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Gold and Black Radio: New Year's Eve Purdue hoops talk

by:Derek Schultz•12/31/24
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GoldandBlack.com hoops expert Brian Neubert and host Derek Schultz talk about the triumphs and tribulations of Purdue men’s basketball as the new year dawns. Happy New Year everyone!

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Purdue basketball analysis

This is an excerpt from Brian Neubert’s Three Thoughts from the Weekend column.

It’s momentum time now for Purdue, as Big Ten play begins, as the conference schedule sets up for early success and, quite honestly, the league isn’t what it’s been lately. The SEC is the best league in the country by a mile and that’s what Purdue has seen most heading into Big Ten play. In some ways, things get easier now, Mackey Arena is still a pit of doom for almost everyone and this is a year where a .500 road record may make you a contender, at worst.

I still view Purdue as the favorite in the league, because I think it’s the best team and I think it still has another gear, and remaining up-side still. Perfect, no. Best, I think so. It has the most experience, the most continuity and three of the top-25ish players in the league. The four West Coast teams are going to lose too many road games. They’re out. Purdue getting UCLA at home is a positive.

Purdue absolutely has flaws — amplified by past standards, I might add — but who doesn’t? We’re talking last night about how awful it is that Purdue had three players score 74 of its 83 points, but how many teams have three players who can combine to score 74 points in a game?

They’re OK, folks. The next few weeks should bear that out.

ON THE YEAR THAT WAS AT PURDUE

What a weird year it was at Purdue, from the rarified air of that elusive Final Four appearance to the sudden cratering of the football program, from elation to utter misery in a matter of months.

What lies in store in 2025, who knows?

Basketball is rolling but football’s reboot under Barry Odom takes center stage now, with the new revenue-sharing structure being the critical undercurrent to that. I don’t know how Odom will fare, but he has won before and he has won with bulk newcomers before and that’s now the job description here. The Big Ten is stifling, but if things play out favorably next season, there are a meaningful number of wins there for the taking on that schedule.

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