After the game, Rodriguez went out to midfield for the customary handshake with Purdue head coach Danny Hope. The problem was Hope brought a guest: Purdue offensive lineman Zach Reckman, who was suspended earlier this season for one game for a late hit, a suspension which Purdue seemingly believes was due to Rodriguez's meddling. Rodriguez made some public comments regarding how Michigan linebacker Jonas Mouton was suspended for throwing a punch at a Notre Dame player during the Wolverines-Irish game:

"My conversation with the commissioner was that we will watch every Big Ten game very closely and any non-football act, whether it's a six-inch jab or anything that's not called for the game of football we're going to ask that person get the same type of punishment Jonas Mouton got. I'm sure the league will do that."

Reckman was subsequently suspended, even though no one can say for sure that Rodriguez's comments had anything to do with it. Nevertheless, it seems that Purdue wanted to make a point, which they did, and Rodriguez didn't seem too pleased about it.

"I was a little disappointed after the game (when Hope) seemed to bring the lineman over like I was the reason the lineman got suspended for that one game," Rodriguez said. "So he brought him over and said, ‘thanks for this' or whatever… I don't know where that came from. I talked to (Hope) on the phone and told him it wasn't me, this is way back when. I didn't have anything to do with that young man getting suspended for that one game.

"What are you going to do? I usually go over and shake hands and say good luck on the next game. To come over and say something about that? Whatever."

Ooooh, burn. Enjoy your comeuppance, Coach Rodriguez, because you just got come-upped on!

Michigan, who started the season 4-4, are now 5-5 (1-5 in the Big Ten) and are in jeopardy of missing out on a bowl berth, which I'm guessing wouldn't sit real well with the Wolverine faithful. Maybe if the Wolverines practiced more...

Either way, I'm guessing staying put at West Fuckin' Virginia doesn't look too bad right about now, huh?

Purdue wins at Michigan 38-36, 1st time since 1966 [Yahoo!]
Rodriguez meets disgruntled Boilermaker after game [Detroit Free Press]
#2: Colleges They Didn't Attend [Stuff White Trash People Like]

2) Coach Feels Lousy? Good! UConn head coach Jim Calhoun fell mysteriously ill just before the Huskies' first-round win over the Chattanooga Mocs, leaving former Holy Cross head man George Blaney to run the team. You'd think this kind of thing would be a distraction for the team, but not so much. Turns out Calhoun had similar bouts of the 24-hour whoopsies in 1999 and 2004, both years in which UConn won championships. Looks like ol' Jim is leaving nothing to chance this season.

3) Wide Margins We can be forgiven for wondering if anyone plans to show up and take the floor against UConn in Glendale. Lord knows, the first two Husky opponents of the tournament were barely there. The Chattanooga Mocs fell 103-47 (a 56-point margin) and more robust opponent Texas A&M was able to keep the margin of crushing defeat to a respectable 26 points. Add a stiff shot of defense to your next Boilermaker—you're going to need it. — Eric Angevine (Storming The Floor)

PURDUE BOILERMAKERS

1) Big Shot Rob Robbie Hummel was pre-season Big Ten Player of the Year...and as he got healthy late in the regular season (hey, if you haven't heard, he has a stress fracture in his back and wears a plastic brace—CBS even has pictures to prove it!), it became obvious just how valuable he is for Matty Painter's squad. He was the Big Ten Tourney MVP because of his ability to always be near the ball and to make things happen on offense...but he's a dead-eye shooter and that's why he gets so much respect.  He even earned a spot on SI's regional cover prior to the Purdue v. UNI game (the same SI that, in their bracket, referred to "Keady-like defense" when talking about a team Keady hasn't coached in five years)...but Robbie's first two rounds were as quiet as IU's Memorial Stadium on a fall afternoon. (Hey-yo!) So we think he's long overdue. He's averaging 8 points and 9 boards per game in the tournament—he's usually a 12.4/7.

2) Miles to go before they sleep. Purdue's team decided to forego returning to West Lafayette for two days following their win over Washington in Portland, Oregon, and instead decided to go directly to Arizona to prepare for the round of 16 in Glendale. UConn, conversely, slept in their own beds until Tuesday when they headed west. We'll see if the time change/environmental change has any effect on the favored Huskies. The dry air in Arizona takes some getting used to. If UConn struggles with cramps while the Boilers don't on Thursday, Matty will look like even more of an evil genius...Hopefully this tactic doesn't prompt the Boilers to spend too many nights in Detroit if they should move on to the Final Four.

3) For our next trick, we'll make our offense disappear. If you've watched any Purdue basketball this year, you know a few things. First, Matty Painter is a handsome devil. Second, Purdue's offense has the Copperfield-like ability to disappear, without any warning, at any time. And finally, defense makes this team go. It's been said that a 10-point lead for Purdue is like a 20-point lead for many other teams. We saw just how important the defense was versus Washington as Purdue's JaJuan Johnson altered an estimated seven Huskies shots in the final three minutes and had two outright blocks in the closing seconds of Purdue's win last round. On an unrelated note, JaJuan doesn't like it when dogs stick their tongues out at him. — Boiled Sports

(NCAA buckets. Duh.)

Today has pretty much been a snoozer as far as basketball action is concerned. That may all change tonight during the NCAA's evening sessions.

Purdue vs. Washington, 5:40 PM, Portland. You gotta fight! For the right! To get demolished by UConn next week!

