It was nice to see Purdue emerge from its “freefall” on Tuesday night with an impressive performance in a win over Illinois. It wasn’t nice because I’m rooting for the Boilermakers but nice because the performances of JaJuan Johnson, Kelsey Barlow and John Hart will hopefully quiet some of the shrill voices chiming in on Purdue’s shortcomings after a three-game losing streak.

Around the college basketball world on Saturday, folks were wringing their hands about the Boilermakers’ losing streak. SI’s Seth Davis called it a freefall, the folks on ESPN questioned the Final Four pedigree of Purdue, and people on the Big Ten Network could not get through a sentence without bemoaning the effect of Lewis Jackson’s injury on the Boilermakers.

As often happens, despite all the analysis, the pundits danced around the truth while missing it. The first issue is putting too much meaning into the streak. Purdue played three strong teams, two on the road. A 1-2 record in that stretch would not have been out of the ordinary, so 0-3 shouldn’t have been cause for panic. Several famous teams of recent vintage have only been saved from the same fate by friendly scheduling. Read More »