It has been a rough offseason at Missouri. Former coach Mike Anderson left the program to return to Arkansas. Matt Painter excited fans by flirting with the Tigers before deciding to stay put at Purdue. So MU athletic director Mike Alden turned to Miami coach Frank Haith, whose hiring was met with a tepid response. A few months later, in the wake of Haith’s alleged involvement in the massive Miami scandal uncovered by Yahoo! Sports, that hiring looked even worse. And now … this
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Bowers injury another blow to Mizzou
Filed under Basketball, News by on Oct 4th, 2011. Comment. 
Missouri will introduce Haith this morning. He replaces Mike Anderson , who went to Arkansas . Missouri athletic director Mike Alden says Haith is familiar “with the footprint of the Big 12 .” Alden tried last week to lure Matt Painter , but the Purdue coac Source: Belleville News-Democrat
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Missouri hires Miami’s Haith as new head coach
Filed under News by on Apr 5th, 2011. Comment.
CHICAGO — The NCAA tournament does strange things to teams. Or maybe it’s something in the United Center Gatorade. Whatever it is, the lower half of the 2011 NCAA tournament’s Southeast Regional witnessed two unlikely and surprising transformations from the two most surprising and unlikely teams to advance to this year’s Sweet 16. Virginia Commonwealth spent all season letting opponents score at will. Florida State received a No. 10 seed because the Seminoles, though one of the nation’s best defenses, watched shot after shot (after shot after shot) carom off the rim throughout their up-and-down season. Then Sunday night, Florida State watched VCU manhandle the third-seeded Purdue Boilermakers on both ends of the floor. A few hours later, the Seminoles came out uncharacteristically — almost miraculously — hot against the Irish. By the end of the night, VCU had run Purdue off the floor in a 94-76 win. Florida State had shot the hometown favorites out of the tournament in a 71-57 victory . The stunned fans in the Second City had seen their two regional favorites fall to double-digit seeds, and both losing coaches were given the unenviable task of explaining what, exactly, had just happened. The answers did not come easy. “Florida State just beat us,” Notre Dame coach Mike Brey said. “We just couldn’t get them corralled,” Purdue coach Matt Painter said. “We couldn’t get them stopped.” You can forgive both coaches their bits of shock. Neither of Sunday night’s Chicago games lived up to advance expectations. Not even close. Notre Dame prepared for the Florida State team that scored 57 points in a win Friday over Texas A&M. That FSU team excels at defense, as it has all season. The Seminoles are the nation’s No. 1-ranked defense according to Ken Pomeroy’s adjusted efficiency, which basically means they allow fewer points per possession than any team in the nation. But there’s a reason Florida State didn’t compete for the ACC title this season. For as good as FSU was on defense, it was just as bad on offense. So Brey prepared his Irish for the struggles to come on the offensive end. As long as the Irish could ensure their typically brilliant offense wasn’t too hampered by the FSU defense, surely they couldn’t fall too far behind the offense-bereft Noles. Instead, Florida State made seven 3-pointers in the first half and went 9-of-19 from beyond the arc for the game. By the time the Seminoles cooled down in the second half, the Irish found themselves in a deep hole against the nation’s most stifling perimeter defense. There was no digging out. “I thought, if we had to give up anything, we’d give up some jump shots,” Brey said. “But they made them. … You know, they’ve — I don’t know if they’ve made [that many 3s] before. “I really thought we could help in the post more on their big guys and come down, and we started to gain [some momentum] that way, and darn if they didn’t knock a couple down.” Indeed, Florida State has made nine or more 3s only five times this season. The Seminoles average 33.3 percent from beyond the arc, which ranks among the worst 150 or so teams in the nation. But if you didn’t know any better, on Sunday night you’d have thought Derwin Kitchen , Michael Snaer and Deividas Dulkys were consistent marksmen from beyond the arc. Of course, Florida State is not likely to become a consistent offensive threat. After all, this was just one game, and FSU had its fair share of offensive struggles in its first-round win over Texas A&M. Still, this remarkable turnaround in shooting accuracy came at the perfect time for the Seminoles. “Very dangerous,” said Florida State guard Kitchen, when asked how dangerous the Noles can be if they knock down outside shots. “We’ve just been so up and down and inconsistent on the offensive end, it allowed us to stumble a few times during the season and lose a few games. But if we could stay consistent and execute how we did today on the offensive end, I like our chances because we play so well on the defensive end.” Like Florida State, VCU opened a first-half lead against a favored opponent and never looked back. Like Florida State, VCU won its second-round game thanks to dominance on both sides of the ball.