North Carolina vs. LSU, 5:45 PM, Greensboro, NC. The North Carolina schools' annual NCAA tournament tour of North Carolina's arenas continue. Will Hansbrough ever close his mouth and/or get a rebound? Tune in to find out!

Oklahoma vs. Michigan, 5:50 PM, Kansas City. Will Michigan avenge their 1976 Orange Bowl loss to Oklahoma? Tune in to find out!.

Gonzaga vs. Western Kentucky, 8:10 PM, Portland. Chicago sports radio host Dan Bernstein has a theory that every year in the NCAA tournament, one of the Cinderella teams has red jerseys. Is Western Kentucky this year's Crazy Red Team? Tune in to find out!

Duke vs. Texas, 8:15 PM, Greensboro. Tonight, we are all Texans. Hook 'em, Horns!

*****

Greetings all, and I'd like to first congratulate 16-seeds Morehead St and East Tennessee State on advancing to the second day of the tournament. Seriously, though, how bad does it suck to lose one of the early games, and be out before almost anyone else has even played?

Anyway, off we go. I'd like to thank AJ and Sussman for letting me participate. I also have no concerns because if you're interested in this game, you're watching MMOD — and if you can't access MMOD, you probably can't access Deadspin, either.

I'd also like to thank Ali Farokhmanesh and Kwadzo Ahelegbe from Northern Iowa for keeping me humble by ensuring dozens of spelling mistakes. Oh, and thanks to MMOD, whose constant buffering might drive me insane during this liveblog.

It's the 12-seeded Northern Iowa Panthers against my alma mater, the 5-seeded Purdue Boilermakers. Yes, this will be a biased liveblog. Choo choo, mutha.

*****

Thanks to all those who stopped by — it wasn't a pretty game, esp the second half. Also, thanks once again to Sussman and AJ for letting me bring you this liveblog. Now you'll just need to go through all the posts and see which word I replaced with "penis" before my access was shut off.

Enjoy the games, all.

End of game. Purdue wins, 61-56.

4:33 — E'Twaun Moore is fouled and goes the the line with 2.2 seconds to go. He calmly sinks his FTs and that'll do it. UNI misses a half-court heave.

4:32 — My feed goes apeshit and it's 59-56, Boilermakers.

4:30 — Kramer hits his FTs and Bonner calls Kramer "the heart and soul of this team." I thought that was Marcus Green? I can't keep up. It's a four point game and Purdue calls time out while my feed buffs itself.

4:28 — Kerwin Dunham hits a three and UNI fouls with 16 seconds to go. They're only down two. It's 56-54. Chris Kramer at the line for Purdue.

4:27 — Motherbuffer. It's back now, and I've missed 20 seconds. Purdue at the line, 28 seconds to go. Keaton Grant hits his free throws. It's 57-51, Boilers.

4:26 — annnd my MMOD feed goes dark. Couldn't have picked a better time.

4:25 — Boilermakers call timeout with 46 seconds to go. They have two more TOs to use, too. Suddenly, this brick strategy for Purdue looks questionable. Maybe they'll hit a bucket.

4:25 — Players of the game are already Eglseder and Moore. Hope nobody has like 20 points in quadruple overtime. UNI hits FTs to close it to 55-51.

4:24 — Robbie Hummel hits 1 of 2. It's a six point game again. Coming down to a minute.

4:23 — UNI, after the timeout, misses their shot. Purdue brings the ball up and UNI fouls. Purdue's E'Twaun Moore misses the front of the 1 and 1. UNI hits a 3 from the corner — Kerwin Dunham. 54-49. And UNI fouls, with 1:18 to go.

4:22 — Purdue shooting 41%, UNI 35%. Gah.

4:20 — Moore puts Purdue up 8 again, as we're under 2 mins to play. UNI takes their final timeout of the game. That's kind of incredible. 54-46, Purdue.

4:18 — Rays trail 9-7 in the bottom of the 8th, for those of you who were looking for that game but got this liveblog. These kinds of mixups happen more than you'd think.

4:16 — Would Tiger Woods and Roger Federer fight over razors? I don't think so.

4:16 — Boilers clank ANOTHER attempt. UNI comes down and kindly turns it over right back to Purdue. Harlan says it's "a good one here in Portland." I'm a Purdue fan and I find this ugly.

4:14 — We hear about the Eglseders' 29 hour drive to Portland again. Koch scores with ease. It's six points again.

4:14 — Farokhmanesh takes a terrible turnaround jumper and airballs it. But Purdue clanks another one. UNI decides to take a timeout with 3:39 to go, Purdue leading Northern Iowa, 52-44.

4:13 — UNI has no names on their jerseys. I'm sure Lucas O'Rear appreciates that when they're on the road. Boilers hit two free throws — the only shots they're hitting. 52-44.

4:11 — Purdue is ice cold, having missed five shots in a row.

4:10 — UNI drives to the hoop, Farokhmanesh hits it. Boilers then miss a three. O'Rear rebounds. 50-44, Purdue. Harlan says they're "within two." He must mean possessions. Or is bad at math. Timeout on the floor, just under 5 mins to go.

4:08 — Eglseder is on the bench for UNI. Harlan says "Screen by O'Rear" and Bonner giggles.

4:07 — Purdue is 3/13 from behind the arc, though UNI is 5/18. Rockfight.

4:05 — 6:58 to go, second half. It's still a six point Purdue lead. Purdue is letting UNI hang around way more than they should. Timeout.

