http://www.yardbarker.com/college_basketball/teams/purdue_boilermakers/844 Recent articles about Purdue Boilermakers en-us Matt Painter is a heck of a coach and if you don't believe me, just watch some tape of the 2012-13 basketball team for all the proof you need. This was one of the youngest teams in terms of starting experience returning in the conference and I'll readily admit I thought this team was going to struggle all season long because of it.  Instead this team punched above their weight a few times in conference play, after a less than stellar non-conference slate. In the end three players emerged as potential stars moving forward in Ronnie and Terone Johnson (yes, they are brothers) and A.J. Hammons.  For a team that had only two players that started more than 10 games in 2011-12 there's no question the Boilers exceeded a lot of expectations. Heck, nearly finishing in the upper half of the Big Ten was a feat worthy of coach of the year consideration for me.  That said, not everything was sunshine and roses for a team that finished below .500 in the regular season.  How We Pred Fri, 03 May 2013 11:23:31 -0400 http://network.yardbarker.com/college_basketball/article_external/2012_13_basketball_season_review_purdue_boilermakers/13543244 http://network.yardbarker.com/college_basketball/article_external/2012_13_basketball_season_review_purdue_boilermakers/13543244 2012-13 Basketball Season Review: Purdue Boilermakers http://www.yardbarker.com/college_basketball/articles/2012_13_basketball_season_review_purdue_boilermakers/13543244 http://www.yardbarker.com/images/yb_logo_square_grey.png By leaving Purdue behind, Sandi Marcius is also saying goodbye to his scholarship. As a result, he must pick up the hefty tab for the two classes needed to graduate and transfer. Purdue isn't paying for its departing forward, and nor should it. Tue, 23 Apr 2013 20:23:00 -0400 http://network.yardbarker.com/college_basketball/article_external/purdue_gave_marcius_all_it_could/13467985 http://network.yardbarker.com/college_basketball/article_external/purdue_gave_marcius_all_it_could/13467985 Purdue gave Marcius all it could http://www.yardbarker.com/college_basketball/articles/purdue_gave_marcius_all_it_could/13467985 http://www.yardbarker.com/images/yb_logo_square_grey.png Guard Anthony Johnson will leave Purdue and transfer to another school. Coach Matt Painter made the announcement in a news release Monday afternoon. Johnson, a redshirt sophomore and native of Chicago, averaged 5.2 points and 2.5 rebounds in 68 career games with the Boilermakers. This past season, Johnson started seven times in 24 games, averaging 4.9 points and 2.9 rebounds. He is not related to the brother tandem of Ronnie and Terone Johnson, who were the starting guards this season for Purdue. Anthony Johnson is the third Boilermakers player to leave the program in less than a week. Forwards Sandi Marcius and Jacob Lawson also were granted their releases late last week. Mon, 15 Apr 2013 23:11:00 -0400 http://network.yardbarker.com/college_basketball/article_external/johnson_transferring_from_purdue/13408939 http://network.yardbarker.com/college_basketball/article_external/johnson_transferring_from_purdue/13408939 Johnson transferring from Purdue http://www.yardbarker.com/college_basketball/articles/johnson_transferring_from_purdue/13408939 http://www.yardbarker.com/images/yb_logo_square_grey.png Guard Anthony Johnson will leave Purdue and transfer to another school. Coach Matt Painter made the announcement in a news release Monday afternoon. Johnson, a redshirt sophomore and native of Chicago, averaged 5.2 points and 2.5 rebounds in 68 career games with the Boilermakers. This past season, Johnson started seven times in 24 games, averaging 4.9 points and 2.9 rebounds. He is not related to the brother tandem of Ronnie and Terone Johnson, who were the starting guards this season for Purdue. Anthony Johnson is the third Boilermakers player to leave the program in less than a week. Forwards Sandi Marcius and Jacob Lawson also were granted their releases late last week. Mon, 15 Apr 2013 20:34:01 -0400 http://network.yardbarker.com/college_basketball/article_external/purdue_guard_anthony_johnson_to_transfer/13406578 http://network.yardbarker.com/college_basketball/article_external/purdue_guard_anthony_johnson_to_transfer/13406578 Purdue guard Anthony Johnson to transfer http://www.yardbarker.com/college_basketball/articles/purdue_guard_anthony_johnson_to_transfer/13406578 http://www.yardbarker.com/images/yb_logo_square_grey.png