MBB vs Purdue
- Thread starter bdgan
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It's the crowd, familiarity with the gym (rims, floor, backdrop), and travel fatigue. I played DIII in the 70s and travel is also an issue. It's a lot easier when you can walk to your own gym. I don't remember our record but I think we won 85% of our home games but only half of road games.
Oue d
I've only been to the BJC once after going to many games at Rec Hall when I was a student. There is no comparison between the buildings and excitement. The crowd had as much or more to do with our first half lead as the team. Purdue just sucked the air out if the place with a dominant opening of the 2nd half.
It was disappointing to not be in the game at all for most of the 2nd half. Refs weren't great- but not their fault. Gotta score more and stop them once in awhile. Our "punchers chance" magic was gone after the first 20 minutes.
Give Purdue credit. They are very good. Still a very fun experience. We are foolish if we don't do this every year.
Purdue travelled well to this game- so I agree it wasn't necessarily a "true" home game. In the 2nd half their crowd was loud...chanting "Boiler Up!" Lot's of families- can easily see a lo g weekend trip doing Liberty Bell and other spots. Besides #25 Morton's family from Butler, how many would've come to State College? Likely very few.
I've only been to the BJC once after going to many games at Rec Hall when I was a student. There is no comparison between the buildings and excitement. The crowd had as much or more to do with our first half lead as the team. Purdue just sucked the air out if the place with a dominant opening of the 2nd half.
It was disappointing to not be in the game at all for most of the 2nd half. Refs weren't great- but not their fault. Gotta score more and stop them once in awhile. Our "punchers chance" magic was gone after the first 20 minutes.
Give Purdue credit. They are very good. Still a very fun experience. We are foolish if we don't do this every year.
You are definitely correct re familiarity. We are now 2-1 in these games that I've been to- beating a mediocre MSU squad and a strong Iowa team lead by Garza who played as well as Edney did today. That game even had my wife screaming....it was that fantastic.
Dean Smith at UNC used to schedule one road game at the closest college near the hometowns of his seniors. This can be the equivalent of that for a city and region that supplies plenty of schools with top notch talent. If we are one win short of NCAA maybe this was a miscalculation. But if every "home" game was this electric we wouldn't be in the middling position we always seem to be in.
We may not win them all...but if we want to get to the next level this type of stage is an advantage for us.
We didn't lose this game because it wasn't a "true home game". The crowd was overwhelmingly PSU and saying "unfamiliar rims" had something to do with it is nonsense. We lost because our talentl level is inferior to them (captain obvious statement) and we could not adjust to their adjustments in the 2nd half (coaching).
It is still early and a lot of hoops left.
Here is my best forecast:
Road games:
Neb, MD, NW, Minny best shots. Maybe we get 2 of those. That is 3 road wins.
Home games:
I think we beat Indiana, Nebraska, MD, Illinois then split Rutgers and Mich so 6 in total counting Iowa. That is 9-11 and 18-13. No Dance unless we get to the semis of the B10 tourney which will not happen. Happy to hear other views.
It is still early and a lot of hoops left.
Here is my best forecast:
Road games:
Neb, MD, NW, Minny best shots. Maybe we get 2 of those. That is 3 road wins.
Home games:
I think we beat Indiana, Nebraska, MD, Illinois then split Rutgers and Mich so 6 in total counting Iowa. That is 9-11 and 18-13. No Dance unless we get to the semis of the B10 tourney which will not happen. Happy to hear other views.
Did you ever play basketball? It’s not nonsense at all….being familiar with the rims is a huge advantage. I didn’t say we would have won if we played at home, likely wouldn’t have, I just said it’s dumb to give up a true home game. My high school team in my senior year was pretty bad, but we won games at home and were competitive in the ones we lost. On the road, not so much. Our gym had terrible lighting and some dead spots on the floor, but we knew where they were and we were used to shooting in the bad lighting. That’s one of the reasons the Celtics were almost unbeatable at the Garden…the gym was a sh!t hole, but the Celtic players loved it because they were used to it.
I don’t think it’s wise to give up a home game for “fan experience”…it’s about winning games and if playing in a barn gives you a better chance to win, you play in a barn. We shouldn’t do it every year, we can’t afford to….we’re not that good.
Unfortunately we’re not at the level of Dean Smith’s NC teams, so we can’t afford to give up a home game when every single game matters. Winning this game would have made a huge difference in us making the tournament…and I’m not saying we would have won at the BJC, but you take every advantage you can get. Play Delaware State at the Palestra, not Purdue.
Beating MSU and Iowa there doesn't play into your equation? We won both games but were not "better" than either team by the NCAA or bust metric.