4:03 — Eglseder gets two free throws and it's back to 8 points. Keaton Grant takes an ill-advised 3 and UNI beats Purdue in transition to cut it to 48-42. And the Boilers miss another three.

4:02 — Purdue steals the ball again and E'twaun Moore steps out of bounds on a baseline drive. Bonner tells us the length of the floor. Hey, didn't Norman Dale use that technique, too?

4:02 — Koch airballs a three for UNI but the ball goes off a Boilermaker and it stays UNI ball. 8:42 to go.

4:00 — Robbie Hummel gets one and he's got 8 points now. Harlan says he's "heating up." Not sure about that, but either way, it's ten points now, and another timeout.

3:59 — Smooge hits two from the charity stripe. But UNI comes down and Chris Kramer — Purdue's best defender by far — picks up his third foul. It's an 8-point game.

3:58 — JuJuan Johnson drills one, just inside the arc. It's back to 8 points. But UNI comes right back inside to Eglseder for the deuce. 44-38.

3:54 — UNI gets a bucket underneath just before the shot clock expires — on an airball that is put in by Eglseder. Time out on the floor with a little over 10 mins to go. 42-36, Boilermakers.

3:53 — JuJuan Johnson is back in the game and hits a bucket. It's back to an 8-point game.

3:52 — Kwadzo Ahelegbe hits a jumper in the lane and is fouled for UNI. He hits the FT and it's a six point game. 40-34, Purdue.

3:50 — Farokhmanesh executes a killer crossover to make Chris Kramer look silly... but E'twaun Moore is waiting and takes the charge from Farokhmanesh. Purdue ball.

3:49 — Farokhmanesh drills a three — but Robbie Hummel comes right back and hits a two. It's 40-31, Purdue.

3:48 — E'twaun Moore misses a shot, UNI comes down and misses two underneath — one by O'Rear — and Purdue gets the ball. Lead is still 10 for Purdue. Clanked three — awful looking — by Calasan for Purdue.

3:47 — 38-28, 15:30 to go. JuJuan Johnson on the bench for Purdue.

3:45 — Does CISCO really have giant telepresence screens set up in Italy and China?

3:43 — CBS has footage of Hummel's back brace, which looks like a plastic girdle. Not that I'm familiar with girdles or anything. UNI hits a three — Farokhmanesh — and it's down to ten points. UNI steals it and comes back again, but the Boilers get back on defense. UNI slows it down, works for a shot... and misses a three. But Eglseder gets the rebound and is fouled by JuJuan Johnson. That's JJ's third foul. Not good news for the Boilermakers. Timeout on the floor.

3:41 — Moore to Johnson for a Purdue alley-oop. 13 point lead. Robbie Hummel then gets whacked in the face by his own teammate on the next possession. And they mention the fractured vertibrae — bingo sheet!

3:40 — Adam Koch dribbles it off his foot out of bounds. This game is in danger of turning into a rockfight.

3:37 — Timeout, UNI. 34-23, 18:15 go to second half. Timeout already? Did Coach Jacobson forget to tell them something in the locker room?

3:35 — Annnnnnnnnnnnnnnnd, we're back. Robbie Hummel gets a bucket on the first possession. UNI answers with a trey. 34-23, Purdue.

Start of second half.

3:20 — Boilermakers' Chris Kramer with a driving layup has the final score of the first half. UNI is not playing well, to be sure, but they're not down 20 or anything. It's 32-20 Boilermakers at the half. Go pee.

3:19 — Harlan and Bonner keep talking about how UNI is getting so outworked.... but it's not a blowout yet. And UNI can shoot.

3:17 — UNI cuts it to 9 with the free throw. The Boilers come down and miss four contested layups in a row. Finally a foul.

3:15 — UNI's leading scorer this season iis Adam Koch (pronounced "Cook"). He's got zero points right now. Boilers continue rebounding well but miss two threes in a row. UNI comes downcourt and scores.... AND the foul. 29-19, Purdue.

3:12 — We're back to the action. UNI looks vaguely out of control. On defense, they look unsure where to be. Hummel hits one to make it 27-15. Hummel is 1-6 from the field.

3:10 — Oh yeah, I forgot to mention I do realize that there's a more famous J Money who slinks around Deadspin. I won't even pretend to be better. I don't blame you for liking the one with hooters more.

3:09 — I know UNI is a three-point shooting team, but they have Eglseder, a 7-1 tree, who outweighs Purdue's tallest player by roughly 75 lbs. Shouldn't they be going inside? No, they continue firing from the outside. 3:53 to go in the first half, though, and it's 25-15.

3:07 — Keaton Grant for a long three from the top. 25-14.

3:06 — Dan Bonner just said it's "almost impossible to play defense in transition."

3:05 — Harlan tells us Purdue is "plus 6" on points off turnovers. I'm not sure how you could lose points off the other team's turnovers, but okay.

3:04 — A quick glance at the comments tells me the audio feeds are still effed. How are the Rays doing everyone?

3:02 —Keaton Grant gets the bucket and the foul and then stumbles out of bounds, hopping over UNI cheerleaders so as not to kill them. He winds up 20 feet out of bounds and almost up a tunnel.

3:00 — The parents of UNI's Jordan Eglseder drove to Portland, Oregon. Yikes.

2:59 — Purdue, true to form, has gone cold shooting. UNI comes down and bricks a three that would have cut it to four. Timeout, Boilermakers. 20-13.

