The Purdue Boilermakers season has been the polar opposite of a mullet (“business in front, party in the back”) Usually, you party with the early, softer non-conference schedule, and then take care of business with the more rugged Big Ten schedule.

Purdue has been the anti-thesis of that in 2014-15. They didn’t take care of business in the pre-conference; but they have been really solid during league play. Hence the very confusing and contradicting Purdue Boilermakers NCAA Tournament profile.

[Read more…]

The story of the night in Evanston was Purdue’s twin towers of A.J. Hammons and Isaac Haas. (Here’s video of the media availability with both of them following the game)

“We try to get the ball inside no matter who we go against,” Purdue Head Coach Matt Painter said.

“We’ve had a tough time against Olah in the past but tonight we were able to get the best of him.”

[Read more…]

Rapheal Davis scored 15 points to with seven rebounds and four assists as Purdue won at Northwestern 68-60. Davis also committed zero turnovers. Over the last four games, Davis is averaging 18.0 PPG, 5.5 RPG and 2.3 APG.

We caught up to Rapheal Davis earlier in the season, and at this link you can check out our exclusive chat at this link here.

Below you’ll find the video of Davis’ media availability in Evanston:

[Read more…]

Here’s what a local beat writer said to me following Purdue’s 68-60 win at Northwestern tonight.

“That Haas kid, he reminds me of that bad guy in the James Bond movies.”

“Which one?” I inquired.

“The tall guy who was in a couple of the Roger Moore James Bond movies…”

“Oh, you mean Jaws?” I said.

It turns out that Jaws and Haas are the exact same height; and both are very hard for their opposition to stop. So I’m sure the Chicago sporting scribe meant it as a compliment. They certainly do not look alike at all. They’re just similarly fearsome and formidable.

[Read more…]

Purdue Junior Guard Raphael Davis was handed the captaincy in the middle of last season; establishing him as the leader of this very young Boilermakers team. Now that the Johnson brothers are both gone, Davis assumes even more of a leadership role. He won’t be expected to run the offense, but he can bring it up and run the half court set if needs be.

Raphael Davis is actually much better of the dribble as an aggressive, versatile slasher. But he’s certainly not a perimeter threat (27% last season).

(Related: here is our exclusive with A.J. Hammonds)

[Read more…]