Postgame Randomness

• I was a little put off by some of the rhetoric coming from Jay Bilas near the end of the game. All the talk about Purdue exceeding expectations and being ahead of schedule was pure ignorance. Anybody associated with the program will tell you this year was a disappointment, albiet brought on by injuries. Fortunately, it looks like everybody expected to return will return. Add in some front court depth in the incoming recruiting class and improved health, and things should improve.
• Lewis Jackson continued to kill the team. The four turnovers were not a killer, however I cannot begin to count the amount of open teammates he passed up before driving to the hoop and missing a layup. Hopefully he has to earn playing time next year, because he certainly didn't this year.
• Matt Painter clearly believes the way to neutralize a dominant opposing big man is to have our big man fire up jumpers. JaJuan Johnson was not only shooting from out there yesterday against Hasheem Thabeet, but also last week against Jon Brockman. This was also in full force two years ago with Carl Landry against Greg Oden.
  
• The game marked a two game (at least) losing streak against teams days after recruiting violations coming to the forefront. You may remember the February 19 loss to Indiana last year just four days after reports of Kelvin Sampson's cellphone habits started to resurface.
  
• Along the same lines, how upsetting will it be if some of Connecticut's players were found to be ineligible and they have to vacate this victory? Such a conclusion is unlikely to be reached, but I would bet it would be painful if it was discovered you were eliminated from the tournament by cheaters.