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FSU, VCU find new identities at perfect time
Filed under Basketball by on Mar 21st, 2011. Comment.
No. 11 seed VCU (25-11) vs. No. 3 seed Purdue (26-7) 7:10 p.m. ET (TBS) How they got here: Purdue blew out No. 14 seed St. Peter’s. Virginia Commonwealth, after disposing of USC in Dayton, blew out No. 6 seed Georgetown. One of those results was a major surprise. It wasn’t shocking to see the Rams beat Georgetown — that seemed like a plausible result, given the Hoyas’ late-season struggles — but it was a shock to see VCU so thoroughly handle their battle-tested Big East foes. Coupled with VCU’s win against the Trojans and its deep run in the CAA tournament in early March, it’s safe to call the Rams one of the nation’s hottest, most confident teams. Storyline: VCU coach Shaka Smart hasn’t shied away from that age-old classic coaching chestnut: “No one believed in us.” Smart has boosted his athletic Rams into the round of 32 by capitalizing on that discontent; he even showed his players a video of ESPN’s Joe Lunardi saying the Rams “couldn’t defend me” in advance of Friday night’s game. But after the dominating win over the Hoyas, can the Rams really say no one believes in them? Or will they find — or create — more disrespect to fuel their fire? Players to watch: Purdue forward JaJuan Johnson and Purdue guard E’Twaun Moore are always players to watch. The Boilers are built around their two stars, and the explanation for their consistent excellence in 2010 and 2011 starts with both. But Purdue can’t rely only on their stars. They’ll also need big games from Ryne Smith and Lewis Jackson . Jackson will be crucial. VCU’s pressing defense put Georgetown in uncomfortable situations from the opening tip Friday night. The lightning-quick Jackson will have to handle that pressure competently. Meanwhile, the Rams’ pressure will be a major focus of their attack, and to turn that up-tempo play into points, they’ll need to get another big game from point guard Joey Rodriguez and another hot shooting night from guard Brandon Rozzell . What to look for: A battle of styles. It’s no secret Purdue comes from the slow-down, grind-it-out Big Ten, and the Boilermakers’ success has always come in the half court. Purdue’s offense is classic patient motion. Its defense is designed around checking opponents with aggressive half court man-to-man. VCU, on the other hand, likes to force an up-tempo style; the Rams like to press, force turnovers, run at the rim and make the game as skittish and unpredictable as possible.
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Preview: Sunday in Chicago
Filed under Basketball, Football by on Mar 20th, 2011. Comment.
For more on Steve Fisher, Rick Barnes and Jim Calhoun, check out the rest of our Coach of the Year debate in the Nation blog. For now, here are 10 other coaches who deserve praise for a job well-done this season: Rick Pitino, Louisville: This was supposed to be a gap year for the Cardinals and gap years aren’t traditionally pretty in the Big East. Instead, Louisville — picked to finish eighth in the league — is tied with equally surprising Notre Dame (see below) for second. Pitino has reinvigorated his team by going back to his roots, playing a more uptempo offense and solid defense. His buddy and associate head coach Ralph Willard has said this is Pitino’s best coaching job. Hard to disagree. Chris Mack, Xavier: His best shooter, Brad Redford , blew out his ACL in October. His top reserve, Jay Canty , hurt his knee at the end of December. His best recruit, Justin Martin , was ruled academically ineligible. So what does Mack do with nine scholarship players? The same thing Xavier always does… win. The Musketeers are 7-0 and tied atop the Atlantic 10 standings. They ditched preseason favorite Temple and just roasted Richmond on the road. The beat goes on. Dave Rose, BYU: Yes he has The Jimmer, but Fredette isn’t the only reason BYU is rolling. Lost in the Fredette Frenzy is the fact that the Cougars are solid defensively, have surrounded their superstar with great talent, are playing unselfish basketball and have hit the boards hard. That’s coaching. Mix in the fact that Rose is the guy managing The Jimmer mania, helping to keep his player and his team from soaring too high in the crowd, and you’ve got a maestro coaching performance to go with a maestro player. Thad Matta, Ohio State: OK, some might argue: How hard it is to coach a team loaded with so much talent? Well remember, the Buckeyes lost a lot of talent too, in the form of national player of the year Evan Turner. Yet Matta has Ohio State atop the rankings as the nation’s only unbeaten team, exploiting opponents with its balanced offensive attack and solid defense. Is