Gold and Black Radio: The state of Purdue hoops with IU looming

Host Derek Schultz and GoldandBlack.com’s Brian Neubert look back at Purdue’s win over Michigan and its upcoming battle with Indiana on Friday.

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Purdue and the Big Ten race

(excerpt from Brian’s Three Thoughts column)

BACK IN THE HUNT

After Purdue’s totally random and completely unexplainable second-half vanishing against Ohio State — seriously, what in the world could that possibly have been about?  — cost the Boilermakers a stroke against par in the Big Ten championship race, the reigning champions re-asserted themselves in a big way with an absolute rout of Michigan, consistent with their prior nukings of Northwestern and Nebraska in Mackey Arena. The Michigan game was what it’s supposed to look like, making that final 20 minutes vs. a pedestrian Ohio State team a complete mystery that undoubtedly had nothing to do with it being Game 5 in 13 days played three days after a return from the Pacific Northwest. Absolutely nothing to do with it.

Anyway, that horse isn’t just dead; it’s decomposed now, and there’s no going back. But Purdue still has to get that loss off the books by getting its momentum back and stringing together wins, and Michigan may have been the start of just that happening. The circumstance-caused loss to Ohio State put Purdue in a bit of a tough spot to keeping up with Michigan State in the league race before the Spartans encounter its own schedule strife starting in February.

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But one thing was made clear on Friday night: Purdue’s seven-and-a-half games prior to halftime vs. the Buckeyes, that’s Purdue and that might be the best team in the Big Ten. That Purdue team is still a decent bet in the Big Ten race, however watered down these championships are now. Purdue’s got a great shot here, not just because Purdue’s really good at both ends of the floor, but because of what Michigan State has lying ahead and because of what the rest of the Big Ten now looks like.

Weeks back, Michigan and Oregon looked like factors in this race, and obviously Illinois had to be taken seriously. Now, the Illini sit with four losses already. Oregon, too. Forget them. The wheels haven’t quite come off for Indiana yet, but the tires are shredded, bolts are rattling the roughest road still lies ahead.

And Michigan?

Well, I’ll admit: They were disappointing on Friday night. I figured they’d really give Purdue a run, but instead I’m wondering how good they actually are. Purdue blitzed them to the point that I’m not sure anyone would have fared much better, but the Wolverines were sloppy in their execution, not terribly physical and their guards didn’t look championship-contender-caliber.

Not sure they’re going to endure as a factor here, and if they don’t, that leaves Michigan State and Purdue, with the Spartans two games up, with all their toughest games and most their three-day turnarounds — Purdue just had five straight — lying ahead of them.

Purdue’s positioned itself OK here but will need some help. It only gets the Spartans once, so somebody else is gonna have to help them.

The good news is Purdue got its schedule meat-grinder out of the way in January, and now gets some meaningful decompression time and meaningful practice time, a respite from constant crash-course mode. The Spartans will have a whole extra month’s worth of tread on their tires when their bottleneck comes. That’s what it will come down to.