Purdue's NCAA Tournament started out well enough with a 65-43 win over an outmatched St. Peter's squad. As could have been expected, the Pea**** struggled mightily at the offensive end, shooting 32 percent on twos and 24 percent on threes. The resulting 0.65 efficiency was among the lowest allowed by Purdue all season.

Still, even in this blowout win, things just didn't feel quite right for the Boilermakers. Purdue struggled a bit against St. Peter's solid defense, posting their second highest turnover rate of the season (24 percent). The Boilermakers didn't shoot all that well either (46 percent on twos, 33 percent on threes), resulting in a pedestrian 0.99 points per possession. Sure, St. Peter's has defended very well this season, but that's still a low output. For reference,

Iowa scored the biggest upset of the season when it took down Purdue 67-65 in a 71 possession game.  The Hawkeyes dominated the glass, limiting the Boilermakers to grabbing just 25 percent of their misses.  Iowa also hounded Purdue on the perimeter, limiting the Boilers to a 5-25 performance from behind the arc.  E’Twaun Moore and JaJuan Johnson were both rather pedestrian as well, needing 34 shots to get to 33 points.  Purdue also didn’t help themselves with their 59 percent accuracy from the free throw line.  
 
But give the Hawkeyes credit.  They took down a top-10 team that was playing for a share of the conference crown.  Fran McCaffrey’s squad denied them that banner, and there’s Jarryd Cole to thank for that.  The

In the college coaching community, there's almost no idea that is more deeply ingrained than the following formula:

2 fouls + first half = bench

This is so commonly accepted as the correct move that any variance from its wisdom is certain to prompt TV commentators to focus intently on it, with terms like "rolling the dice" being the norm. But is this always the correct move, regardless of the player?

Take last night's 75-67 Purdue win over Illinois. Bruce Weber's team was on fire out of the gates, passing and cutting their way to easy looks against the normally stingy Purdue defense. After 18 possessions, the Illini held a 31-18 lead and had the Boilers back on their heels. This was the good Illinois offense that we haven't seen much of in conference play, and

Michigan has really thrown a wrench into the at-large picture in the Big Ten.  Just a week ago, I thought Minnesota was in relatively good shape.  Sure, the Gophers were sitting at 6-8 in conference play, but with 3 of the 4 remaining games at home--none of which against Ohio State, Purdue, Wisconsin, or Illinois--as well as a road game at Northwestern, 9 or 10 wins certainly seemed possible.  Well, two home losses later, now it looks like Minnesota has work to do in the Big Ten Tournament.  The latest loss came at the hands of a surging Michigan team, who prevailed 70-63 thanks to some hot outside shooting.  The Wolverines made 12 of 28 three pointers, and when Michigan makes their threes, they’re very difficult to stop.  Of course, if Michigan is making

The stage was set. Michigan had fought hard all game and held Wisconsin, the nation's most efficient offense, to just 50 points in 54 possessions. With a two point lead, the Wolverines were a couple free throws away from a huge win that could propel them into a surprise NCAA Tournament bid. Michigan's best player, Darius Morris, stepped to the free throw line for a one-and-one opportunity...

What happened next will live on in Michigan basketball infamy. Morris missed the front end, and Wisconsin grabbed the rebound with just under 30 seconds left. The Wolverines still had four fouls to give, and they wisely gave them one after another, milking the clock down to 6 seconds without Wisconsin getting a shot off. One last stop, one last possession, and even the missed free throws wouldn't

Well, it looks like we have a real title race, after Purdue knocked off Ohio State 76-63 in West Lafayette.  Defensively, the Boilermakers pressured OSU into committing a turnover on over a quarter of their possessions and an effective field goal percentage of 42.6, each the second-worst marks posted by the Buckeyes this season.  The resulting 0.93 points per possession was likewise the second-worst mark for Thad Matta’s team on the year.  Offensively, Matt Painter just made sure E’Twaun Moore ate his Wheaties.  The senior guard lit up the Buckeyes for a career-high 38 points (that’s half the team’s total, mind you), on just 18 shots.  Moore scored his points all over the place--21 were on threes, 12 on twos, and another 5 at the free throw

In a matchup of teams holding onto slim Big Ten title hopes, Purdue beat Wisconsin at their own game in a 70-62 win. The Boilermakers used Bo Ryan's area of expertise--a miniscule 6.6 turnover rate--to post 1.16 points per possession, the second highest output allowed by Wisconsin all season (Illinois scored 1.21 ppp against the Badgers back when they were making shots like crazy). Purdue didn't shoot particularly well--48 percent on twos and 31 percent on threes--but shot maximization is a powerful thing.

Wisconsin wasn't all that careless with the ball either (16.6 turnover rate), but their outside shooting was much colder. The Badgers went 3 for 19 from three (16 percent) and scored just 1.03 points per trip. This was Wisconsin's fourth lowest output of the conference slate,