A Defense of my Boilermakers

The much-awaited European soccer rankings have been devised and will be posted later tonight, but first I must address the much-debated issue of Dave putting Syracuse ahead of Purdue in his overview of the #1 seeds that can be seen here. First I would like to commend Dave for at least putting Purdue as a #1 seed. Even though it seems like it would be obvious as we (and I can say we-I go to the school) are #3 in both polls, there is always room for debate and no team is guaranteed one of those coveted top spots.

The Case for Syracuse ahead of Purdue
Syracuse is a great team, don’t get me wrong-when a team has players with names like Scoop Jardine and Arinze Onuaku, they will always be in the conversation about who is the top team in the nation. They are the top team in the nation’s premier conference with impressive road wins at Georgetown and West Virginia, two teams in the top 13. One of Purdue’s signature wins is against West Virginia but Syracuse was able to perform the feat on the road in what you might call a feisty environment, while Purdue had the advantage of their own feisty Mackey Arena crowd behind them. There are only two blemishes on the Syracuse slate-a home loss to presently-ranked #12 Pittsburgh and a loss at Louisville. Early in the season they went into Chapel Hill and got their lone true road win of the non-conference schedule against a UNC team that has now been exposed as a pretender.

The Case for Purdue ahead of Syracuse
With a solid win over Illinois on Saturday and a Michigan State loss at Ohio State on Sunday, Purdue has just taken the lead in what might be the most exciting Big Ten race ever. Purdue was tested in the non-conference schedule and passed every one: A neutral-court win against Tennessee before the weapons debacle, a solid home win against Wake Forest and road win against Alabama before the historic 77-62 beat-down of West Virginia on New Year’s Day. Purdue’s three losses came consecutively at Wisconsin, at home against Evan Turner, and on the road against a pitiful Northwestern squad. These came at a time where Purdue could not figure out how to close out games against good teams and JaJuan Johnson was non-existent. However, the Boilers have since proven they can close out with close wins at Illinois, at Michigan State, at Ohio State, and home against Wisconsin. They have also shown they can win without a solid post presence, evident in their 75-65 win against Illinois when JaJuan Johnson had 5 points and 6 boards while going 1-10 from the field. Overall, Purdue has 5 wins from 7 games against teams currently ranked in the top 25 while Syracuse has just 3 wins from 4 games.

All in all, Purdue has been the more tested team and over the course of the season, especially on their current 9-game win streak, has shown why they are more than deserving of the #3 spot in the nation behind Kansas and Kentucky. Both teams have huge home games left, Syracuse against Villanova and Purdue against Michigan State, and we will see who the better team is after those tests.