there plenty of talent on hand? Sure. But give credit where credit is due. Randy Bennett, Saint Mary’s: A season after Saint Mary’s surprising Sweet 16 run and after losing Omar Samhan to graduation, Bennett has the Gaels right back in the thick of things. Saint Mary’s won the first showdown with rival Gonzaga on the road — its first victory in Spokane since 1995 — and is in position to score an at-large bid even without a conference tourney title. Matt Painter, Purdue: For a team that had such high expectations in the preseason, the heartbreaking, season-ending ACL injury to Robbie Hummel on the first full day of practice was absolutely devastating. Many counted out Purdue right then and there. And while it’s true the Boilermakers can’t be considered a true national-title contender at the moment, it’s also true that they’ve hung in there quite fine, thank you. With Painter steadying the ship, Purdue is in second place in the Big Ten and 18-5 overall. Ron Everhart, Duquesne: Threatening for years in the Atlantic 10, Duquesne appears to have finally arrived. Seasoned by a tough nonleague schedule (aside from a loss to Robert Morris, none of the Dukes’ defeats are bad ones), Duquesne is rolling through the A-10 at 7-0. Standout players Bill Clark and Damian Saunders have been joined by the missing piece to Everhart’s puzzle, a savvy, scoring point guard in the form of freshman T.J. McConnell . The unselfish Dukes lead the nation in assists, averaging 19.2 per game. Mark Turgeon, Texas A&M: Like his team, Turgeon constantly flies under the radar. Texas A&M isn’t flashy, doesn’t have a turn-the-head superstar and their coach isn’t going out and stumping for attention. It’s possible you haven’t heard of any of their players, but the Aggies are as reliable as an old slipper. They will play lockdown defense, will be in the top 25 and will be in the NCAA tournament. Mike Brey, Notre Dame: All Brey has done this season is reinvent how Notre Dame plays. Successfully. Reliant on Luke Harangody for four years, the Irish now have gone to the perimeter, relying on the hot-shooting of Ben Hansbrough and Tim Abromaitis to lead them to a surprising 17-4 start. Brey may have found a secret to his team’s success at the end of last season when he was forced to slow things down while Harangody was injured. This team is now comfortable going up and down the court (80-75 win against Marquette) or forcing the tempo toward a snail’s pace (56-51 win at Pittsburgh)
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COY: The case for 10 other contenders
Filed under Basketball by on Feb 2nd, 2011. Comment.
HOUSTON — Keaton Grant can envision the moment. He and his Purdue teammates are standing amid the confetti as One Shining Moment plays on the big screen at Lucas Oil Stadium. They will be holding the trophy, the new national champions of college basketball. And … “People will say we got lucky or whoever we beat didn’t bring their A-game,’’ Grant said. “We joke about that all the time.’’ In a region full of teams with chips on their shoulders — Saint Mary’s, the underappreciated mid-major; Duke, the overseeded and perpetually despised power; and Baylor, the overachieving newbies — no one is carrying a gouge quite like Purdue. Since Robbie Hummel went down with his knee injury, the Boilermakers have been left for dead. Even the president went against them. They were classic first-round upset picks against Siena and given no chance to beat Texas A&M. Now up against top-seeded Duke, a team that blew the doors off Purdue a season ago, the Boilers might as well pack up and go home if conventional wisdom has any say so. “I know we’re tired of hearing it,’’ Grant said. “They talk about it on CBS, on ESPN, in the newspapers. You kind of get used to it but we’re also sick of it.’’ The fact is, the doubting is nothing new for Purdue. The Boilermakers have been told what they can’t do for years now. As freshmen this crew wasn’t supposed to beat Arizona in the NCAA tournament. They did. As sophomores, conventional wisdom deemed the Boilers as upset material for Baylor. Didn’t happen. In their junior season, Northern Iowa was supposed to get them. Nope. And then it was the end of Hummel, an injury that certainly left Purdue momentarily stunned, evidenced by the 11 first-half points they mustered against Minnesota in the Big Ten tournament. “Oh, they blinked, they definitely blinked,’’ Matt Painter said. “We just don’t have a 6-8, 220-pound guy waiting in the wings.’’ But the Boilers licked their wounds and regrouped, turning the negative energy spinning against them in their favor. “I think all of the doubt, it definitely sat with them,’’ Painter said. “Nobody believed in them except the guys in that locker room. They know that.’’
