All eyes on Marve, QB’s

The obvious headline for Danny Hope’s second Purdue Spring Game was the public debut of Miami Transfer Robert Marve.  To sum it up, while there were glimpses of his immense talent at many times he was overall less than spectacular.  In Purdue’s third scrimmage of the spring Marve had his least effective day going 11 for 22 and 160 yards including a 75 yard touchdown pass to an open Cortez Smith.  He had one interception off of a deflected pass late in the game.  Marve was, however, spectacular in the squads previous two scrimmages going a combined 39-55 (71%) with 439 yards, 4 td’s, and zero ints.  During the black and gold game – which consisted of the black team comprised of mostly starters going against a gold team of reserves – Marve made many bullet-like passes on out patterns.  QB’s were off limits for contact so it was difficult to gage his running skills.  Marve had many passes deflected during the game.  Most concerning, at times Marve seemed too willing to hold onto the ball in hopes that a big play would open up rather than take a short or midrange gain.

Caleb TerBush was a sturdy 13-18 for 147 yards and 2 TD’s.  He looked comfortable in the offense but clearly lacks the upside Marve has.  Boilermaker’s should be comfortable with him in a backup role.  Redshirt Freshman Rob Henry was 13-19 for 82 yards in action for mostly the gold team but some with the black team.  He also saw time as the outside man on the black’s kickoff coverage team.  He’s one of the fastest players on the team, will likely see action this fall in some capacity, and has a bright future behind center.

No frills on offense

Schematically Purdue was about as vanilla as possible offensively.  It’s thought that Purdue may incorporate more triple option looks into their shotgun sets to take advantage of their speed at quarterback, but none of that was on display Saturday.  Purdue also ran many sets from under center last season and in previous practices this spring, but were almost completely in the shotgun for the spring game.  Since Gary Nord and Hope have taken over the offense they’ve always said they are running “the Purdue offense.”  That certainly wasn’t the case all the time last year and likely won’t be this year.  However, the spring game offense looked very much like a Jim Chaney style offense.  Perhaps it’s due to the dearth of injuries at the running back position, or perhaps Nord doesn’t want to lead on to just how multiple the offense will be this fall.

Injuries overshadow game

Many of Purdue’s premier players were on the shelf for the spring game, including stars Keith Smith, Ryan Kerrigan, Jason Werner and Ralph Bolden.  Many other were sidelined.  Most, with a major exception being Bolden, should be full strength when fall camp opens.

Personnel:  Secondary more settled than offensive line

Two major personnel questions for the 2010 Boilermakers will be replacing all four starters in the defensive backfield and three offensive linemen.  The secondary seems to be shaping up with corners Josh Johnson and Charleton Williams and safties Chris Quinn and the injured Albert Evans likely to break fall camp as the number one secondary.  Junior college early enrollee CB Mike Eargle saw action with the black team but was giving minutes to Johnson.  Walk-on safety Logan Link played extensively in place of Evans and could push Quinn in the fall.  As always incoming freshman could play their way into the mix, but as of now a clear peaking order is set.  The offensive line is much more up for grabs.  6’-8”, 297 lbs. LT Dennis Kelly is a rock on the quarterbacks blind side and big Ken Plue will be healthy in the fall, but beyond that questions abound.  It’s a bad sign that Nick Mondek was moved over from defense as he was set to see significant time at DT, but OL coach Shawn Clark and Hope thought he could mix it up with the laundry list of potential starters on the offensive line.  Ideally a starting line would be in place and fall camp could be used to help develop continuity, but expect continued unrest with this unit.