2:56 — Johnny Moran drills a three for UNI. It's a single digit game with 8:30 to go, first half. And another bucket for UNI makes it 20-13.

2:56 — Another UNI turnover (mmmm, turnovers), leads to a Purdue rush, but then Lewis Jackson grabs a ball while standing out of bounds. That's now allowed.

2:55 — Hey, bingo sheet! Matt Painter played at Purdue!

2:55 — The good news with UNI not scoring is that I don't have to type Farokhmanesh or Ahelegbe very much. UNI gets a bucket finally, but Purdue answers. 20-8.

2:53 — Purdue was among the nation's best in FG % defense. UNI is turning the ball over like crazy and hasn't hit a shot in about 6 minutes of game time. 18-6, Purdue.

2:52 — hey, there's a Godfather II video game coming out. Way to strike while the iron is hot, guys.

2:50 — Buffering buffering buffering.... wonderful.

2:47 — E'twaun Moore's nickname is Smooge. But if you look up smooge in an urban dictionary, well, it's gross. But then we heard his mom gave it to him. Now we're not sure what to think.

2:46 — Let me take this time to say there are far more commercials that annoy me than entertain me. And with advertising needing to adapt thanks to DVRs and impatient Gen X-ers, shouldn't they be getting better?

2:45 — Purdue's in a middle of a 12-0 run. Tomahawk jam by Marcus Green. Great ball movement by Purdue. 16-6. TO, UNI.

2:43— Bosian senior Calasan just fired in a three. Watch him continue to believe he's a three point shooter. (Hint: he is not).

2:42 — Ah, O'Rear is in the game. He'll cover your ass.

2:41 — Can somebody explain the dumbass commercials with the guy on the desert island? It's for CDW, but... why on an island?

2:40 — TV timeout. Boilers up, 11-6. Commercial audio is fine. Shocking.

2:39 — Wow, the audio feed is majorly f-cked. Now, I hear the crowd but no commentators. Which is fine. Maybe they're bored by these two programs.

2:37 — Best Pick 'em entry name I saw this morning: May I eat E'twaun moore twinkie? Boilers up, 9-6.

2:35— Dan Bonner just said the Boilers "Really get in ya." Ouch.

2:35 — Trading points, 4-3, Boilers. That was E'Twaun Moore. Now a 3 by UNI, 6-4.

2:32 — Your broadcasters are Kevin Harlan and Dan Bonner. JuJuan Johson slams one home. 2-0, Boilers. I smell a shutout.

2:31 — Nope, I'm actually getting the Rays preseason baseball feed while watching the Purdue - UNI game.

2:30 ET — My MMOD demand fades in and I get to hear the Tampa/St Pete feed, advertising Rays tickets. sign me up.

Pregame — For some reason, I keep saying "Northern Illinois" instead of "Northern Iowa." So if I do that, just know it's my nickname for Northern Iowa. Maybe I'll go with UNI.

Pregame — Did you know Northern Iowa has a kid named Lucas O'Rear? That must have been fun growing up. I had a teacher when I was a kid whose name was Sandy Rear. Hey, this is the kind of pregame stuff you get from me.

2) Boilermakers are supposed to be tough, but… ouch. All-Big Ten selection and Big Ten Tournament MVP Robbie Hummel has played all season with ... a broken back. Okay, okay, it's a hairline fracture of a vertebrate but it still sounds hellish. Chris Kramer, an in-your-pocket defender, had his nose broken violently by the wayward elbow of Michigan's Manny Harris in late January and only missed about four minutes of game action. Mainly because two other guys had the flu and freshman PG Lewis Jackson had a concussion. Sheesh. The Purdue football team takes fewer hits than this! (Insert your own joke here.)

3) We're goin' streakin! This team often starts three sophomores and a couple of juniors and only has two seniors who play significant minutes. Point is, they're still very young and, as such, are streaky as can be. On-fire stretches of three-point barrages are inexplicably followed by eight FG misses in a row. Obviously, if this happens at the wrong time, the party's over. The Boilermakers have had four winning streaks of four or more games this year—but only once have their losses not come in multiples. We all know how important guard play is in the NCAA tourney—in terms of being steady and less streaky—and the Boilermakers starting PG is a freshman. Whee! Please lower the bar and keep your hands inside the train. — Boiled Sports

NORTHERN IOWA PANTHERS

1) Paper or Plastic? If you keep wondering why Northern Iowa sounds so familiar, it's because it's the alma mater of grocery bagboy turned Superbowl star Kurt Warner. And, in less exciting news, Detroit Lion Mike Furrey also spent time in Cedar Falls. Hey, they can't all be gems.

2) Ali, Boumaye! The player who secured UNI's position in the dance is Ali Farokhmanesh, a junior transfer from Kirkwood Community College. The 6' guard cooly stepped to the free throw line and knocked down two with six seconds on the clock, and the Panthers were going to the dance. Ali's teammates surrounded him and pounded him on the Farokhmanesh arching across the back of his jersey. OK, now that you have that image in your mind, take a look at Ali. Not exactly what you were expecting, eh?

3) The Dreaded O'Rear Admiral Farokhmanesh is not the only funny name on the UNI roster. They also have a 6'6" forward named Lucas O'Rear. O'Rear! Isn't that hilarious? Don't look at me that way. YOU try and find
three interesting factoids about Northern Iowa. — Eric Angevine (Storming The Floor)

Join the Deadspin Pants Party Group Pool [ESPN]
Download the Deadspin Bracket [PDF or JPG]

Williams was arrested Wednesday for trying to steal condoms from a Pay Less Super Market.