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Purdue imagines quieting the doubters
Filed under Basketball, News by on Mar 25th, 2010. Comment.
SPOKANE, Wash. — Chris Kramer looks like a linebacker. He is a two-time Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year. He’s Purdue’s lock-down defender. We know this because he has his own page in the Boilermakers press release that includes his “Lockdown Chart” and a quote from Tennessee coach Bruce Pearl. Kramer, Pearl said, “Is the nation’s best perimeter defender.” Knowing this, one might wonder if you want to put the ball in his hands late in a game. Say, late in an overtime game in the second round of the NCAA tournament against a big Texas A&M squad that towers over the 6-foot-3, 214 pound senior. But Kramer walked into the Purdue huddle after a timeout with 10 seconds remaining in OT and asked for the ball. He got it. “I had the ball, went right, and then crossed over left,” he said, “and then it kind of parted like the Red Sea.” And Kramer drove through that sea — more maroon than red, really — for the game-winning layup with four seconds left, lifting Purdue to a 63-61 victory and a second consecutive berth in the Sweet 16. Kramer, the defensive specialist, scored a team-high 17 points and grabbed seven rebounds. And, yes, he added three steals and frustrated whomever he defended. On the other bench, Texas A&M, a team that plays outstanding defense, was distraught that it lost because it yielded an open run through the lane to a defensive specialist. “It was kind of a defensive breakdown,” said Texas A&M forward Bryan Davis , who led the Aggies with 17 points and 15 rebounds. “I think we had been guarding hard for 44 minutes and that play right there — I didn’t even really expect him to get the ball.” Said A&M coach Mark Turgeon, “Good play by them, aggressive play by a senior. But really disappointing to guard that well and just give up a layup the way we did.” Purdue won despite shooting just six free throws and grabbing five offensive rebounds — vs. 14 rebounds for the Aggies, who won the battle on the boards 45-39. Fact is, Purdue coach Matt Painter said, the battle on the glass against the much bigger Aggies went about as well as expected. “You never want to get outrebounded by six and say it’s an accomplishment,” he said. But it was because the Boilermakers found a way to win — again — when most saw them as underdogs due to the loss of star Robbie Hummel to a knee injury. First, they were the upset special in the first round against Siena. Second, they were the team that lacked the size to keep up with A&M. “Today, nobody picked us to win this game either,” Painter said. “After a while, I think it really sits with our guys. They really use it for motivation.” The Aggies jumped ahead 40-29 with 15:41 left in the game and were dominating inside. But the Boilermakers rolled up a 14-2 run led by Kramer and JaJuan Johnson and a couple of reserves that transformed the game. From that point on, neither team led by more than five. Both teams had chances to win in regulation, which ended knotted at 55-55. Johnson blocked a Donald Sloan layup attempt with 31 seconds left. E’Twaun Moore fumbled away the ball on the other end before the Boilermakers could get a shot off. And, in overtime, before Kramer’s drive, Davis lost a battle in the paint with Johnson with 18 seconds left. Kramer said his special moment had yet to sink in. He also said he’s not satisfied. “You just have to keep dreaming,” he said. “That’s what coach talked about in the locker room.”
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Defensive specialist turned offensive savior
Filed under Basketball by on Mar 22nd, 2010. Comment.
