Big Ten Contender? More Like National Contender!

While all of the West Lafayette faithful will be cheering for some more Jeff Brohm upset magic in the Big Ten Championship football game, that historic achievement was upstaged during the greatest Purdue sports weekend ever. Let's not take anything away from the historical achievements of Purdue football to win the west and face off against Michigan for the Big Ten title game, but across the street the basketball team cemented their sights a little higher. In this 'retooling year' they aren't looking for a Big Ten title, they're looking for a National Championship.

With two freshmen starting guards and, only one player on the roster receiving any sort of national attention, the Boilermakers just beat Gonzaga by 18 and Duke by 19 in the Phil Knight Legacy tournament. It's one thing to win, but the Boilers utterly dominated the #6 and #8 teams in the country. Duke hit the 55 mark at 9:01 left in the 2nd and only hit a free throw the rest of the way. Gonzaga cut the lead to 44-40 with 14:06 left and then were out scored 40-26 the rest of the way. Both teams found themselves down by 20 late as the Boilers flexed their muscle to put them away.

Non-conference tournament success isn't a new thing for Purdue, beating #16 UNC and #5 Vilanova by a combined 13 points last year, but this level of beat down is unprecedented. The Elite 8 year Purdue lost to #16 Virginia Tech, #15 Florida State, at Texas and against Notre Dame. The Hummel ACL year they beat #9 Tennessee by one and #6 West Virginia by 15. Those were the three teams with the highest expectations and success and you don't see this kind of performance against that level of competition.

As we saw last year, shooting can come and go but this team is built on great passing, defense and their work in the post. Ignoring the first two buy games; against Marquette, West Virginia, Gonzaga and Duke the Boilers have shot 68-87 from the free throw line to their opponent's 31-55. That's over 21 free throws a game for Purdue, at 78%, versus less than 14 a game at 56%. That's a difference of almost eight points a game, while also dealing with foul issues. Gonzaga lost Ben Gregg, who gave them a bit of a second half spark, while Duke lost their starting front court of Derek Lively and Kyle Flipowski before the game ended.

Gonzaga and Duke were out rebounded 88-62 by the Boilers. The Bulldogs average almost 84 points per game and were held to 66. The Blue Devils average almost 71 points and were held to 56. Being able to shut teams down like that makes that eight point disparity at the free throw line even bigger. Purdue did have 18 turnovers against West Virginia, their first game in nine days, but against Duke and Gonzaga they were a combined minus one in total turnovers. And that's after very slow starts against both teams.

However, outside of the performances, the points and all that, one of the things that stands out most as a reason to have confidence is coach Painter's demeanor. Being down to Marquette in the second half, slow starts in the tournament, he never gets upset or takes a timeout. Even as teams cut into leads those timeouts sit in his pocket, using only the media breaks. He is confident in his team's ability to respond and use whatever adjustments the coaching staff is giving them and they have every time. Painter knows exactly who his team is and they have completely bought in.

This down year was based on only having Zach Edey and losing an NBA draft pick and several seniors. However, not mentioned as a counterpoint was the next wave up being Indiana Mr. Basketballs, 4* recruits and lower tiered recruits that Purdue has shown the ability to develop. Don't get me wrong, Fletcher Loyer and Braden Smith are playing beyond their recruiting rankings and their experience, but the cupboard wasn't bare. Caleb Furst and Trey Kaufman-Renn were top 75 players and are part of the post bludgeoning opposing teams suffer from even with Edey on the bench. Let's not ignore the impact transfer David Jenkins has by bringing all his experience to this young back court as well.

College basketball is a long season; last year's team didn't win the Big Ten and immediately lost the program's first #1 ranking, the Elite 8 team started 6-5 and the Hummel ACL year opened Big Ten play with three straight losses. Teams improve and change and in two of those three seasons Purdue had hiccups despite the success. This is a young team and will go from the lowered expectations to being one of the hunted after a performance like this, but this is still a team that lost five players from last year and has plugged in two true freshmen, two red shirt freshmen and a senior transfer. It's possible this team grows even more.

While a top four Big Ten finish and Sweet 16 berth looked like a successful season at the beginning, it has been quickly moved up a few notches after this weekend. Painter and Purdue are still looking for that Final 4 breakthrough after FINALLY getting to the Elite 8 a few years ago and this season is looking bright. More than that, let the country be on notice that under Matt Painter, Purdue has raised the floor quite a bit.