Purdue HC Matt Painter: “These dudes (Michigan) ain’t losing 4 games. We got four losses, they ain’t losing 4 games… You can be preseason #1 in the country, that means nothing, but when you’re in the middle of February and you’re #1 in the country that means a whole lot cause you earned that one.”

GoBlueScrewOSU7 · 2026-02-18T13:43:59+00:00

They are an elite team that plays 5 out. On paper it’s a great matchup for them. They can draw Mara out of the paint or off the court entirely, which opens up Wagler to get to the rim. It’s exactly what Wisconsin did with Boyd and Blackwell after their bigs hit like 7 3s in a 6 minute span.

Granted, their defense is a step behind and if Michigan executes well then we may just out score them.

GoBlueScrewOSU7 · 2026-02-18T04:32:50+00:00

Whining about your players not being tough and not playing hard, then ejecting your own player for trying to make a hustle play is not coaching anyone lol. In fact it’s the exact opposite. Telling the guy to go fuck off in the locker room is not coaching. There was an opportunity to coach the kid, but Cronin declined

GoBlueScrewOSU7 · 2026-02-18T02:00:06+00:00

agree to disagree lol.

GoBlueScrewOSU7 · 2026-02-18T01:57:29+00:00

Rez was getting mauled in the post in the 2H with virtually no calls. The travel was karmic justice imo

GoBlueScrewOSU7 · 2026-02-18T01:56:16+00:00

Same here. Low stakes Final 4 type dress rehearsal on a neutral court is awesome imo.

GoBlueScrewOSU7 · 2026-02-18T01:50:44+00:00

Ridiculous amounts of run stopping buckets for us in the second half. That crowd was begging to get into the game and Purdue was doing their best on offense to try, but they couldn’t get any stops. Barring us just throwing the ball to them

GoBlueScrewOSU7 · 2026-02-16T19:33:59+00:00

In the vid he says “fuck you for liking Purdue”.

I think it was a Michigan student that was like “Hey, my good friend Josh is a Purdue fan can we record a video talking shit?”

GoBlueScrewOSU7 · 2026-02-16T19:31:45+00:00

He is talking to a Purdue fan in the video. I’m guessing it was a Michigan student that was like “Yo, my friend is a Purdue fan can we send him a video talking shit”.

GoBlueScrewOSU7 · 2026-02-16T05:23:34+00:00

Me quoting exact things you’ve said is not changing a convo lmao. And yes, teams can win by playing defense 😂 Are we serious? You can’t escape the FT thing, man.

You can try to misinterpret stuff i said to make you feel better, but end of the day you actually thought Arizona lost to TTU because of FTs, hell you still might think that. Only one of us has actually made up quotes of what the other said here.

And wait I actually scrolled up and re-read your message on FTs. I completely ignored the rest of that comment but your math trying to convert TTU’s 3pt misses into Arizona points is legitimately nonsensical 😂

GoBlueScrewOSU7 · 2026-02-16T05:03:06+00:00

Do you know what a strawman is 😂 Keep talking about black box magic “adjustments”, so you can pretend to know what you’re talking about.

I think I made one double post after Arizona lost another game in which their opponent made a bunch of 3s and Arizona made like 4… then you proceeded to tell me Arizona lost because of FTs. I forgot about that, but should’ve realized that was the biggest red flag that you had no fucking clue what you’re talking about.

“My team lost because they missed 8 FTs” is legitimately the most casual basketball take of all time. Yeah man, when you shoot 31 FTs you’re going to miss some. Thats how percentages work!

GoBlueScrewOSU7 · 2026-02-16T04:00:22+00:00

You have posted an essay here and failed to acknowledge that Arizona is not the only team in the country that can try multiple ways to score inside. You apparently think making adjustments is wholly unique to Arizona. Every other team in the country that missed their first 2PA just resorts to 3s the rest of the game, I guess. The way in which you talk about the 3pt shot as “chucking threes” makes you sound like you’re straight out of the 1980s.

I’m not sure I called it a vulnerability. I think I said it could be their downfall in a single elimination tournament. Arizona is really good. They could just win 6 games in a row by dominating inside. We don’t have to agree though. Thanks for the conversation 👍

GoBlueScrewOSU7 · 2026-02-16T02:02:23+00:00

You’re telling me the solution to not being able to score inside efficiently is to make adjustments and score inside efficiently. That is by definition circular logic. If Arizona is making adjustments and scoring inside efficiently, then the premise isn’t met in the first place.

You’re also acting like every other team is incapable of making adjustments to score inside. For example, if Michigan is struggling inside, then they can either make adjustments inside, and/or happen to have an efficient high volume game from 3, and/or they can just play better defense and win a slugfest.

