New Year’s Resolutions for Purdue men’s Basketball
By CRAIG DRAGASH
ISL Correspondent
The Purdue men’s basketball team finished its pre-conference schedule with a 6-6 record; hardly worthy of optimism when it talks to postseason aspirations. The Boilermakers have shown their youth and inexperience, and they haven’t given fans much hope that things will turn around once Big Ten play opens up in what most would say is the best conference in college basketball this year. The year 2013 has arrived, and I have some New Year’s resolutions for this team that should help for what figures to be a tough road during the coming weeks:
A.J. Hammons: Your vitals say 7’0″, 280 lbs. My New Year’s resolution for you is to use it! Big Ten teams will feast on you bringing the ball down to your waist when you have it in the post; keep it up high where you can keep that advantage! And if you continue to play the finesse game, guys like Cody Zeller, Adreian Payne, Derrick Nix, and Jarred Berggren will surely show you why that won’t work. Use your size big fella!
Ronnie Johnson: I saw you play in high school, and I know you can shoot the ball. Somewhere along your brief college journey you lost your confidence, so my resolution for you is to keep shooting, hit one, then another, and another, and another…..and get that confidence back so it opens things up in your offense.
Rapheal Davis: My resolution for you is do dial in to your head coach, do what he says, and get more minutes! This team sorely lacks scoring punch and as you demonstrated in the Notre Dame game, you being on the floor can change that!
Terone Johnson: You are the glue that keeps this team together. My resolution for you is to be consistent on offense. Hopefully if your brother comes through on his resolution, that will open things up for you to get to the rim as you do so productively. But your team needs you to be a threat on the perimeter, and knock down jumpers with consistency!
D.J. Byrd: I admire you for trying anything to keep your team in games on the offensive end. My resolution for you is to make sure Ronnie and Terone follow their resolutions so you can play off of them and knock down 3’s with consistency.
Anthony Johnson: You have a lot of tools and upside; my resolution for you is to use them effectively! You can handle the ball, you can defend, you can shoot, and you have shown an ability to get to the rim on occasion. My resolution for you is to find a way to use all of these tools to be effective in Big Ten play.
Travis Carroll: I love the way you have come off the bench and given a lot of energy. You have done a great job on the defensive end, on the boards, and you have occasionally contributed some offense as well. My resolution for you is to take all of that to another level. You can really help this team if you bring some toughness and tenacity on the floor.
Jacob Lawson: Your team has taken advantage of your ability to block shots and you have shown flashes on offense. My resolution for you is to turn the motor up a notch. If you can block shots, you should be able to get more boards on both ends of the floor. And continue to be more of a factor on the offensive end.
And last but not least…..
Matt Painter: OK coach, I know your philosophy is to be solid defensively and rely on your motion offense. Here’s the problem with that right now…you have no offense! I am a subscriber to the saying that “offense wins games and defense wins championships,” but you can’t win championships if you don’t win games, and you’re not going to win many games in the Big Ten with the offense that is currently being displayed by your team.
You insist on limiting Rapheal Davis’ minutes, but you consistently played Kelsey Barlow when he was at Purdue despite the fact that I am still waiting for him to dive on the floor for a loose ball for the first time. I’ve got to think that Davis has learned his lesson by now, and your team desperately lacks scoring punch.
And let’s not ignore the fact that you have a lot of empty seats in Mackey Arena for your games right now. You just earned a healthy raise for your efforts at Purdue; you need seats filled in that arena to help fund that raise. Your current product won’t get that accomplished.
So my resolution for you, Coach Painter…..find a way to convince players like Brandon Dawson, Gary Harris, and other players that you have lost to other Big Ten schools to come to West Lafayette. The other schools aren’t going to stop recruiting players like this, so in order to compete and be relevant in the Big Ten, you need to score a big recruit or two. Guys you had like Chris Kramer, E’Twaun Moore, JaJuan Johnson, and Robbie Hummel are not walking through that door anytime soon. I don’t know if that means you need to change your offense, change your expectations? But something is keeping these guys away.
And until they start coming your way, things won’t figure to change anytime soon.
Follow Craig Dragash on Twitter: www.twitter.com/Greyhound32.
