We lost to a great team but the positives.

[FairfIowafan1984]

i love this team and I just want anyone that is a positive poster to post something you liked last night.

I'll start Brady had two pretty threes with a hand in his face.

Cook had foul problems and first game back and still had 12 points.

We played the best team possibly in the B10 at Mackey and they kept there starters in, swanigan with 2 mins left In the game just so he could get a rebound for a double double? Sorry but that was cheesy just like their mascot.

We won the 2nd half 42-40.

Go hawks! Beat michigan and beat Florida in outback and Jan 1st I'll be a happy guy!!

 

[HeRKeYHoPeFuL]

1. Ellingson is starting to come into his own. He is a great spot up shooter, but has added an ability to get to the rim.

2. Bohannon wasn't a liability. That has been my concern for this year, relying on a freshman while Williams heads through the sophomore slump. He's running the offense and not turning it over too much.

3. Cook and Pemsl are going to be an efficient tandem. They struggled some against the best bigs in the B1G, but we're respectable in their first road contest.

4. I thought Baer's effectiveness would wear off after having a season of tape, but the dude is savvy. He will find ways to be effective regardless of opponent or situation.

5. Our best players are YOUNG. Outside of Jok, we've got Cook, Pemsl, Moss, Ellingson, Bohannon all showing strong for freshmen/sophomores. Williams has time to come around and Wagner has been solid and just needs to develop his ability to score off his effort. Think how deep we'll be next year at forward. Legit 4 deep and more if we can get anything out of Kriener, Garza, Nunge.

 

[Heller]

i love this team and I just want anyone that is a positive poster to post something you liked last night.

I'll start Brady had two pretty threes with a hand in his face.

Cook had foul problems and first game back and still had 12 points.

We played the best team possibly in the B10 at Mackey and they kept there starters in, swanigan with 2 mins left In the game just so he could get a rebound for a double double? Sorry but that was cheesy just like their mascot.

We won the 2nd half 42-40.

Go hawks! Beat michigan and beat Florida in outback and Jan 1st I'll be a happy guy!!

I always get a kick out of fans making a big deal about starters still being in the game late. McCaffery had Jok and others still on the floor when they clearly were not going to make a comeback. Why blame Painter for trying to bump up Swanigan's stats?

 

[lovedwatchingLester]

I need never want to give up on a player turning it around. I think Him even could have the lights go on moment still but I'm at the point now where I want Kreiner in the front court rotation. He has shown me enough of a skill set that can be effective and will need this experience for the future. Besides 15 fouls to give in the post should help him Cook and Pemsl stay aggressive and stop a matador defense so they don't foul out. I think we are also beginning to see more of MD and this should continue. As for Oh I am still unsure how it should play out but both Bohannon and Williams have a ways to go. I'd still keep playing both and try to even out the minutes but stay on them, Williams to stay aggressive offensively and defensively especially. Bohannon to not be too quick to shoot a 3 early in the clock. To be patient and shoot in the flow of the offense. Spacing with this team still isn't where it needs to be. Crisp passing, and heads up at all times. By the way good job Brady, keep it up and keep working on your defense. Go get Michigan.

 

[lovedwatchingLester]

"Him" meaning Uhl in previous post

 

[hooper56]

Last night you had a bunch of freshmen playing their very first B1G game against a ranked league contender at their place. I didn't expect great consistency. I saw some good performances with a lot of mistakes thrown in as well. They will learn a great deal from this game. Things have come fairly easily for Pemsl but last night he saw how tough it can be in the B1G. That's ok. Our guys will improve a LOT. I thought Cook got better as the game wore on. Jordan seemed to play MUCH better in the 2nd half. I was disappointed that Jok didn't show some leadership in the first half.....he was as bad as he has ever been.

 

[EpenesaEpenesa]

I agree with Bohannon. Was curious how he'd react over there. Did fine. He's just a tough kid that doesn't get rattled. Really going to be a good player in this conference

 

[sober_teacher]

Last night you had a bunch of freshmen playing their very first B1G game against a ranked league contender at their place. I didn't expect great consistency. I saw some good performances with a lot of mistakes thrown in as well. They will learn a great deal from this game. Things have come fairly easily for Pemsl but last night he saw how tough it can be in the B1G. That's ok. Our guys will improve a LOT. I thought Cook got better as the game wore on. Jordan seemed to play MUCH better in the 2nd half. I was disappointed that Jok didn't show some leadership in the first half.....he was as bad as he has ever been.