A day after he was charged in connection with a shoplifting case, senior safety Torri S. Williams has been suspended indefinitely from the Purdue football team.



Purdue head football coach Joe Tiller announced today that Williams was suspended “for conduct detrimental to the squad,” according to a release from the school.

We really think the theft of condoms should be considered a lower grade of misdemeanor than regular shoplifting. Williams is just trying to stay off this site.

Purdue Safety Wanted To Expand His Coverage [The Wizard Of Odds]

#6 Marquette 74, #11 Kentucky 66.
The only exciting game of the second session, the Wildcats and Golden Eagles went punch-for-punch most of the game. About midway through the second half, however, Marquette started to take the lead for good behind clutch shots by shooting guard/cyborg Jerel McNeal. A Herculean effort from Joe Crawford kept Kentucky within striking distance, but Marquette managed to keep their opponent at arm's length until the final whistle. The Golden Eagles will face the winner of Stanford in the next round.

#6 Purdue 90, #11 Baylor 79
#4 Pitt 82, #13 Oral Roberts 63
#8 UNLV 71, #9 Kent State 58

Might as well pile these three games together; all of them were over by halftime. Purdue's victory was a textbook example of total team effort. Five players scored in double figures, and everyone who played any minutes scored at least eight points.

For Oral Roberts, today's lesson was from the Book of Job. After leading 3-0, and holding their own in the opening minutes, the Panthers went on a huge run and never looked back, nearly doubling up on their opponent at the half. Lavance Fields led the way with 23 points, and Pitt moves on to face Michigan State.

Kent State's first half can best be described as record-breaking offensive futility. Their 10 points were the fewest for a half in the NCAA Tournament since the shot clock era began. UNLV blew them away, and Lon Kruger's giant killers will now face Kansas in the second round.

And it looks like the Stanford game is also over by halftime. Take a breather, and enjoy the night games.

PURDUE BOILERMAKERS

1. The Baby Boilers Grew Up Before Our Eyes. At the beginning of the season we were positive we were watching an NIT Purdue team .. .or maybe a 12-seed, 19-win Purdue team. As the preconference season began, we looked genius as the Boilers struggled versus the "always tough" Lipscomb. Then the wheels looked like they were coming off as the Baby Boilers lost to Missouri (on the road), Iowa State (neutral site) and finally, Wofford at Mackey Arena. That painful night stuck out for Purdue fans, but also stuck in the minds of voters as the season progressed. This youthful Purdue team lost to Michigan State in East Lansing, but then went on an 11-game tear with two wins over the now Big Ten Champ Wisconsin Badgers, as well as a nationally-televised win over Sparty. The road win v. Wisconsin and home win v. MSU marked the first time Purdue had ever beaten two top-10 teams in a week in the history of the program. This team that at one point was the only in the nation that had four starting freshman grew up quickly. In fact, it could be said that these babies "became men" right before our eyes ... their voices got deeper and fur even began to grow where there was none before .. .nevermind. Point is this group of players, comprised mostly of freshman and sophomores achieved the highest national ranking in the past ten years getting up to 15th. Frosh Robbie Hummel played biggest on the biggest stages as he thrived versus Wisky, MSU & IU. He averaged in the high-teens along with nearly ten rebounds in those contest and he wasn't afraid of taking the important shot. Also, E'Twaun Moore, the jewel of this highly-touted class, came out of his shell at around the midpoint of the Big Ten season; he ended being the leading scorer for the team. Chris Kramer had the unenviable task of guarding Eric Gordon, Drew Neitzel, Jamar Butler and others, but shut down many of these scorers for ten to twenty minutes at a time, fighting knee and wrist injuries all along. Matt Painter showed that he's one of the best coaches in a coaching-rich conference by blending the right line-ups at the right times and game-planning to overcome Purdue's experience discrepancy as the season progressed. So what's the prognosis? Well, this is a darned good Purdue team, much better than we thought they'd be. While statistically they aren't the best-shooting team, they have been extremely smart with the ball and don't turn it over much. And they play hard-nosed, high-energy defense for 40 minutes each game, plus they shoot free throws well. It's said that guard play is important in the NCAA tournament - if this is the case, Purdue could get as deep as the round of eight...but what they have in guards, they simply do not have underneath. Purdue's bigs will struggle against a team with an experienced, skilled PF/C...But this team has the potential to make a lot of noise, if they play the right team.

2. No Fun Allowed At Purdue! The student ticket situation changed recently, and if you were a member of the "Paint Crew" your seating was on a first-come, first-served basis. If you were there early enough, you could be down low in the Paint Crew section. So students started showing actual school spirit and began camping out in tents outside Mackey Arena for hours before games ... then for days... then for MANY days. Everybody loved it. The John Purdue Club (rich alumni) sent them hot chocolate, Coach Painter bought them doughnuts and chicken wings, students traded off "holding" their spots in line so they could go to class, ESPN showed it when they were in town to do games. It was all good fun — until the University decided this was simply too much fun and halted it entirely. First the inflatable penis appearances are dramatically reduced - now this. What's next? Will Purdue Pete's hammer be deemed too barbaric or something?

