One of my favorite things about men’s college basketball is the big games early in the season, and the risks teams are willing to take by scheduling top-ranked opponents. Purdue and Indiana both had first-week tests, leaving fan bases with plenty of reasons to be excited. At times, the Boilers looked like they weren’t quite ready for the big stage in Monday night’s loss to defending national champion Villanova. But the Wildcats had a lot to do with that; they return six of their top eight players from last year, including Big East preseason player of the year Josh Hart and Kris Jenkins, who hit the title-winning buzzer-beater in April. Purdue’s big men, Caleb Swanigan and Isaac Haas, got in early foul trouble, often a sign of nerves. They both recovered nicely in the second half, but Villanova had Hart, and he won the game down the stretch. I didn’t know “Spike” Albrecht had transferred from Michigan; he got his degree and opted to play his final season of eligibility closer to his Crown Point home. It seemed to me Purdue’s best scoring runs came when Albrecht was on the floor; something to bear in mind as the season wears on. The Hoosiers needed overtime to beat my beloved Kansas Jayhawks Friday night. When a college game ends with a 103-99 score, it’s easy to assume very little defense was played. That wasn’t the case Friday night; both teams finished 31 of 71 from the field, or 43.7 percent. Probably the biggest difference was that IU made 15 three-pointers, and I’m hard pressed to remember a game where the Jayhawks gave up double-digit threes and won. Indiana coach Tom Crean and Kansas coach Bill Self both said they’d be interested in establishing a series between the two blue-blood programs. That would be great for both programs; the last four-game series in the early 1990s produced some great basketball that folks in both places still talk about 20-plus years later. Having watched bits and pieces of Friday’s game (while putting out the weekend paper) and most of the Purdue game Monday night, I’m now looking forward to Feb. 9 and 28, and a possible match-up in the Big 10 Tournament.
In other hoops-related notes from around the area, the Whitko girls basketball team woke up this morning as the top-ranked Class 2A team in the state, and the Three Rivers Conference has a total of three ranked teams. Tippecanoe Valley is No. 4 in 3A, and North Miami is Class 1A’s No. 10 team. Looks like there will be a lot of good reasons to go see a girls basketball game in the conference this season.
Lakeland Christian’s Lady Cougars were in an awkward position when they opened its season last week at Cornerstone Christian College Prep in Fort Wayne. Many teams play to avoid running up the score, but LCA won 37-3. No, there isn’t a digit missing from Cornerstone’s score. The Lady Cougar players were in the disposition of trying not to run up the score, and not play down to Cornerstone’s level. Just to be clear, Cornerstone’s mission doesn’t have a lot to do with basketball; the students there are working on getting away from a life that most of us cannot imagine. We all live on the same planet, but often we live in different worlds. Talent is being pursued and developed at Cornerstone, and maybe one day that will translate to the court, but right now it’s probably not a priority, and it’s hard to see that as being a problem in the big picture.
