything, Saturday night served as a reminder of just how great this rivalry is. How alive and well it remains after enduring some trying times. Indiana and Purdue fans enjoying good natured ribbing at the expense of the other team is a tradition in the Hoosier state, a rite of passage. And at the end of the day, a good old fashioned rivalry can’t squelch that Hoosier Hospitality, for fans know life itself is bigger than any sport and no harm is meant. Wait a minute, I’ve got to go, Earl’s outside beating Lester like a rented mule again.
© 2016 Eric Walker Williams
Showing posts with label Purdue Boilermakers Basketball. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Purdue Boilermakers Basketball. Show all posts
Monday, March 14, 2016
Sunday, February 8, 2015
Indiana and Purdue heading in opposite directions
First appeared on February 6th, 2015
in The Lebanon Reporter
Short people unite! Unite in an effort to reach items from the top shelf in the grocery store without knocking five other things off in the process, unite in the spirit of the young Eddie Gaedels’ and Herve Villechaizes’ everywhere, unite for the common defense of your kingdom full of mushroom shaped houses and half naked blue people.
Unite as the Purdue Boilermakers continue waging their war upon players blessed with inferior size. In a game that has mimicked the NBA by becoming increasingly smaller and more athletic, Purdue is quietly finding success going against the grain. While staying true to his core principles of a strong perimeter defense, Matt Painter has also ripped a page out of yesteryear by fielding a team with Wooden-like size.
Despite some early stumbles, Painter’s bunch seems to have finally embraced the role of bully on the block. Against Indiana especially, AJ Hammons and Isaac Haas looked out of place; almost like a tag team duo of Andre the Giant and Godzilla. Bullying their way to the basket with defenders bouncing off one after the other, the dynamic duo absorbed so much of Indiana’s defensive attention that several other Boilers, the ones who don’t look like Yao Ming stunt doubles, were able to worm their way to the goal with ease.
What Hammons and Haas did to Indiana a week ago was almost inhumane, bordered upon cruel and is illegal in 49 of the 50 states (last we checked the Ned Beatty Bill was still being debated in the Georgia State Senate). The impressive win also seemed to wake a sleeping giant (pun fully intended) as the Boilers have gone on to win three straight, including Wednesday night’s victory over another nationally ranked opponent in Ohio State.
But it all started a week ago by drumming Indiana in a game that kept Purdue’s season alive. It was also a victory Painter likely needed to avoid finding an email in his inbox with the subject line: “Pick up change of address form”. And while Hammons and Haas have anchored the interior, off-season transfer Jon Octeus has been a pleasant surprise as a defender with length and athleticism as well as a point guard who brings an attitude to the floor.
And while the win has injected life into Painter’s team, the opposite can be said for Tom Crean’s Indiana Hoosiers. Losers of 3 out of their last 4, Indiana suddenly finds themselves in a similar position to Purdue a week ago. In fact, it’s almost as if the two have passed each other on an escalator.
Indiana had spent much of their year riding the up escalator, but for some reason have changed their minds and hopped the rail. The Hoosiers knew coming in to the season their lack of size would present challenges. Unfortunately this has never been more apparent than this past week as Purdue manhandled the Hoosiers before Wisconsin flirted with embarrassing them. Things were so bad that, five minutes into the Purdue game, short men everywhere quietly slipped into the restroom to stuff more folded up paper towel into the bottoms of their shoes.
So now Indiana finds themselves fighting to get off the down escalator. Sunday’s date with Michigan suddenly has ‘must win’ written all over it with a road trip to Maryland and home date against Purdue looming on the horizon.
With all eyes on the up escalator, one has to wonder where it leads. It could be the NCAA Tournament, it could be the home house wares section of Kohl’s. The down escalator is a far different story. The down escalator is crowded with empty wallets, angry shoppers and screaming kids. The Down escalator is a comfortable ride to nowhere and remains the one place Tom Crean and Matt Painter can’t afford to be.
© 2015 Eric Walker Williams
in The Lebanon Reporter
Short people unite! Unite in an effort to reach items from the top shelf in the grocery store without knocking five other things off in the process, unite in the spirit of the young Eddie Gaedels’ and Herve Villechaizes’ everywhere, unite for the common defense of your kingdom full of mushroom shaped houses and half naked blue people.
Unite as the Purdue Boilermakers continue waging their war upon players blessed with inferior size. In a game that has mimicked the NBA by becoming increasingly smaller and more athletic, Purdue is quietly finding success going against the grain. While staying true to his core principles of a strong perimeter defense, Matt Painter has also ripped a page out of yesteryear by fielding a team with Wooden-like size.