Another thing for me was that average guard play has held back Purdue for several years now....looks like that might have been fixed. Didn't go in and expect a win but thought we would play better. On the plus side I didn't see the team quit in the 2nd hall like I was afraid a young team might do on the road.

 

[hooper56]

Another thing for me was that average guard play has held back Purdue for several years now....looks like that might have been fixed. Didn't go in and expect a win but thought we would play better. On the plus side I didn't see the team quit in the 2nd hall like I was afraid a young team might do on the road.

Excellent points. Purdue finally has a very good guard court and man those guys can fill it up! Not only did our boys not give up, they got better. Purdue is going to stun a lot of teams in their arena this year. They are NBA sized and Painter has convinced them to play HARD,

 

[Kurt Warner]

I just like a lot about this team even though they got handled last night. Ellingson has come back this year and shown he is a heck of a shooter. Cooks gonna be special, Pemsl is too. There are just a lot of guys i can't wait to watch develop. We may take a few lump like last night but the future looks very bright imho.

 

[Buffalo43]

Ellingson playing very well

He seems to have a quicker release on his shot this year

Starting to look like a Matt Gatens type of player

 

[HawkTex]

1. Ellingson is starting to come into his own. He is a great spot up shooter, but has added an ability to get to the rim.

2. Bohannon wasn't a liability. That has been my concern for this year, relying on a freshman while Williams heads through the sophomore slump. He's running the offense and not turning it over too much.

3. Cook and Pemsl are going to be an efficient tandem. They struggled some against the best bigs in the B1G, but we're respectable in their first road contest.

4. I thought Baer's effectiveness would wear off after having a season of tape, but the dude is savvy. He will find ways to be effective regardless of opponent or situation.

5. Our best players are YOUNG. Outside of Jok, we've got Cook, Pemsl, Moss, Ellingson, Bohannon all showing strong for freshmen/sophomores. Williams has time to come around and Wagner has been solid and just needs to develop his ability to score off his effort. Think how deep we'll be next year at forward. Legit 4 deep and more if we can get anything out of Kriener, Garza, Nunge.

Give Dailey and Kreiner more minutes. Neither hurt us on either end of the floor and both have substantial upsides. Williams needs to keep grinding and the shots will fall. Again, if Bohannon is not hitting his shots from outside, I'm not sure what he brings to the party. Not questioning the kid's effort. Hopefully, they learned from last night. The re-match will be interesting.

 

[aurorabimmer]

PU is good. They have the players to cause many teams to have a bad game. I'll be rooting for them the rest of the year except for when we play them. I'd love to see them play UCLA in the tournament and take them out. Ha Ha! I bet PU fans would like that more than me.

 

[DanL53]

We took their best punch right off the bat and got back up and fought to a fairly even game after the first 8 1/2 minutes. Please look at the play by play:

http://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/playbyplay?gameId=400915004

That's a harsh eight 1/2 minute welcome to the Big Ten when we find ourselves down by 20. We then played a 31 minute game and lost by two.

That's guts, heart, determination, call it whatever it's a young team that got beat for being a young team and IF we meet them in Carver with the same way we played for the last 3/4th's of this one? We just might stand a chance.

Dumb statement coming: Rocky didn't win his first fight with Apollo Creed either.

 

[VicHawkeye]

We have an exciting young team. Of course there are going to be bumps in the road along the way but I look for BIG things for this group. And THIS season.

 

[Jumpshot00]

There are definitely positives. The key is to learn/grow from this and not have 20 point beatings be the norm. If the team can show continuous improvement on the defensive end the wins will come. Things I liked (I hope they come across as positives).
1) Ellingson- My fear with him has been he is a one-trick pony who can't really do that one trick. Sort of a Josh O. type who may be able to do a bunch of "little things" well, but if you can't put the ball in the basket you end up being a liability. It looked like he is willing to shoot good shots with confidence and make them. If he can do that there is a role for him and there will be a few games where he is the guy getting open 3's and end up with 18 points, leaving the other team to wonder "How did THAT guy beat us?"

2) Bohannon-He sort of has the weight of the team on his shoulders as a freshman pg this year. He may not be everything we want all the time, but looks like he is willing to take on the challenge and I am glad we got him. This may be just me but I have a tendency to compare everything he does to Mike Gesell. While I liked Gesell, I think Bohannon will end up better. C.Williams can be a good player but I am not sure it will be in the pg role.

