Indy Star Writer Projects Purdue Finishes Below IU

The Boiling Point: Indianapolis Star writer Terry Hutchens, who covers IU for the Star, picked Indiana No. 6 and Purdue No. 7 in his preseason poll.

Indianapolis Star IU beat-writer Terry Hutchens published his preseason Big Ten basketball poll today at IndyStar.com. (Not very) shockingly, he’s predicted Indiana, winner of eight Big Ten games in the last three seasons, to finish above Purdue in the Big Ten standings this year.

I read this and thought to myself, “OK, Hutch, I guess Purdue lost two All-American-caliber players and has some question marks, so if you can defend yourself I’ll let it go and not post it.” Well, as you can tell by this post, he failed.

"“Now, I can already hear it from the Purdue people but to be honest I really wrestled with that one. I think you could make a case for Purdue at No. 6 and IU at No. 7. It all comes down to Robbie Hummel. (I did have Hummel on my preseason all-Big Ten team by the way).”"

OK, let me get this straight:

• Hutchen’s statement No. 1: It comes down to how Robbie Hummel plays to decide if Purdue will finish above or below Indiana in the Big Ten.
• Hutchen’s statement No. 2: He picked Robbie Hummel on his preseason All-Big Ten team.

It may just be my Purdue education here, Hutch, but doesn’t that mean Purdue should’ve been picked ABOVE IU? This is like on the ISTEP+ test, if A=B, then does B=A?

Not in this case, apparently.