3. Nicknames We Want To Hear Brent Musburger Say. Musburger, Steve Lavin and sultry Erin Andrews have done a number of Boiler games this year. As the Boilers improved, Musburger got into this weird habit of calling Coach Matt Painter "Matty." We know Musburger is all lovey-dovey with everyone (and like 300 years older than Painter), but we seriously doubt he'd call Coach K "Mikey." Anyway, we eventually discovered that Robbie Hummel was known as "Ostrich" in high school and, even better, E'Twaun Moore was known as "Smooge." Looking up Smooge, we find it's "funk from a dog's ass." Go on, Musburger, you 68-year-old coot. We dare you. — Boiled Sports

BAYLOR BEARS

1. Dave Bliss was a real dick. Much has been made of the job Scott Drew has done to clean up the mess that was left him, but you really can't quite overstate it. To remind you, former Baylor coach Dave Bliss made illegal payments to his players, and, when he was busted, after the death of Patrick Dennehy, he told his players to lie about money given to Dennehy and tell investigators that he was a drug dealer. Needless to say, Bliss is not coaching anymore, and the Bears spent years in NCAA probation hell until Drew, Mr. Fix-It, came in to reconstruct the whole program.

2. No Valpo. Contrary to popular believe, coach Drew did not get his undergraduate degree from Valparaiso; he went to Butler. His father Homer was the coach and his brother Bryce the hero during that famous NCAA tournament game, but Scott, being less of the athlete, stuck to coaching; he went to Valpo as a grad assistant, and then took over the team for one year when Homer retired. After Scott decided to take the Baylor job, Homer came out of retirement to coach Valpo again, and Bryce, Mr. Athlete Big Shot, is now an assistant to his dad, again.

3. Tweet Tweet. Reserve freshman guard Tweety Carter received his unusual nickname because of his incessant crying as a child. One did not know crying could sound like the words "puddy tat." Oh, and freshman LaceDarius Dunn, even though he doesn't start, might play in the NBA someday. — Will Leitch

Join The Deadspin Pool.
Download The Deadspin Printable Bracket. (PDF)

2. No Fun Allowed At Purdue! The student ticket situation changed recently, and if you were a member of the "Paint Crew" your seating was on a first-come, first-served basis. If you were there early enough, you could be down low in the Paint Crew section. So students started showing actual school spirit and began camping out in tents outside Mackey Arena for hours before games ... then for days... then for MANY days. Everybody loved it. The John Purdue Club (rich alumni) sent them hot chocolate, Coach Painter bought them doughnuts and chicken wings, students traded off "holding" their spots in line so they could go to class, ESPN showed it when they were in town to do games. It was all good fun — until the University decided this was simply too much fun and halted it entirely. First the inflatable penis appearances are dramatically reduced - now this. What's next? Will Purdue Pete's hammer be deemed too barbaric or something?

3. Nicknames We Want To Hear Brent Musburger Say. Musburger, Steve Lavin and sultry Erin Andrews have done a number of Boiler games this year. As the Boilers improved, Musburger got into this weird habit of calling Coach Matt Painter "Matty." We know Musburger is all lovey-dovey with everyone (and like 300 years older than Painter), but we seriously doubt he'd call Coach K "Mikey." Anyway, we eventually discovered that Robbie Hummel was known as "Ostrich" in high school and, even better, E'Twaun Moore was known as "Smooge." Looking up Smooge, we find it's "funk from a dog's ass." Go on, Musburger, you 68-year-old coot. We dare you. — Boiled Sports

Remember Bob Knight's infamous furious speech in which he gets his Berman on? Well, it turns out, it might have been recorded by Frank.

Lawrence Frank is a prime suspect. The New Jersey Nets coach couldn't be reached, but he was a basketball manager at IU then and was in the room. "Lawrence Frank definitely could have done something like this," Leary said. "There was never a manager that was more full of (it) than he was. He would take us to fraternity parties on campus and just walk us all in — and it wasn't even his fraternity. He was just as full of (it) as they came."

Seriously, just to kick off your day right:

You know I write for a site called Storming the Floor. That's because I believe that floor storming, when done at the right time and in the right spirit, is one of the things that makes college basketball so damned fun. When legitimate exuberance spills over after a big win, it's magical.

Of course, sometimes, it all comes off a bit... forced. And that's when the storm has been used for evil instead of good. One such potential crisis was averted last night, when surging Purdue knocked off Michigan State for their second big win in three days. Students had filled the hardwood in the first win, over Wisconsin, but showed admirable restraint following their second major victory. They somehow absorbed the cardinal rule - once is charming, twice is crass.

Here are a few other rules I made up nearly a year ago on my old blog. You may storm the floor if/when:

• Your unranked school beats a top-10 opponent
• Your lower-division school beats a D1 opponent. (e.g. Virginia @ Chaminade)
• You beat your most hated rival in overtime, or on a last-second miracle shot
• Your team breaks a long losing streak vs. a particularly difficult opponent. (See: Kansas State vs. Kansas).
• Your team wins the league tournament in a one-bid conference
• In the NCAA tournament, only a 15 over a two, or the mythical 16 vs. 1 upset really matters any more. If your school wins in the Regional Final or Final Four, storm away
• If your school wins the NCAA Championship. This special win also confers limited looting and pillaging rights

And, speaking of Purdue:

Hummell is Unbreakable. Purdue 60-Michigan State 54. Tom Izzo's one of the more enjoyable college coaches around, and he'll do all right in the dance. But for now, the Big Ten is all Purdue. Boilermaker freshman Robbie Hummell doesn't have the most intimidating moniker I've ever heard, but he sure can play - he put up 21 points to help beat the Badgers, and upped that to 24 with 11 rebounds for good measure in the win over the Spartans.

