That was probably the most unimpressive 19-point win

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cncmin

cncmin

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that I've seen out of a top-5 team in a long time. I was completely underwhelmed by Purdue watching that game - they have a nice team, but they were bailed out time after time by Hightower and his crew. The only place Purdue looked like a top-10 team? - the free throw line. In that regard, Purdue deserved to win, and the Gophers deserved to lose. Other than that, it was a game controlled entirely by the refs...couldn't tell much about either team because of it; but I was actually impressed that the Gophers hung in the game the whole way through (until the last 5 minutes) with guys in artificial foul trouble and tremendous bias by the stripes. That game was much closer than the final score; at least in terms of how the two teams actually played.

Gophers need to improve at the line, though. Wow. Time to take out the frustrations on Ohio State. Please tell me Hightower and his idiots won't be on the same court.
 

Well, I'm a Purdue fan, but I don't really agree. I thought Purdue played pretty great defense all night. Yeah, the refereeing was, well, Big Ten refereeing all night, calls were wrong both ways. Home team is always going to get more calls in the Big Ten.

I definitely thought it was closer than a 19-point game, but I wouldn't really say unimpressive.
 

I wouldn't say unimpressive either. Kramer was quite impressive tonight and Purdue proved to be a very resilient team. Until the game was out of reach the Gophers had a good effort I think. At one point they flashed the statistic of "Minnesota: 0 Turnovers in last 10:00" which was impressive in a very scrappy game.

I kept thinking about how this game would be different had the Gophers still had Mbakwe and Royce White at their disposal to give us any kind of an inside present.

It will be interesting to see what happens come February with the addition of RS3 to the lineup. Kudos to the Boilermakers on a well-played game.
 

In the Big Ten, one teams "great defense" is another teams hand check foul.

Kramer, much like Mike Kelley used to, gets away with so much that would have almost anybody else on the bench in foul trouble but he has this rep as a great defender so he is allowed to get away with it, meanwhile Blake sits the first half for almost nothing,

As for Purdue, the game against the Badgers will show if they are a legit top 5 team.
 

rcpratt said:
Well, I'm a Purdue fan, but I don't really agree. I thought Purdue played pretty great defense all night. Yeah, the refereeing was, well, Big Ten refereeing all night, calls were wrong both ways. Home team is always going to get more calls in the Big Ten.

I definitely thought it was closer than a 19-point game, but I wouldn't really say unimpressive.
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You're right, Purdue did play very good defense all game (but did get away with a lot of no-calls). They were especially good against Hoffarber to never let him get open - they played him exactly the way I'd coach a team to play Hoff. Very impressive in that way.

BTW, that was not your average "home court" reffing job, though; it was way beyond a reasonable home bias.
 



Painter has a nice blend of talent to go with the hard workers. I'm looking forward to that Wisconsin game. Gophers have a shot at them at Williams arena I think.
 

JohnnyGopher said:
In the Big Ten, one teams "great defense" is another teams hand check foul.

Kramer, much like Mike Kelley used to, gets away with so much that would have almost anybody else on the bench in foul trouble but he has this rep as a great defender so he is allowed to get away with it, meanwhile Blake sits the first half for almost nothing,

As for Purdue, the game against the Badgers will show if they are a legit top 5 team.
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That said, Blake doesn't commit fouls often enough that 2 fouls should constitute him in "foul trouble". Hoff should have been put back into the game no later than about the 7-minute mark of the first half. Even if he got 3 in the first half, he would be so unlikely to get two more in the second half that it's a no-lose situation.
 

I haven't seen Wisconsin yet this year, but I'm pretty worried for Saturday. Purdue did so many things (rebound, turnovers mostly) wrong in this game that I really wasn't happy with the overall play. The shooting was great and the defense was mostly good, but I cannot stand how this team rebounds.
 



They may not have been overwhleming in the first half but in the second half they played great defense and hit a lot of shots. Any team that plays that kind of clawing defense and is also a good shooting team is going to be very good. Purdue is tough. We can beat them in the Barn if we are on our game.
 

Definitely agree. I was pretty upset to see him go to the bench for so long because of that. Hoffarber barely ever gets any fouls. I would've bet a lot of money he wouldn't have fouled out even if he played 35 minutes in that game. He's proven that he plays much better the more time he gets and that he really disappears if he sits for a long time.

I also wished that Carter got more minutes. I realize that he was actually in serious foul trouble, but so what? He was our only offense and why not take a chance keeping him in there and let him play until he fouls out? Really not much to lose.

cncmin said:
That said, Blake doesn't commit fouls often enough that 2 fouls should constitute him in "foul trouble". Hoff should have been put back into the game no later than about the 7-minute mark of the first half. Even if he got 3 in the first half, he would be so unlikely to get two more in the second half that it's a no-lose situation.
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I'll take an unimpressive 19 point win over a potential NCAA Tournament team any night of the week. We blew our wad against WV the other day. For the record, Purdue didn't play that well tonight, despite their shooting %. I thought they learned their lesson vs. Alabama with the press, but I was wrong. I expected them to take much better care of the ball.
 

Did you see the way Purdue played at Iowa?

Without the homecourt refs this would have been much closer. Purdue will lose at least 3 BT games on the road.

Please save this post if I am wrong so it can be thrown back in my face - but also give me credit if I am correct.
 



I was really impressed with Purdue and really disappointed with the officiating. Purdue has a number of players who are both talented and versatile and I thought I was watching a team that had legitimate final four aspirations playing tonight. I don't think the poor/biased/whatever officiating negates the game that Purdue played tonight. I agreed with Lavin when he mentioned that the only clear advantage over the Boilermakers that the Gophers have is their depth of talent. If Purdue were to suffer an injury, I am not sure they would be the same type of team they are now (but that can be said about almost every team).
 

This week will tell us if we are contenders or pretenders. Tough week of opponents. I would be scurred!!!!!!!!!!!

I concur with you sir, Purdue was definitely beatable tonight we let one get away imo.
 

EG#9 said:
I was really impressed with Purdue and really disappointed with the officiating. Purdue has a number of players who are both talented and versatile and I thought I was watching a team that had legitimate final four aspirations playing tonight. I don't think the poor/biased/whatever officiating negates the game that Purdue played tonight. I agreed with Lavin when he mentioned that the only clear advantage over the Boilermakers that the Gophers have is their depth of talent. If Purdue were to suffer an injury, I am not sure they would be the same type of team they are now (but that can be said about almost every team).
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They already have. Starting PG Lewis Jackson and hasn't played this year and Sandi Marcius who was supposed to provide solid back-up minutes for Johnson also hasn't played because of the same injury.
 

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