Despite some early stumbles, Painter’s bunch seems to have finally embraced the role of bully on the block. Against Indiana especially, AJ Hammons and Isaac Haas looked out of place; almost like a tag team duo of Andre the Giant and Godzilla. Bullying their way to the basket with defenders bouncing off one after the other, the dynamic duo absorbed so much of Indiana’s defensive attention that several other Boilers, the ones who don’t look like Yao Ming stunt doubles, were able to worm their way to the goal with ease.
What Hammons and Haas did to Indiana a week ago was almost inhumane, bordered upon cruel and is illegal in 49 of the 50 states (last we checked the Ned Beatty Bill was still being debated in the Georgia State Senate). The impressive win also seemed to wake a sleeping giant (pun fully intended) as the Boilers have gone on to win three straight, including Wednesday night’s victory over another nationally ranked opponent in Ohio State.
But it all started a week ago by drumming Indiana in a game that kept Purdue’s season alive. It was also a victory Painter likely needed to avoid finding an email in his inbox with the subject line: “Pick up change of address form”. And while Hammons and Haas have anchored the interior, off-season transfer Jon Octeus has been a pleasant surprise as a defender with length and athleticism as well as a point guard who brings an attitude to the floor.
And while the win has injected life into Painter’s team, the opposite can be said for Tom Crean’s Indiana Hoosiers. Losers of 3 out of their last 4, Indiana suddenly finds themselves in a similar position to Purdue a week ago. In fact, it’s almost as if the two have passed each other on an escalator.
Indiana had spent much of their year riding the up escalator, but for some reason have changed their minds and hopped the rail. The Hoosiers knew coming in to the season their lack of size would present challenges. Unfortunately this has never been more apparent than this past week as Purdue manhandled the Hoosiers before Wisconsin flirted with embarrassing them. Things were so bad that, five minutes into the Purdue game, short men everywhere quietly slipped into the restroom to stuff more folded up paper towel into the bottoms of their shoes.
So now Indiana finds themselves fighting to get off the down escalator. Sunday’s date with Michigan suddenly has ‘must win’ written all over it with a road trip to Maryland and home date against Purdue looming on the horizon.
With all eyes on the up escalator, one has to wonder where it leads. It could be the NCAA Tournament, it could be the home house wares section of Kohl’s. The down escalator is a far different story. The down escalator is crowded with empty wallets, angry shoppers and screaming kids. The Down escalator is a comfortable ride to nowhere and remains the one place Tom Crean and Matt Painter can’t afford to be.
© 2015 Eric Walker Williams
Saturday, December 20, 2014
Merry Christmas from the Sports World
First appeared on December 18, 2014
in The Lebanon Reporter
For you Christmas lost its meaning in third grade when the Santa outside 3D got mad at you for crushing the pack of cigarettes he’d stashed in his front pocket. And as his profane string of insults throttled your virgin ears, they arrived riding the strangest of smells.
A toxic potpourri that would remain undiscovered until many years later, where at a gathering of so called friends in a dark college apartment, full of crushed cigarettes and hormone-powered profanities, you found yourself bitten by the Wild Turkey for the first time.
Today the sermons sound simple and ring true. Speeches about caring for others and giving to the less fortunate, but for you Christmastime remains frozen in time. It’s the season to wish for the things you don’t have. Things that seem within reach but for a variety of reasons remain at arm’s length. And so you still compose lists in your head, your own personal get back for that rag tag Santa who shattered the world as you once knew it.
Those in the sports world profess to be selfless human beings, but we know deep inside the depths of their souls, in a place no probing journalist has ever found, lurks an ugly Grinch-like desire to lie, steal and cheat their way to the top of Mount Crumpit. Facts are facts, you don’t get to the top without a little of the green guy in you.
With this in mind, coaches and teams are not above wishing for things that could make them better. Tom Crean’s list begins, “Dear Santa, All I want for Christmas is someone taller than 6’8 who can play.” Meanwhile, eighty miles to the north, Matt Painter is up late baking gingerbread cookies to leave out with his short note, the one asking for a chance to play North Florida again.
John Calipari’s list is a bit longer. He wants an undefeated season for his Kentucky Wildcats capped by a National Championship, and he’d like it to arrive as soon as possible, that way he has enough time to enjoy it before the NCAA strips it away. Indiana fans want a chance to play the Wildcats again, while Kentucky’s faithful have written the North Pole hoping for things like some new socks, a professional sports franchise other than UK’s basketball team and more front porch space.
Frank Vogel wants his team to play hard, fight every night and scrap their way into the Playoffs. Apparently his list includes an opening round bloodbath at the hands of the Cleveland Cavaliers as well. Meanwhile, every Pacer fan on earth wants them to lose every game by 50 and stink their way into the lottery where they might luck out and pick up one of Kentucky’s bench players.