Foster is Australian for Beeah. Vanderbilt 93-Kentucky 52. Is it fair that this result makes the Kentucky "comeback" look like a fraud? Probably not, but a 41-point spread is tough to argue with. Aussie freshman Andrew Ogilvy had his best all-around game since SEC play began, scoring 19 and rebounding 12. Shan Foster went for 20.

We Have Not Yet Begun to Fight. North Carolina 75-Virginia 74. I hate to see Sean Singletary go out like this. Last year, when Tennessee ended UVA's tournament run, I thought "buck up camper, there's always next year". Cut to last night, and despite 27 points and 7 assists from the Wooden award candidate, the Cavaliers rack up their ninth conference L. So much for my platitudes. All of these close calls have got to be getting to Roy Williams....

Tonight's Big Games

Notre Dame (18-4) at UConn (18-5). Neither team was ranked when the Irish pulled out a six-point win in South Bend earlier this season. What a difference a handful of days make. Luke Harangody is averaging a double-double, and Hasheem Thabeet is UConn's rising star. Should be a thriller in Hartford's XL Center.

Wisconsin (19-4) at Indiana (20-3). Purdue has the momentum right now, but one of these teams will serve notice that they intend to maintain the pace. Which will it be?

What, No Love For... Arkansas at Tennessee? Maryland at Duke? Houston at Memphis?

Eric Angevine writes about college basketball at Storming the Floor, and contributes to Chicago Sports Weekly. He can be reached at stormingthefloor@gmail.com.

We think this is pretty rude, sneaking a trip to midfield of the Big House just to mock the home team, but we'll confess that it would be difficult to resist, were the opportunity to present itself. Purdue probably deserved to lose after pulling this stunt, but it still might have been worth it.

Purdue Football Managers Mock Michigan [The M Zone]

Apparently, the Purdue women's basketball team was having tutors write their papers for them — they ended up going on probation for it — and they weren't particularly clandestine. Witness these email exchanges:

10/26/05, 4:45 PM Merriweather to George: Here are some thoughts that should help. Make sure you read it and add your own info from class notes or any textbooks you use. All of my info is from the internet and what I remember...

10/26/05, 10:16 PM Merriweather to George: Throw away the other one. This one is better and more organized....

11/29/05, 2:43 AM Merriweather to George: Hey, you still have to do the title page and the reference page. I have attached everything you need to do those (two) things. Make sure you reread the paper and make it sound like you.

"Make it sound like you." By that, they meant, "Make it sound like Marques Slocum."

Purdue Assistant Writes Paper For Player, Shows Just How To Land Your School On Probation [Lion In Oil]

Purdue football coach Joe Tiller announced that all further practices will be closed. ... "I'm tired of blogging and guys talking about our practices, and postings, and all that bullshit," Tiller offered as an explanation. "All's it is is more problems than it is value."

We feel Tiller's pain. Sure, some people might be more concerned about wide receivers being stabbed in the chest, but that's not keeping one's eye on the big picture. When you're Joe Tiller, everybody wants a piece of you, all the time. And there's only so much Joe Tiller to go around.

Mad At Blogs, Tiller Shuts Practices [Indianapolis Star]

ARIZONA WILDCATS

1. Stretch Marks. The 2006-2007 season has resembled that of a young Alpha Phi freshman, heading to Tucson after a long summer of working out and tanning in the sun. Sure, she looks great when college begins, but five months of drinking any possible liquid (Everclear, YUMMY!) and ordering Domino's on her Cat Card has lead to a larger ass and a sudden case of college acne. Arizona begins the year 12-1 before dropping eight of the next 16 games, including six of eight during a stretch in January.

2. Deja Vu? Lute "My Dentures Bring All the Boys to the Yard" Olson's only National Championship came in 1997 when the Wildcats finished fifth in the Pacific-10 Conference, the same place they find themselves this year. Also in '97, Mike Bibby won the Pac-10 Freshman of the Year award, something Chase Budinger has all but wrapped up.

3. Get the Stars the Ball. The two best players for Arizona are Marcus Williams and Chase Budinger, so it would make the most sense to get them the rock. When Williams or Budinger score more than 20 points, the Wildcats are 15-1 this season, with the only loss coming against Oregon by two. — Shane Bacon

PURDUE BOILERMAKERS

1. Turnaround. The Boilermakers reached the 20-win mark for the first time since the 2000 season. Their 11-game turnaround from last season's nine-win campaign is one of the five best in the nation. Furthermore, their RPI at the end of last season was 175; this year it's 47. (For a point of comparison, Michigan is 53 and Iowa is 85.) Purdue scored key wins over Virginia, Illinois, Michigan State and Indiana, but had bad losses to Indiana State and Minnesota. Purdue's 16 home wins is the most ever for a Purdue basketball team, yet they only won two games on the road; they also won two on neutral courts. Carl Landry was the first Purdue player ever to be Big Ten player of the week three consecutive weeks, and Chris Kramer set a Purdue record this year for steals by a freshman. It will continue; second-year coach Matt Painter is set to welcome the best recruiting class in the history of Purdue basketball. In fact, Painter will land four top-50 players in one class. Many seasons, longtime Coach Keady (famous for the combover) didn't have a single one. (In fact, the most noteworthy Keady class got an assistant coach "re-assigned" and put Purdue into NCAA probation.)