Early enrollees look good

Technically four players from the 2010 recruiting classes were suited up for this year’s spring game in CB Mike Eargle, TE Gabe Holmes, TE De’Ron Flood, and LB Will Lucus.  Eargle is a JC transfer and Holmes was an ’09 clearinghouse casualty.  That being said, Holmes was used both next to the tackle and as a upright slot receiver for the black team as veteran TE’s Kyle Adams and Jeff Lindsey clowned around on the sideline for most of the second half.  Flood looked good for the gold team.  But most impressive has been the play of Will Lucus.  The three star prospect was headed for a redshirt this fall, but ended up playing nearly the entire game as the black team’s outside linebacker.  Two year starter Chris Carlino was moved to the outside in order to make room for Dwayne Beckford in the middle, but Carlino saw time with both the black and gold team on Saturday and is clearly behind Lucus.  Its still expected that veterans Joe Holland and injured Jason Werner will flank Beckford in the starting lineup, but Lucus looks to be the fourth linebacker and is certainly a budding star.

Siller

It appears to be all but a formality to get quarterback turned running back turned quarterback Justin Siller back for the fall.  He was on the sideline for the spring game as he has been at other times this spring.  He made his presence known at Where Else on Friday.  The only outstanding question will be how Hope and Co. plan on utilizing him in the fall.

Tiller and Hope reunite

The 10^th anniversary of the 2001 Rose Bowl team was celebrated between the third and fourth quarter on the Ross-Ade Stadium turf.  Tiller was announced along with his two former assistants who left and returned to Purdue, Gary Emmanual and Danny Hope.  The band is gettin’ back together.  Overall it was a great event with a solid turnout and a lot of Boilermaker lovin’.

Sadly the Boilers’ season ended in the Sweet 16 to the eventual champions, Duke.  Given the circumstances, the season was not a failure, despite not living up to preseason expectations.  Many Boilermaker fans thought it was their destiny to play down the road in Indianapolis in the Final Four; however, in a cruel twist of mid-major fate, Butler was ultimately the team of destiny.  Instead of harping on what could have been, here is a review of the up-and-downs (mostly ups) of this past Big Ten Championship season.

 

Out of Conference: In a Groove

While rolling through the beginning of their schedule, Purdue faced their first tough opponent, then #11, Tennessee in the U.S. Virgin Islands Paradise Jam Championship.  This was a tug of war battle between two future Sweet 16 teams (Tennessee reached the Elite 8).  In the final 20 seconds of an exciting game, Freshman Kelsey Barlow had a chance to lock the game up with two free throws, but missed both.  He would redeem himself shortly thereafter by grabbing a huge defensive rebound with two seconds left following a missed Wayne Chism 3-pointer, giving Purdue a 73-72 victory.  The Boilers took home more than one trophy to West Lafayette: E’Twaun Moore was named tournament MVP of the Jam for his stellar play.  It was just a preview of his season-long excellence.

Purdue went on to beat two more solid teams, first helping the Big Ten win their first Big Ten/ACC Challenge by overcoming Wake Forest’s big men, 69-58 in West Lafayette.  A few weeks later, they travelled on the road to Alabama on the same night Bama’s Mark Ingraham was awarded the school’s first Heisman Trophy.  Purdue would spoil the celebration by coming from behind on the shoulders of senior Chris Kramer.  He had 2 consecutive steals that led to immediate layups that brought Purdue ahead of ‘Bama from what was once a 16 point deficit.  The ESPN announcer said these words, in the voice of Kramer, as the senior took over: “I am quicker then you, I am bigger then you, I’m stronger than you, I am better then you, and I want it more then you.”  He did, and it gave Purdue the tough come-from-behind road win.

After opening Big Ten play by dismantling Iowa, Purdue got ready for the game they had circled on their calendar for a year, West Virginia, a Final Four team-to-be.  Although many Boiler fans would have liked to be watching Purdue’s football team playing on January 1st, the basketball team gave fans a New Year’s treat.  Purdue demolished (the dictionary doesn’t have a word for what Purdue did to Bob Huggins’ Mountaineers) 77-62, as JaJuan Johnson’s 25 points and 10 rebounds was too much for West Va.  The game was not even as close as the score suggests.