Purdue forward Jacob Lawson is leaving the program after two seasons. In a release from the athletic department, coach Matt Painter said Lawson had requested and was given his release. Painter went on to say he enjoyed having Lawson in the program and wished him well. The North Carolina native was a part-time starter last season and finishes his career in West Lafayette with averages of 2.3 points and 2.0 rebounds in 58 career games. He is the second player to leave the program this week. Painter also announced Thursday that Sandi Marcius, a redshirt junior, had sought and been granted his release. From Croatia, Maricius averaged 2.1 points and 2.1 rebounds in 75 career games. The school did not provide details about the future destination of either player. Fri, 12 Apr 2013 20:59:36 -0400 http://network.yardbarker.com/college_basketball/article_external/lawson_becomes_2nd_purdue_player_to_leave_program/13386370 http://network.yardbarker.com/college_basketball/article_external/lawson_becomes_2nd_purdue_player_to_leave_program/13386370 Lawson becomes 2nd Purdue player to leave program http://www.yardbarker.com/college_basketball/articles/lawson_becomes_2nd_purdue_player_to_leave_program/13386370 http://www.yardbarker.com/images/yb_logo_square_grey.png Quick, name a player on the Purdue roster.... still waiting... O.k., give up yet? Ya, that's exactly the problem facing Matt Painter and Co. in the post Robbie Hummel era. This team is decidedly young, could be immensely talented, but VERY young and in a conference as deep as the Big Ten is this season that could spell trouble for the Boilermakers.  This team returns only two players who started more than 10 games in forward Travis Carroll and guard Terone Johnson and they lose the heart and sole of last years NCAA tournament team in Robbie Hummel along with veteran point guard Lewis Jackson.  What that means for this Purdue team is they must find their own identity and they also must grow up fast in the backcourt. If this team wants to make the upper half of the Big Ten they will need to do some serious growing up in the non-conference slate, something that won't be the easiest of tasks with the schedule Painter has put together. However, the hope for Painter is that the growing pains c Thu, 08 Nov 2012 17:59:47 -0500 http://network.yardbarker.com/college_basketball/article_external/2012_13_big_ten_basketball_preview_purdue_boilermakers/12163663 http://network.yardbarker.com/college_basketball/article_external/2012_13_big_ten_basketball_preview_purdue_boilermakers/12163663 2012-13 Big Ten Basketball Preview: Purdue Boilermakers http://www.yardbarker.com/college_basketball/articles/2012_13_big_ten_basketball_preview_purdue_boilermakers/12163663 http://www.yardbarker.com/images/yb_logo_square_grey.png With the college basketball season on the horizon, we’ll be taking a long look at the conference at large as well as Indiana’s roster over the next few weeks. Today, we look at the Purdue Boilermakers. With the departures of Robbie Hummel and Lewis Jackson, it figures to be a year of transition in West Lafayette. Hummel and Jackson combined to score 26.6 points per game last season, and they were the team’s two true leaders. Behind those two, Purdue made a run to the second round of the NCAA Tournament, and nearly pulled the upset of No. 2 seed and eventual national runner-up Kansas. The Boilermakers finished the year 22-13, and 10-8 in the Big Ten. But the cupboard is certainly not bare. The Boilermakers return guards Terone Johnson and D.J. Byrd and forward Travis Carroll, and they bring in a rather large recruiting class. Johnson’s younger brother — Ronnie Johnson (North Central) — joins the team, along with big man A.J. Hammons and guard Rapheal Davis (Fort Wayne). Terone Johnso... Wed, 26 Sep 2012 09:06:18 -0400 http://network.yardbarker.com/college_basketball/article_external/2012_2013_ith_season_preview_purdue_boilermakers/11813221 http://network.yardbarker.com/college_basketball/article_external/2012_2013_ith_season_preview_purdue_boilermakers/11813221 2012-2013 ITH season preview: Purdue Boilermakers http://www.yardbarker.com/college_basketball/articles/2012_2013_ith_season_preview_purdue_boilermakers/11813221 http://www.yardbarker.com/images/yb_logo_square_grey.png Students, fans, and alum of Purdue can now throw out all their old apparel and run to the store to pick up new Boilermaker gear, as the university and some certain company that is determined to ugly up schools across the country has