2. Who To Know. David Teague's shooter's eye clearly got better as the season progressed, to where he's now averaging 14.4 points and shooting 43 percent from 3-point range as the second option behind senior Carl Landry. Chris Lutz became a better defender each game as well, and made better offensive decisions that really helped Purdue as a team. Expectation here is that Teague and Landry will carry them through one round but in the second they'll lose by 10-15 to a team with legit big men.

3. Purdue's Recent Tourney History Is Checkered At Best. Purdue hasn't been in the Tourney since 2003, when they sneaked in as an 18-10 9-seed and then demolished LSU by 24 in the first round before succumbing to Texas in the round of 32. In 2000, the Boilers got Gene Keady as close to a Final Four as he ever got, needing only to beat a mediocre Wisconsin team in the Elite Eight (in their fourth meeting of the season). Naturally, they fell short. In 1996, Purdue won their third consecutive outright Big Ten regular season title, becoming just the second team to ever accomplish such a feat. They followed that up by coming the closest any No. 1 seed has ever come to losing to a No. 16 as Western Carolina's shot at the buzzer rattled out and the Boilers exhaled with a 73-71 clunker (and went on to lose in the second round). In 1994, Glenn Robinson led the Boilers to the Elite Eight, again bringing Keady one win from a Final Four only to be upended by Duke. We could go on forever reliving these good old times ... but Purdue's last Final Four was 1980. Enough said. — Boiled Sports

Join The Deadspin Pool!
Deadspin Printable Bracket [PDF]
Complete NCAA Tournament Schedule

2. Who To Know. David Teague's shooter's eye clearly got better as the season progressed, to where he's now averaging 14.4 points and shooting 43 percent from 3-point range as the second option behind senior Carl Landry. Chris Lutz became a better defender each game as well, and made better offensive decisions that really helped Purdue as a team. Expectation here is that Teague and Landry will carry them through one round but in the second they'll lose by 10-15 to a team with legit big men.

3. Purdue's Recent Tourney History Is Checkered At Best. Purdue hasn't been in the Tourney since 2003, when they sneaked in as an 18-10 9-seed and then demolished LSU by 24 in the first round before succumbing to Texas in the round of 32. In 2000, the Boilers got Gene Keady as close to a Final Four as he ever got, needing only to beat a mediocre Wisconsin team in the Elite Eight (in their fourth meeting of the season). Naturally, they fell short. In 1996, Purdue won their third consecutive outright Big Ten regular season title, becoming just the second team to ever accomplish such a feat. They followed that up by coming the closest any No. 1 seed has ever come to losing to a No. 16 as Western Carolina's shot at the buzzer rattled out and the Boilers exhaled with a 73-71 clunker (and went on to lose in the second round). In 1994, Glenn Robinson led the Boilers to the Elite Eight, again bringing Keady one win from a Final Four only to be upended by Duke. We could go on forever reliving these good old times ... but Purdue's last Final Four was 1980. Enough said. — Boiled Sports

Just for shits and giggles, we present to you The World Famous Purdue Inflatable Penis, from last week's Purdue-Indiana game. Sometimes, we really miss college.

Return Of Member [Boiled Sports]

I went to Ross Ade Saturday expecting to see a good football game, but instead I saw a disrespectful showing, not by the football team, but by the student section. In the middle of the third quarter, a Boilermaker was injured at the end of a play. Usually when this happens, both home and away fans are silent out of respect for the injured player. But our student section cheered. Why? Because an inflatable penis showed up. And when the injured Boilermaker was helped off the field, we booed because the penis was hit out of the stands. Is this how much class we have left, that we are more entertained by an inflatable penis than we are concerned for an injured Boilermaker? If so, then I am embarrassed to call myself a Boilermaker. — Dustin Meyer, Senior, College of Civil Engineering.

A campus group hopes to strike again on Saturday in Purdue's game with Penn State, with their goal to "bring as many inflatable penises to the remaining home football games as possible."

Brad Sandberg, a junior in the College of Technology and a member of the group, said the penis adds a needed and different level of excitement at football games. "It's great," said Sandberg. "You see it pop up and you're like 'Oh, there it is again.' It adds some excitement because it's just a big (expletive) penis."

Other key quote: "Bennett said there is no University policy that students would be violating by bringing the penises to the games."

By the way, about that letter up above there ... we will confess that yes: We are more entertained by an inflatable penis than we are concerned for an injured Boilermaker. It is our curse, and we will surely someday burn for it, but this is undeniably true.

Inflatable Penis May Pop Back Up [The Exponent]
Fans' Disrespect Embarrasses Student [The Exponent]

Bushong, standing up for third-string tight ends arrested for DUIs everywhere, wrote into the paper to defend himself against the blasted student media.

Highlight quote: "This letter is a shoutout to all of the athletes of Purdue. I am personally sick and tired of all the bad ink we are getting, and it is really time to put an end to it. Yeah, I got an OWI, so what! It's over, and everyone now knows about it. ... We're here to stay, we all know what we do for this school and what we give back. We run this place and if anyone begs to differ, I'll say what my good buddy Brandon Kirsch once said. 'You know where to find me, locker number three, so come and say what you need to say to my face.'"

We suspect that Purdue University president Martin Jischke will take him up on this offer, very soon.

Third String Tight End "Owns" Purdue [Every Day Should Be Saturday]
Newspaper Stories Make Athletes Look Bad [Purdue Exponent]

Too Rowdy [Purdue Exponent] (PDF)