The Colts are asking Santa to bring Andrew Luck a pair of glasses so that he might see the opposing team’s secondary while Reggie Wayne is hoping to find a new pair of knees under the tree on Christmas morning.
For Cubs fans Christmas came early with the signing of free agent Jon Lester and for Lester’s kids, well there’s really no reason for them to make out a Christmas list now is there? But Cubs fans have been down this road before, they know it’s too soon to talk World Championship. This means they’ll just bide their time and wait for the wheels, or Lester’s arm, to fall off before their season crashes and burns up in a fiery, catastrophic and somewhat all too familiar, death.
Merry Christmas to you and yours and may God bless us everyone (even the Kentucky fans).
© 2014 Eric Walker Williams
in The Lebanon Reporter
For you Christmas lost its meaning in third grade when the Santa outside 3D got mad at you for crushing the pack of cigarettes he’d stashed in his front pocket. And as his profane string of insults throttled your virgin ears, they arrived riding the strangest of smells.
A toxic potpourri that would remain undiscovered until many years later, where at a gathering of so called friends in a dark college apartment, full of crushed cigarettes and hormone-powered profanities, you found yourself bitten by the Wild Turkey for the first time.
Today the sermons sound simple and ring true. Speeches about caring for others and giving to the less fortunate, but for you Christmastime remains frozen in time. It’s the season to wish for the things you don’t have. Things that seem within reach but for a variety of reasons remain at arm’s length. And so you still compose lists in your head, your own personal get back for that rag tag Santa who shattered the world as you once knew it.
Those in the sports world profess to be selfless human beings, but we know deep inside the depths of their souls, in a place no probing journalist has ever found, lurks an ugly Grinch-like desire to lie, steal and cheat their way to the top of Mount Crumpit. Facts are facts, you don’t get to the top without a little of the green guy in you.
With this in mind, coaches and teams are not above wishing for things that could make them better. Tom Crean’s list begins, “Dear Santa, All I want for Christmas is someone taller than 6’8 who can play.” Meanwhile, eighty miles to the north, Matt Painter is up late baking gingerbread cookies to leave out with his short note, the one asking for a chance to play North Florida again.
John Calipari’s list is a bit longer. He wants an undefeated season for his Kentucky Wildcats capped by a National Championship, and he’d like it to arrive as soon as possible, that way he has enough time to enjoy it before the NCAA strips it away. Indiana fans want a chance to play the Wildcats again, while Kentucky’s faithful have written the North Pole hoping for things like some new socks, a professional sports franchise other than UK’s basketball team and more front porch space.
Frank Vogel wants his team to play hard, fight every night and scrap their way into the Playoffs. Apparently his list includes an opening round bloodbath at the hands of the Cleveland Cavaliers as well. Meanwhile, every Pacer fan on earth wants them to lose every game by 50 and stink their way into the lottery where they might luck out and pick up one of Kentucky’s bench players.
The Colts are asking Santa to bring Andrew Luck a pair of glasses so that he might see the opposing team’s secondary while Reggie Wayne is hoping to find a new pair of knees under the tree on Christmas morning.
For Cubs fans Christmas came early with the signing of free agent Jon Lester and for Lester’s kids, well there’s really no reason for them to make out a Christmas list now is there? But Cubs fans have been down this road before, they know it’s too soon to talk World Championship. This means they’ll just bide their time and wait for the wheels, or Lester’s arm, to fall off before their season crashes and burns up in a fiery, catastrophic and somewhat all too familiar, death.
Merry Christmas to you and yours and may God bless us everyone (even the Kentucky fans).
© 2014 Eric Walker Williams
Sunday, January 13, 2013
Pudue dethaws against Illinois
First appeared on January 5th,
in The Lebanon Reporter
Pardon the cliché but while it was cold outside, inside Mackey Arena Wednesday night was red hot. So loyal Boilermaker fans by the hundreds trudged in on their snowshoes cloaked in bulky Arctic parkas lined with fur from the durable, and yet always fashionable, Musk Ox. They’d come most likely to see Illinois play, having given up on their beloved Boilers sometime after the Bucknell loss (three games into the season).
Illinois had been good. Scary good. After winning the Maui Invitational in a championship game in which they beat Butler by 17 points, first year head coach Jim Groce’s team had won six of seven coming in.
Seeing DJ Byrd play an integral role in winning a basketball game is nothing new to folks in this part of the state, but the number 11 ranked Illinois Fighting Illini were blindsided by the 6’5 Senior Wednesday night. The Purdue Boilermakers (7-6) did what nobody on Earth, including all 9,874 people inside Mackey, believed they could; they beat Groce’s upstart Illinois team 68-61.
Purdue came in with absolutely nothing to hang their hats on following a lackluster preseason. And clearly there was little for Purdue fans to look forward to coming in to the season what with all the attention their arch rivals downstate had garnered before anyone had even had a chance to embarrass a directional school.