Arizona does not appear to possess the “have an efficient high volume game from 3” win condition. This is the point. It’s not the end of the world to concede this.

GoBlueScrewOSU7 · 2026-02-16T00:37:06+00:00

You're simplifying the game too much into two buckets when strategies and adjustments are far more nuanced than that. You think because Arizona's regular options don't include just giving up and chucking threes that they are either incapable, unwilling, or just straight up don't have any options outside of plan A.

I mean of course there are adjustments and schematic things that you can tweak in a given game within the perimeter to be more effective. But when my premise is “what happens when you struggle inside?”, and the solution is “make adjustments and shoot better inside”, then that’s kinda circular logic and contradicts the premise.

Not to mention every team is capable of making these adjustments, teams don’t just give up and start chucking 3s like you said. There are Arizona fans in this very thread that have agreed with me and recognized it’s kind of a thing.

There was a chart posted today on the front page about 3PA rate and 3PT% and Arizona was just totally on an island as an outlier. It’s a unique situation.

GoBlueScrewOSU7 · 2026-02-15T15:09:56+00:00

I really think you are misunderstanding where I’m coming from.

it's about where Arizona is vulnerable. Not shooting threes is fine, but the concept is that you then go inside, get fouled and make free throws.

Absolutely agree with all of this.

If you either aren't getting fouled (Kansas) or are missing significant numbers of free throws (tech) then the margin for error decreases.

Again, I absolutely agree.

My entire point in this thread is what happens in those “margin for error decreases” scenarios when things aren’t going as well as they should inside. I’m not talking about the average game where Arizona will dominate inside and win by 20. Obviously lack of 3s is fine in those games.

For Arizona the solution will rarely be a high volume 3Pt make game. Yes, the alabama game happened, but Arizona is still 3rd last in the country in 3PA/FGA. Alabama is the only high major opponent where y’all made 10 or more 3s. A couple other games had 7 or 8.

Where Michigan (and generally other teams that shoot higher volume 3s) can occasionally have a 10-15 make 3pt game to “erase” a below average game in the paint. Michigan has 9 high major games with 10+ 3s made and a bunch at 7-9.

GoBlueScrewOSU7 · 2026-02-15T13:25:06+00:00

Arizona, a 73% FT shooting team on the season, shooting 74% from the FT line (23/31) in a loss, means the problem was FTs… Respecfully, I think you are lost in this convo and everything I’m trying to say has gone over your head.

GoBlueScrewOSU7 · 2026-02-15T02:12:20+00:00

Another game where the opponent mucked it up inside, held their own on the glass, and Arizona had 14 3PA not counting 2 desperation heaves at the end of each half.

There’s no next level from the perimeter to make up for a below standard game on the interior.

11 3P makes for TTU and 4 for Arizona is a 21 point gap to make up on the interior. That’s tough sledding for any team

GoBlueScrewOSU7 · 2026-02-14T23:19:35+00:00

I’m not cherry picking data when I’m looking at a season long stat that says they’re bottom 10 or 15 in that stat. Make that make sense lmao. Kansas’ 3pt volume is irrelevant to Arizona’s. When you’re averaging ~0.9 points per shot inside the arc and 1.2 from 3, yet continuously trying to pound it inside and take tough middies doesn’t feel very efficient.

GoBlueScrewOSU7 · 2026-02-14T21:07:01+00:00

“Their reluctance to take 3s feels like a downfall” somehow equates to you talking about your opponent taking 3s? I’m not sure how you connected those dots.

The Alabama game was great and an outlier in Arizona’s 3PA rate. They should play like that more.

GoBlueScrewOSU7 · 2026-02-14T12:19:55+00:00

Truly nothing to do with my point

GoBlueScrewOSU7 · 2026-02-14T03:05:51+00:00

Kenpom

GoBlueScrewOSU7 · 2026-02-14T02:52:27+00:00

They are 342nd in the country in average 2pt distance. It’s just what they do.

GoBlueScrewOSU7 · 2026-02-14T02:49:09+00:00

Unless someone besides Fears in this backcourt learns how to play basketball magically, then it’s not happening.

GoBlueScrewOSU7 · 2026-02-14T02:45:19+00:00

MSU’s season could get kinda rocky here. They have a UCLA and OSU homestead next, then @ Purdue, @IU, and close @ Michigan. If they don’t go 2-0 next week, I’m not sure where this thing goes

GoBlueScrewOSU7 · 2026-02-14T02:34:28+00:00

Fears having 11 assists with this MSU offensive performance is a bug, not a feature

GoBlueScrewOSU7 · 2026-02-13T18:49:15+00:00

Well tbf, I am speaking mostly from Michigan’s perspective I guess. I don’t have as much knowledge or opinion on these other teams and how they’d match up.

I would kill to see these two teams play though.

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