SPOKANE, Wash. — It’s all about defense with Texas A&M and Purdue, and the Aggies won the first half of a slug fest 32-25. Both teams are shooting below 35 percent at the break. Some thoughts. Rebounding was seen by both coaches as a key to the game, in large part because the Aggies are a lot better at it. That held true in the first half, with Purdue getting outrebounded 23-18. While neither team is shooting well from the field, A&M is hot from 3-point range. It’s 5 for 10 from behind the arc, compared to 3 for 9 for Purdue. Naji Hibbert and Donald Sloan both have hit a pair of treys. Stat of the half, which Purdue coach Matt Painter might grumble about: The Boilermakers have yet to shoot a free throw. Texas A&M is 9 of 14 from the line. Purdue has been whistled for 12 fouls, A&M six. Sloan, who leads the Aggies with 18 points per game, scored just 10 in Texas A&M’s 69-53 win over Utah State, which ranked fourth on the team. He has eight points and two assists at the break. Purdue’s E’Twaun Moore leads all scorers with 11 points, just one fewer than he had in the first round win over Siena. Chris Kramer and JaJuan Johnson both have two fouls for Purdue. They’re not in trouble, but it’s worth watching because both are critical presences for the Boilermakers.
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Halftime: Texas A&M 32, Purdue 25
Filed under Basketball by on Mar 21st, 2010. Comment.
SPOKANE, Wash. — A look at Sunday’s second-round games in Spokane. SOUTH Regional No. 5 Texas A&M (24-9) vs. No. 4 Purdue (28-5) Storyline: Both teams shot well and played tough defense in their first-round game. Neither got — nor needed — a big performance from their leading scorer. Might Texas A&M’s Donald Sloan and Purdue’s E’Twaun Moore make their presences felt in round two? What to watch Boilermakers: Moore scored 12 points in the 72-64 win over Siena. He averages 16.4 points per game. JaJuan Johnson played the lead in the first round, scoring 23 points and pulling down 15 rebounds. A problem: Siena outrebounded Purdue 45-38. Texas A&M is a good rebounding team, so the Boilermakers need to step up on the glass. Purdue has won 22 straight when scoring more than 70 points. The Aggies hold foes to 64.5 ppg. What to watch Aggies: Sloan, who leads the Aggies with 18 points per game, scored just 10 in Texas A&M’s 69-53 win over Utah State, which ranked fourth on the team. Freshman Khris Middleton has become a key scoring option on the perimeter. He led the Aggies with 19 points and made 5-of-6 from 3-point range. Over the last four games, he’s averaged 16.3 points and made 11-of-19 from 3-point range. They said it: “When [Texas A&M is] shooting the ball well, they’re a very, very tough team to beat because of what they do defensively,” Purdue coach Matt Painter said. “They have size, they have athleticism, they have guys who can break you down. It’s going to be important for us with their size and our lack of size that we stay out of foul trouble.” MIDWEST No. 5 Michigan State (25-8) vs. No. 4 Maryland (24-8) Storyline: This looks like a classic matchup of a high-powered offense vs. a rugged defense. In the past eight games, Michigan State has held foes to 39 percent shooting and 60.2 ppg. Maryland averages 79 ppg and shoots 47 percent from the field. It also will be interesting to see if Spartans guards Kalin Lucas and Chris Allen , who are nursing ankle and foot injuries, can play and play effectively. What to watch Terrapins: Freshman Jordan Williams posted twin career-highs with 21 points and 17 rebounds in the 89-77 win over Houston, while Landon Milbourne chipped in 19 points and seven rebounds. Those contributions allowed ACC player of the year Greivis Vasquez to take a secondary role. The Terps dominated the boards against Houston with a 50-29 advantage but they are not typically a great rebounding team. Vasquez needs five points to eclipse Len Bias and move into second place behind Juan Dixon on Maryland’s career scoring list. What to watch Spartans: Lucas scored a career-high 25 points in the 70-67 win over New Mexico State. The Spartans have outrebounded foes in 25 of 33 games (three ties). Over the past six games, Raymar Morgan is averaging 16.2 points and 8.8 rebounds per game, both team highs. Spartans coach Tom Izzo is 14-3 in second-round games and all three losses came to No. 1 seeds. The said it: “I think we’re pretty much past that point where [Coach Izzo is] frustrated,” said Michigan State forward Draymond Green when asked why the Spartans have so frustrated Izzo this season. “It’s one and done time. We have pretty much wiped our slate clean of everything that went on in the regular season. We’re all working together as a team now.”
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Previewing Sunday in Spokane
Filed under Basketball by on Mar 21st, 2010. Comment.
The Morning After is our semi-daily look at last night’s best hoops action. Try not to make it awkward. Oh, and sorry about that headline. I couldn’t help myself. No. 4 Purdue 60, No
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The Morning After: Hard-Boiled
Filed under Basketball by on Feb 18th, 2010. Comment.
