Commentary: The House Isn’t Burning Down

The Boiling Point: A day after the stunning loss at Iowa, things aren’t as bad as they seemed.

Purdue had an inexcusable loss Saturday to Iowa. Nobody is going to disagree with that. The fact that Purdue shot 5-25 from 3-point land (20%), 25-69 (36%) from the field and 10-17 (59%) from the free-throw line and still only lost by two shows you how terrible Iowa is.

Purdue cost itself any shot at the Big Ten title, however slim that shot may have been anyway, and likely lost any hope of a No. 1-seed. Painter may have cost himself any shot he had at Coach Of The Year and JaJuan may have lost any shot at Player of the Year.

Still, despite what people seemed to think yesterday, the house isn’t on fire people. No need to evacuate.
(After the jump, read why.)

• The past often predicts the future. The last time Purdue choked in its regular season finale? Two years ago. Purdue then won three straight in the Big Ten tournament and brought home a banner. Last year Purdue was DESTROYED by Minnesota in the Big Ten Tournament, then made it to the Sweet 16 despite being what may have been considered the most overrated team in tournament history. Matt Painter always says, “Winning makes you soft.” This game HAD to serve as a wakeup call to Purdue. You saw signs during the Illinois game of that softness, but they still won. After this loss, I guarantee guys will be looking at what went wrong. 
• What you saw yesterday was an exception, not the rule. Purdue was second in the Big Ten in 3-point shooting percentage prior to yesterday and one of the top rebounding teams in the league. Ryne Smith and D.J. Byrd can shoot 3s. E’Twaun won’t be on Kelsey Barlow’s planet every game. JaJuan Johnson doesn’t always need 23 shots to get 20 points. Like he said after the game

"“I’ve taken a turnaround shot probably a million times this year, and it just didn’t fall for me today,” Johnson said. “Games happen like that sometimes. I had good looks. The guys did a good job looking for me. But the biggest thing was just not getting to the glass. They made plays down the stretch. There’s no excuse. I missed shots I usually make. And give credit to those guys for crashing the boards. It wasn’t just their big guys. Their guards crashed, too. It can cost you.”"

• The damage may be able to be repaired. Purdue can still win three straight and take home a Big Ten tourney title. That will prove to the selection committee this is not the Purdue team it will see. Don’t believe me? Listen to people talk about BYU. They were crushed earlier this week, but rebounded and won easily yesterday and now are back to being considered a No. 2-seed. As for Postseason awards, I know many writers had already sent in their ballots, so if Painter/Johnson had any shot at getting the awards, they still might. Iowa’s coach said after the game he had already voted for Johnson. I know the Big Ten started accepting writers’ ballots early last week and the US Basketball Writers Association has a 6 p.m. tonight deadline. Unlike me, most people don’t wait until the absolute last moment.