Boiler's Season Comes To A Close

Well, it's a day after a tough loss to Xavier before I can write about it. The young Boiler ballclub took it on the chin from a bigger, more veteran team yesterday in D.C., losing 75-68. But the potential of this squad in the future is unlimited. I'm just sad Terrence Crump won't be around to be a part of it. The lone Senior on the team had a fine tournament and was instrumental in getting the young players ready for battle throughout the year.

The biggest off-season issues for Purdue will be:

1) Get a physical, active and assertive big man presence in the middle. I don't think Calasan fits that bill unless he learns to square up before he shoots an offensive rebound instead of just tipping at it. AND, he's not a three-point shooter. Use that thinking when we're up by a large margin and the defense isn't expecting it. My hunch is that the last 10 3 point shots he took this year were key misses that helped the other team's rally.

But hitting the weights for the guys in the paint will be critical, and the same can be said for the others as well. I would imagine they all took note of Xavier and their strenght and physicality.

JaJuan will no doubt bulk up to get bigger and stronger. That is an absolute must. He showed what he could be like offensively, but we need him to be able to shut down the play inside the paint defensively with more than an occassional block. But I like the fact he was rockin' it at times in the 1st round win vs Baylor.

2) Stop slapping at the ball when your on defense. Not sure how many times the Boilers did it, but I know it was TOO MUCH! Everytime someone was beaten off the dribble, they'd slap at the ball as it was about to be shot. Not only did it help send key players to the bench with foul trouble, it uncannily led to multiple 3-point plays for Xavier that would nullify pretty good defensive play until then.

Part of that is the maturation of this young team, so it probably is to be expected early on. But I would have thought for as well as they had progressed (and as much experience in AAU ball ) throughout their career thus far, that it would have become steadily improved. Not so.

But this team has our hearts and enthusiasm. They've brought back optimism and enthusiasm back to the area during the dull days of winter. Four freshman, some sophomores and a junior will be back next season with a year more of experience and knowledge under their belts. It should be an exciting three seasons coming up.

Mackey Magic is back, but even more, dreams of that ellusive National Championship is once again alive for perhaps the first time in nearly a decade.