NCAA Tournament and weekend thoughts (Greg Oden please go pro next year)

This was a pretty solid weekend. Friday, my beloved Purdue Boilermakers claimed victory over Iowa in the Big Ten tournament. Purdue played with alot of energy and as I predicted, Landry and Teague would not be held to another bad performance by the Hawkeyes. The woodshed beating we gave Iowa was the exclamation point and really helped solidify our case for an NCAA bid.

Saturday, I again attended Big Ten Tournament action at the United Center (this time with the Abate brothers). We were treated to their favorite team, the Ohio State, going up against my fav, Purdue. Purdue played really tough and like the other meetings this year hung with Ohio State for 30-32 minutes. However, Ohio State shut our scoring down the last 8-10 minutes and pulled away eventually for a 11 point victory. Landry played really well and showed some versatility going up against superman center, Greg Oden.

Oden just changes the game. He was really the huge reason why tOSU beat us down the stretch. I liken him to Shaq because he just has what I call a "Black Hole" effect on the game. He draws so much attention as well as the opposition's worries. Oden alters people's shots physically and psychologically. He cleans up alot of rebounds. He finishes well in the post. He does so many things that just affect the game. He is a master of intangibles, and the fact of the matter is that his teams just flat out win (look at Lawrence North HS in Indiana). No doubt lingers in my mind that Oden is better than Kevin Durant and should be the #1 NBA draft pick if both players declare. Oden is just a rare player that comes out maybe every 10, 20, or maybe 30 years. It's players like Oden who are the foundation of championship teams and perhaps basketball dynasties (see Bill Russell and Wilt Chamberlin) . Durant is good and statistically more flashy, but players with his skills and game come every few years (if not every 1 or 2 years).

Oden had a monster put back dunk on Purdue over Landry and Teague in the game. It was in a way his heralding. The announcement that yes, the basketball superman had just busted out. It's just a shame this highlight reel had to come against my team. All I can say to Oden is that I hope he goes on to success in the future and that hopefully that success will be with an NBA team next year. I don't think the rest of the Big Ten could deal if he comes back for another college season.

So after the loss, I was sweating out selection Sunday. However, with North Carolina and Florida taking care of the upstarts (NC State and Arkansas), I was breathing easier. All of the drama was put to rest, when early in the brackets I found Purdue was set to face Arizona in the Midwest 8 vs 9 matchup.

I am so elated because this is a huge stepping stone in bringing Purdue basketball back to being competitive. Even if we lose the game, we will have great momentum for next season. The future really looks bright. Alot of the credit for this amazing turnaround goes to Matt Painter for being a good coach and to Landry and Teague for their awesome final seasons. Hopefully we can knock off Arizona. Then we could most likely get a shot against defending champion Florida (I love suicide missions).

Regardless of the tournament outcome, go Purdue.