Have you ever been to the Palestra? It is like comparing great Italian pizza to Domino's (BJC). It takes 2 to tango...so opposing coaches have to agree. Izzo will play anyone, anywhere. McCaffrey is a Philly local who gets it. I'll assume that Matt Painter and Shrew came to some sort of agreement- a great experience for all of those young men. Penn State staffers with walkie talkies and badges were standing by our seats beaming about the crowd support and atmosphere.
Maybe if some of the Central Pennsyltuckians and a decent % of a huge student body actually went to our games BJC wouldn't be so awful.
There were no complaints when we beat MSU or Iowa. Maybe go to the next one if you haven't been. Even though we stunk out the ace in the 2nd half it was still worth it.
PSU vs. Delaware State doesn't work either. Maybe Temple or St. Joe's for an old school A 10 rematch. If/when we show we can play with the big boys then play Villanova...@ Wells Fargo Center.
Then how did we beat MSU and Iowa? Both had much better rosters than we did....and better coaches.
PSU hoops is totally irrelevant in one of the top recruiting markets anywhere. Of course we want to win. Do we beat Garza at the BJC? If I recall they ran us out of their building later in the year. That day the crowd willed us to a great win, in a great venue, against an All American big man who played a fantastic game. I'm pretty sure no game at the BJC has matched that intensity and result since.
We aren't beating Purdue anyway..but Rutgers did earlier in the week. If we held the halftime lead and upset them would you still prefer we play in the shitty monolith dedicated to some Texan guy who was the President of PSU when I was there that nobody cares about and can't even staff properly for a game vs. Delaware State?
Apples and Oranges. Palestra puts us where great teams have played. BJC reflects our own sad history. Yeah we win there because teams hate travelling to PSU and they aren't used to such empty buildings. The Palestra is a barn with no a/c and fewer toilets than windows. It also has history, which h we are trying to build for our program.
Your logic works for you. If you ask the coaches and players they likely disagree.
Again, it shouldn’t be about the fans, it should be about winning. And what coach wouldn’t take a game on a neutral site as opposed to the other team’s home court?
We have about beaten this to death, but the bottom line to me is that PSU doesn't belong at the Palestra. We are outsiders without significant history since Jesse Arenelle ( who I believe played there). How do we break through?
Winning is a great start. Walking, talking and playing where real programs have is another backdoor into the limelight.
If a tree fell at the BJC forest would anyone know (or care?)
So if trading one dump with history for one without works for you, then fine. I just think it makes more sense to play every game you can on your home court.
You have your opinion and I have mine…I’ll just agree to disagree.
Do our coaches and players share your feelings? If they did, then they were strong armed by Sandy into doing it? We wouldn't have been there...it is not just about the fan experience...but the team experience too.
Has playing there done anything to lift our program? I don’t know, maybe it has, but maybe it hasn’t. I have no say in the matter, so all I can do is watch.
The Booth family was there yesterday. I'm sure they experienced something that could maybe happen at BJC if he helps build the program. I'm sure other recruits were there too.
All that I know is that Rutgers actually beat Purdue at Mackey, and little ole Northwestern already has won road games at MSU and IU. PSU already has lost to MSU at home and to Purdue at a neutral site.
So, you have programs that on paper should be on or below PSU’s level that are beating teams on the road that have beaten PSU either at the Jordan Center or at a neutral site. That tells me a lot about this PSU team and where this season is headed.
Beating teams like Iowa and Illinois tells you nothing? Does the transitive property only work one way?
And why should Rutgers be below PSU “on paper”? They’ve got a really good team.
I believe that Rutgers is better than PSU, but their talent isn’t that much better. I don’t believe that Northwestern is better than PSU, but Collins is doing a great job with that team except for their blowout loss to OSU last Sunday.
The win against Illinois was very good, but predictably they haven’t been able to build on it. When they played Iowa, Iowa was playing terrible basketball and, of course, after blowing them out in the first half, PSU had to rely on a last second steal and a no call technical foul to barely win that game, which was at home to boot.
It’s a damn shame that a coach has to worry about paybacks in the next game from the refs for questioning their calls in this game….that’s what’s wrong with officiating.
Yes, I understand the concept of being familiar with a gym and its idiosyncrasies including the rims. My point is this had nothing to do with the outcome. Purdue doesn't shred us in the 2nd half if we play at BJC? If we were at such a disadvantage playing at the Palestra with the rims being unfamiliar then how do we lead by 6 at halftime? Purdue sure figured out the unfamiliar rims pretty damn fast. We got blown out in a home game in the second half but I know you don't like those semantics so blown out in the 2nd half in front of a big PSU partisan crowd. Net net, we have work to do and unless we pull off a couple upsets we ain't dancing. We gotta figure out a way to move from the bottom 4-5 in the conference to somewhere between 5-8. We can't expect to be in the top 4 at this stage but it should be achievable to be a middle of the pack Big 10 team and not one of the bottom 4. I still have hope plus confidence Shrews will do it but a loss like this where we get steamrolled in the 2nd half is disheartening.
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