So the near zero degree temperatures outside must have seemed balmy to Matt Painter as he took the court with his team, considering the fervor Purdue fans once had for the coach’s program was quickly freezing over.
The Boilers don’t boast the top recruiting class in the nation or a preseason All American, but what they do have is a coach who instills a faith in hard-nosed defense and hustle. The product is of course oftentimes a brand of basketball so ugly even Sports Illustrated doesn’t have enough airbrush artists on staff to make the average basketball fan interested in watching it. But more often than not, when players are on board, it produces wins; of course nothing helps a group buy in faster than winning a game nobody has given you a chance in.
The heat wave came after Purdue outrebounded the Illini 45-34. And in doing so Purdue not only helped themselves compensate for a lack of shot making but may have revealed a glaring weakness in this Illini team at the same time. Illinois is a flashy and athletic team that can shoot the basketball, but what we saw Wednesday was a much less talented and far less athletic team punch them square in the face.
This physical, Gene Keady style “football on the hardwood” was enough to put Painter’s team in a position to win, but as they came down the stretch Purdue began to tighten up. You could see their arms get shorter and feel their throats drying up.
Knowing you’re a terrible foul shooting team late in a game you have no business leading must be a lot like diving with sharks wearing a wetsuit lined with chum. But in the end the Boilers were able toss Byrd into the microwave long enough for him to reach just the right temperature and, after proving to have the perfect amount of seasoning, the senior was able to make all the plays necessary at the end to help his team win.
There’s nothing like a nice win to warm ones soul on a cold winter night. And while it may come as a welcome distraction to the Arctic conditions in which we currently exist, Purdue fans should temper their blue lips, for nobody wants January 2nd to be the high water mark of their season.
© 2013 Eric Walker Williams
in The Lebanon Reporter
Pardon the cliché but while it was cold outside, inside Mackey Arena Wednesday night was red hot. So loyal Boilermaker fans by the hundreds trudged in on their snowshoes cloaked in bulky Arctic parkas lined with fur from the durable, and yet always fashionable, Musk Ox. They’d come most likely to see Illinois play, having given up on their beloved Boilers sometime after the Bucknell loss (three games into the season).
Illinois had been good. Scary good. After winning the Maui Invitational in a championship game in which they beat Butler by 17 points, first year head coach Jim Groce’s team had won six of seven coming in.
Seeing DJ Byrd play an integral role in winning a basketball game is nothing new to folks in this part of the state, but the number 11 ranked Illinois Fighting Illini were blindsided by the 6’5 Senior Wednesday night. The Purdue Boilermakers (7-6) did what nobody on Earth, including all 9,874 people inside Mackey, believed they could; they beat Groce’s upstart Illinois team 68-61.
Purdue came in with absolutely nothing to hang their hats on following a lackluster preseason. And clearly there was little for Purdue fans to look forward to coming in to the season what with all the attention their arch rivals downstate had garnered before anyone had even had a chance to embarrass a directional school.
So the near zero degree temperatures outside must have seemed balmy to Matt Painter as he took the court with his team, considering the fervor Purdue fans once had for the coach’s program was quickly freezing over.
The Boilers don’t boast the top recruiting class in the nation or a preseason All American, but what they do have is a coach who instills a faith in hard-nosed defense and hustle. The product is of course oftentimes a brand of basketball so ugly even Sports Illustrated doesn’t have enough airbrush artists on staff to make the average basketball fan interested in watching it. But more often than not, when players are on board, it produces wins; of course nothing helps a group buy in faster than winning a game nobody has given you a chance in.
The heat wave came after Purdue outrebounded the Illini 45-34. And in doing so Purdue not only helped themselves compensate for a lack of shot making but may have revealed a glaring weakness in this Illini team at the same time. Illinois is a flashy and athletic team that can shoot the basketball, but what we saw Wednesday was a much less talented and far less athletic team punch them square in the face.
This physical, Gene Keady style “football on the hardwood” was enough to put Painter’s team in a position to win, but as they came down the stretch Purdue began to tighten up. You could see their arms get shorter and feel their throats drying up.
Knowing you’re a terrible foul shooting team late in a game you have no business leading must be a lot like diving with sharks wearing a wetsuit lined with chum. But in the end the Boilers were able toss Byrd into the microwave long enough for him to reach just the right temperature and, after proving to have the perfect amount of seasoning, the senior was able to make all the plays necessary at the end to help his team win.
There’s nothing like a nice win to warm ones soul on a cold winter night. And while it may come as a welcome distraction to the Arctic conditions in which we currently exist, Purdue fans should temper their blue lips, for nobody wants January 2nd to be the high water mark of their season.
© 2013 Eric Walker Williams
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