The schedule cranks up this weekend.
Sequels are dangerous business. You can give people more of what they want but it hardly ever reaches the pinnacle of the original. Just look at the movie industry and such hits as Dumber and Dumber To, Blues Brothers 2000, Space Jam: A New Legacy, and who can forget Airplane 2: The Sequel. There are, however, times when the sequel can outshine the original. There’s always Godfather Part II, Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back, Terminator 2: Judgment Day, The Dark Knight, and Captain America: The Winter Soldier. Maybe the key is the colon? Anyway, Purdue is looking to build on a successful 2023-2024 season with a sequel of their own. With any franchise, there are people who didn’t come back, Zach Edey, Mason Gillis, Lance Jones, and new characters who have come in to shake things up, CJ Cox, Gicarri Harris, Raleigh Burgess. Plus, there’s more prominent roles from guys you’ve seen before like TKR and Braden Smith.
Purdue will obviously struggle to live up to the highs of last year, dominating the Big Ten conference, the Elite Eight victory over Tennessee, heading the Final Four and making it to the Championship game. It’s hard to duplicate that in back-to-back seasons. Purdue will do their best though. But somehow, this season just didn’t feel right did it? Purdue took down #2 Alabama and most of us started to believe that this team would be just fine, but then games against Marquette, Penn State, Texas A&M, and Auburn exposed some serious flaws. It didn’t help that Purdue was without Daniel Jacobsen, the player they thought could blunt the loss of Zach Edey, but that wasn’t the sole reason. Purdue wasn’t sure of their identity. Who are you when your star heads to the NBA?
Well, thanks to the insertion of CJ Cox and a resurgent Caleb Furst, Purdue has found themselves again. They’ve won their last 6 games by an average of 20 points. But, and I hate to be a party pooper here, with the exception of a Nebraska defense that was ranked in the Top 20 of KenPom at the time Purdue played them, this is a weak stretch in Purdue’s schedule. Minnesota? Bottom of the Big Ten. Northwestern? Just one conference victory. Rutgers? 9-8 overall and relying almost exclusively on two freshman. I already touched on Nebraska so that leaves Washington, a team new to the Big Ten with a new coach, new players, new system, and just two conference wins who is sitting in next to last in the conference standings. So yeah, Purdue has won 6 in a row, in dominating fashion, but have they really beat anyone to write home about? Maybe Nebraska. Maybe. After that though? These are games not only that Purdue had to have but that Purdue should have easily had. To their credit they did win them easily, as I said the average margin of victory in their last 6 games is 20 points. But, what comes next?
On Saturday Purdue takes on #13 Oregon on the road. This game will be a huge test for the new starting lineup. Did they feast on the lower reaches of the conference or have they actually figured something out? Has Braden Smith truly taken control of this team and found that extra gear that all of us thought he was going to have going into this season? Has Caleb Furst found himself and become a rebounding and effort guy that Purdue has missed without the services of Mason Gillis? Has CJ Cox turned that freshman corner and grown into who he is as a player? If all three of those guys truly continue this progression it would be huge for this team’s prospects.
Also coming up are tough games at home against Michigan and IU who despite losing at home in blowout fashion to Illinois will always give Purdue their best shot. Then though, the real meat of the schedule hits. Purdue faces a brutal three game stretch over 8 days. On February 11th Purdue travels to Ann Arbor for a return game against Michigan, on Saturday the 15th Wisconsin comes into Mackey, and then on February 18th Purdue travels to East Lansing to face the Spartans in the only meeting between the two teams this season. Right now those three teams sit at 15-2 in conference play with both losses belonging to Wisconsin. Things can always change, but right now if Purdue wants to win the Big Ten, those three games could very well decide it. These three teams will challenge this new look Purdue that has emerged over the last six games. Will Purdue continue to go after rebounds, take (and make) good looks from three, and play much better defense than they did to start the year? Soon it’ll be time to find out if this 6 game stretch was a result of the schedule or if there’s been drastic improvement in this Purdue squad.
The key to many successful sequels is a good villain. I’ll again point you to Captain America: The Winter Solider and T2: Judgment Day. Those are top tier villains that will stick with you. For this Purdue team, that three game stretch in February is looming right around the corner. Keep in mind too that there’s an Illinois team that seems to love dropping 100 points on Big Ten opponents just lurking at the very end of the schedule waiting to take everything away from Purdue. Whatever happens during this upcoming stretch of games, Purdue has me invested in the sequel. Now we just have to wait and see if it can live up to its predecessor.