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It was a close game and a fun game to watch.
It was a rivalry game.
 It was civil war.
It was tin hats and fixed bayonets and elbows and chicken-wings and I loved every minutes of it.
It was Indiana basketball.
In a game that was closer than the 9 point margin of victory, your Indiana Hoosiers topped the Purdue Boilermakers at Assembly Hall. Jack is right, a degree from Purdue gets you farther than a degree from IU, but F*** him. IU has the hotter chicks and DJ White.
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 I went home to watch the game with Old Man Paine. My mother decided she would be cute and get our diplomas and set them out. She put a figurine of Jesus in the middle of the TV ( I think she got it from her Nativity set). On His right hand she put the Purdue diplomas (My father's BS and MS and her and my sister's BSs). On his left hand she sat my BA from IU. Her loyalties were clear. I was a stranger in a strange land.
Dad and I talked for about two hours before the game about IU and Purdue's teams. Ominously, OMP said,
"In this game there is one thing you have to have to win on the road. Upperclassmen. IU has DJ White and Purdue doesn't have anybody. Painter knows it. Even if Purdue plays IU close he knows it will take a miracle." I paused and said,
"Why didn't you tell me that a month ago when I told the world I thought Purdue was going to win this?"
"You deserve to look stupid sometimes." he said.
Purdue was clearly the hungrier team coming out of the blocks, but the simple fact was that they had no one that could deal with DJ White. He had 19 and 15 in 36 minutes, but more importantly, he was able to prevent the Boilers from penetrating effectively without picking up fouls. He was bigger and stronger and faster than any of Purdue's big guys, and he clearly dominated the paint. Purdue likes to use motion and dribble penetration with kick outs to free up shooters. The penetration never came through. DJ was too tough. At one point dad suggested he might be the most complete Hoosier at his position since Zeke Thomas. I said, "What about Chaeney?" and he said he thought DJ was more complete. It forced Purdue into becoming a one dimensional, perimeter team that they don't excel at.
Another big key to the game was IU's stiff defense. In the best defensive performance of the season for the Hoosiers, they forced Purdue into taking a lot of bad shots. They didn't force Purdue too far under their shooting percentage, but they limited Purdue's rebounding and that made a difference. They out-rebounded them by 15.
It was who did what, and Purdue didn't do enough. Kramer was not able to stop Gordon. In fact, IU routinely screened Gordon over to Moore and let him penetrate against the smaller man. Though scrappy and impressive, Hummel was not accurate from the arch. Thickburger had strong, if limited, minutes again. Bassett was good. IU hit free-throws, Purdue missed enough to make a difference. They more I think about it, the more I realize that, even though IU is not an old team, the were clearly a more veteran team. Tonight they finally played like it.
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2008 Cubs Preview
Purdue came out and punched IU in the face for the first eight minutes of the game and I wasn't sure how IU would react. The fact that they came back showed a lot of intestinal fortitude, something I thought the team lacked at times earlier this season. I came away impressed by both teams, but seeing the Hoosiers in a different light. They are finding their way. I loved the man to man D and for the most part I loved the way Bassett played. Gordon is still driving and jumping to pass too much and Ellis was.....not good but Errik Surh, I mean Kyle Taber showed me that he's not going to let the stress of a big game get to him.
As for Purdue, what can you say.....they played about as tough as you can and came out like a pack of hungry wolves as they preyed on every rebound and loose ball. In the end, their lack of size inside proved to be their downfall. Still, I think they learned many lessons from this game that should help them out in March. Purdue is a very good team.
Yep, I think the IU talent and few more years of experience won that game. Bassett wasn't just good, he was great. Outside of DJ, he's the next in line leader of this team. I texted Paine last night and said "IU is too stupid to win the big game." I think when they get up against an equally talented team or even one that has just a little less talent in the tourney these terrible mistakes will haunt them. Some of the TO's last night were pretty bad. Where did Taber pull that 15 foot jumper from?
The 15 foot jumper? You mean the DUNK? You know Mike White cringed when he saw that.
I think Taber upped his average from .7 ppg to 1.2 ppg. Not many style points on his dunk. Speaking of dunk, I loved DJ's rebound dunk off of Bassett's miss. I didn't see DJ at first and then he flew in front nowhere to rattle the rim. I think his arms have lengthen this year. He was grabbing rebounds out of nowhere.
you mean he scored in a game before last night?
That dunk by D.J. should show Gordon that when he drives the lane....just put it up near the rim. he doesn't have to make the shot, but he can't be throwing the ball out of bounds.
It was pretty tough on the nerves to see IU struggle so much at the outset with Purdue's pressure D. A lot of IU's passes were horrible. You can't throw limp noodle passes against a tenacious D like that.
DJ came out very timid, but then stepped up huge when he realized his knee was fine.
Taber had to literally be forced to shoot that 15 footer. He was open so many times and passed it up. I know that's not his job, but it must be hard to pass those up. I only realized he was a lefty a few games ago while he was shooting free throws. His dunk was the softest dunk in the history of basketball. Mike White has to be thinking about investing in a pair of jump shoes after that.
I actually watched Taber shoot a jumper with his left hand after a foul was called and thought to myself, "Wow, he must be pretty relaxed out there to be taking a jumper with his off hand. It was pretty close too, almost made it."
Soon after I found out that he actually shot left-handed.
I would love to have another chance this year. It may happen in the Big Ten championship, but it is too bad it won't be at Mackey.
Oh well, We have 3 more years to make up for it.
Well done IU...until we meet again