 

Conference Play: The Skid

Purdue rolled over a depleted Minnesota squad, giving the Boilers a 14-0 start; matching their best ever start.  Purdue then hit a major skid and lost 3 games in a row: Wisconsin at the Kohl Center, home to Ohio State, and at Welsh-Ryan arena to Northwestern.  It should be noted that Robbie Hummel scored a career high 35 Points (29 in an unreal 1st half) against OSU, but eventual Player of the Year Evan Turner single handily beat an uninspired Purdue team with his 32 points.

Looking as though they had lost their confidence and ability to simply play basketball, the unlikliest of heroes took over the Illinois game in Champaign, his name: John Hart.  That same name wasn’t even in the scorer’s book, giving Purdue a technical foul in rare fashion.  Unphased, he scored a HUGE 14 points in 18 minutes, about 1000 times more than he averaged prior to this, and helped Purdue’s Boilermaker Special get back on the right track.

 

Conference Play: Life is Good, but not that good

Purdue rode that momentum, while picking up some more when Lewis Jackson returned from a foot injury.  They went on a 10 game winning streak defeating, among others, Wisconsin, the Hoosiers in Bloomington, the Spartans in East Lansing, a crucial game at Ohio State, and Illinois at home.  Unfortunately, it was the last game of the winning streak that would feel more like a loss.  The details aren’t necessary, it hurts too much to type.  Hummel tore his ACL, but Purdue rallied to beat Minnesota. 

 

Conference Play: The Push for the Big Ten Title

Although the next few games were rocky, Purdue managed to win a share (splitting with Evan Turner State and Michigan State) of its 1st Big Ten title in over a decade.  Following a loss at home to Michigan State, Purdue finished strong by pummeling rival IU and clinching at Penn State. 

 

The Conference Tournament: No Repeat

After avenging an earlier loss, Purdue beat Northwestern in Indy in the conference tournament.  They then faced a hot Minnesota team who was coming off a win against Michigan State.  Purdue had a first half to forget to open against Minnesota, trailing 37-11 at the break.  Purdue never recovered, and their subsequent NCAA seed would suffer.

 

The NCAA Tournament: Proving EVERYONE Wrong (Including Obama)

“I feel bad for Purdue”  -President Barack Obama

Every girl in your office pool picked Siena to beat Purdue.  It was trendy…it was wrong.  A Hummel-less #4 seeded Purdue team beat Siena by 12 in Spokane, Washington as JaJuan dropped 25 points and grabbed 15 rebounds.  The underdog Purdue squad met Texas A&M in the second round.  This became the Purdue senior show.  Keaton Grant and Chris Kramer would not end their career in the second round.  Grant played truly inspired basketball down the stretch energizing the Boilermakers who trailed at one point in the second half by more than 10.  However, it was Chris Kramer who made arguably the play of his career in overtime.  Somewhat ignoring Coach Matt Painter’s play call, Kramer crossed over his defender and drove past a host of Texas A&M defenders and layed up the ball over future NBA big man Bryan Davis, giving Purdue the win while punching their ticket to the Sweet 16. 

Although Purdue would lose a good game to Duke, the season gave Boiler fans so many great memories and hope for next year.  Andy Katz has next year’s team as #1 in the country in the way-too-early top 25. 

Thank you for a GREAT season Boilermakers!

Season Notables

• Chris Kramer and Keaton Grant ended their career as the winningest players in Purdue history
• Hummel and Moore were honorable mention All Americans
• Matt Painter was named Big Ten Coach of the Year
• Hummel and Moore were 1st Team all Big Ten; Johnson was 2nd Team; Kramer was Honorable Mention
• Barlow was named Big Ten All-Freshman Team
• Kramer set the Purdue steal record and also won his 2nd Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year Award
• Purdue holds the current longest streak for consecutive 1st round tournament wins (12, next best is Maryland with 10)
• Purdue reached as high as #3 in the country
• Purdue became the first EVER team to beat IU, MSU, OSU, ILL, and MINN on the road in the same season

-Fitz