 

[unoHawkeye]

How about that we only got out-rebounded by 2, including winning the offensive rebounding battle? That was encouraging to me, given our relative lack of height and Purdue's relative abundance of height.

 

[unoHawkeye]

As far as Ellingson, he needs to be more aggressive. Especially on a night where shots aren't falling, we could have used him to answer some of their threes in the first half, but there are times where he's not looking to shoot at all. I would've taken a contested BE three over a lot of the offense we had last night (in the first half). Very encouraging night by him though. I remember last year he totally disappeared in conference play - if he can contribute like he did last night, we'll win a lot of games.

 

[large78]

100% from the Free Throw Line. Guarantee you won't see that again this season.

 

[RocknRollface]

Ellingsons shooting is a positive.

Right now I have as much or more confidence in him shooting an open 3 as Jok.

He cant get nearly as tough of shots off because of height but his release is quick and his form is smooth and efficient.

The shot he hit with a defender right on him was unexpected.

 

[ScoutRefugee]

It was a tough loss but we're still in it for the BIG title hunt. We'll be BIG champs by the time the season's over. 17-1 is my prediction! The first BIG title of many to come. Book it!

 

[lovedwatchingLester]

It was a tough loss but we're still in it for the BIG title hunt. We'll be BIG champs by the time the season's over. 17-1 is my prediction! The first BIG title of many to come. Book it!

Wow, 17-1 huh, good for you sir. I know I'm an optimist, but still for me I think 12-6, is still closer to reality.

 

[WAHawkeye]

The outcome of the Purdue game did not come as a surprise with freshman and inexperienced sophomores playing their opening conference game on the road against a talented, experienced team. I'm hopeful for a turnaround @ home on Sunday. Part of the team's growth this season will be measured by their ability to improve performance following a difficult loss.

 

[perryhawk]

Pemsl may have his free throws figured out after a session with Bobby Hansen. That is a positive that could make a difference in the season.

 

[JEDN]

Purdue is good NOT great!

 

[perryhawk]

Another positive (probably already mentioned) is that our rebounding appears to be much improved. Only getting out rebounded by 2 by those monsters at their place is pretty damn good. Especially when they made such a high percentage of their 3s.....meaning there were fewer boards to get.

 

[FairfIowafan1984]

JedN Purdue in the past weren't that great you mean! They have guards now! And are a final four contender.

And heller lol I take it your a Purdue fan that was cheesy that with under two minutes left in the game they had swanigan in so that he could get a bad double double(11 pts 10 Rebs).

Can't wait for tommorow!! Go hawks beat Michigan then Monday lets get Florida!

Keep improving and pull out a W!

 

[perryhawk]

And heller lol I take it your a Purdue fan that was cheesy that with under two minutes left in the game they had swanigan in so that he could get a bad double double(11 pts 10 Rebs).

This part.....keeping Swanigan in with 2 minutes left. Last night in the football game Clemson has their QB in really late in the game, while the game is well in hand.

I am not a coach and am probably wrong about this...BUT, what if that star player gets hurt during that time. Clemson risks a national championship. Purdue risks a B10 Championship and maybe much more. This is an area where Fran does a good job...doesn't appear to give a shi* about what someone's stats are, just do what is right for the team.

I would have pulled those guys if it were my team. The real question to me is, at what point can you confidently say that this other team is not going to come back...game is realistically over, so I'm pulling my stars and getting the other guy(s) a chance to play.

 

[bravehawks1]

I agree with most of the positives mentioned, these positives are overshadowed by two pretty glaring weaknesses. 1. Defense-until this team plays defense every game, the will struggle to beat good teams and even a so so team, ex Neb Omaha. 2. consistency on the offensive end. We know that Jok will be the focus of most defenses, so we need multiple options to develop. I think some combination of Cook and Pemsl will be there every game. also we need either Moss or Ellington to bring outside shooting and finally our PG have to improve their control of the game as we struggle to get in to the offense. We know we wil get Baer every game, need to clone that energy

With that being said, we have plenty of upside, but need to get past the notion of being a young team. These guys play so much basketball before they ever get to campus, they need to get past this notion.

Lots of reason for optimism, but need the defense and consistency.