unveiled a new logo for all those to gaze at. It isn’t [...] Wed, 25 Apr 2012 21:59:57 -0400 http://network.yardbarker.com/college_basketball/article_external/purdue_unveils_new_logo_that_looks_nothing_like_a_train/10645138 http://network.yardbarker.com/college_basketball/article_external/purdue_unveils_new_logo_that_looks_nothing_like_a_train/10645138 Purdue unveils new logo that looks nothing like a train http://www.yardbarker.com/college_basketball/articles/purdue_unveils_new_logo_that_looks_nothing_like_a_train/10645138 http://www.yardbarker.com/images/yb_logo_square_grey.png OMAHA, Neb. Now it can be told: Robbie Hummel cannot rap. He can make it rain from the corner. He can drive the lane like a Dodge Charger. Give him the ball while you're up a point or two, with the clock winding down, and he'll answer with a dagger. He can tear his right anterior cruciate ligament, climb all the way back, tear it again, then climb back a second time. He can play with scars the size of potato wedges and a brace that looks like it was stolen from the set of the movie "Robocop." He can crack the All-Big Ten's first team, nab academic all-conference honors and promote literacy in local schools. But, Heaven help him, Robbie Hummel cannot bust a rhyme. "I'll be in the locker room, I'll be rapping, and he'll be too scared to battle-rap," teammate Terone Johnson said, grinning in front of his stall at CenturyLink Center Omaha, where the Boilermakers open their NCAA tournament quest Friday against Saint Mary's. "I heard him rap a couple times, though. He's all right. I'd have to give him a 5' (out of 10). He should keep his day job." Some trips to the office, of course, are better than others. Thursday was a keeper. For the first time since 2009, Hummel was working out at full speed with his teammates on the eve of a Big Dance. It was hard to miss the fifth-year senior on the floor, cutting and weaving; shooting treys; scrapping for loose balls and generally bounding about the way a puppy does when it's off the leash. It beat the living pants off the last two NCAA tournaments, in which Hummel's knee had reduced him to the role of spectator and mentor, cheerleader and sage, a 6-foot-8 bundle of what-ifs and coulda-beens. After all, the forward from Valparaiso, Ind., had watched the Bracketville saga play out in 2010 and 2011 from the best and his mind, worst seat in the house. "Sitting out the last two years for the tournament, it's been frustrating," said Hummel, who's averaging 16.3 points and 7.1 rebounds per game. "But I think it's made this time all the more special for me. "When you miss something like that, when you have grown up watching a tournament, and you always wanted to play in it it's been disappointing not to be with my team like it has been the last two years. But I think we're all excited to be here and we're looking forward to (Friday)." But perhaps no one in the building more than Hummel, whose career at Purdue has been more star-crossed than the U.S.S. Enterprise. A holy terror from the minute he set foot in West Lafayette, the 215-pounder was averaging 15.7 points as a junior when he tore his ACL for the first time on Feb. 24, 2010. The next October, Hummel tore it again, wiping out the 2010-11 campaign as well. Under coach Matt Painter just as it was when Gene Keady scowled away at the reins the Boilermakers pride themselves on grit. Their practice shorts feature the words "PLAY HARD" across the back in giant gold letters. In baseball terms, they are a roster of A.J. Pierzynskis. And yet Hummel remains widely respected by his peers and opposing coaches, for his journey as much as his prodigious talents. Michigan State coach Tom Izzo even went so far as to scold the Spartans' infamous "Izzone" student section back in January after they mocked Hummel's injury history. Saint Mary's coach Randy Bennett on Thursday called the Indiana native "a legend." "Heard about him for six years, finally get to see him up close," Bennett continued. "He knows how play, he competes, he does a little bit of everything. It's amazing he's had as good of a season as he has after coming off the second (knee injury)." The Boilermakers reached the Sweet 16 during Hummel's sophomore season the sky was the limit. Then it fell. They were supposed to contend for a Final Four berth each of the next two years after that, but fate had other ideas. Without Hummel around to flank JaJuan Johnson and E'Twaun Moore, Purdue's run was capped at the Sweet 16 by Duke in 2010, then clotheslined the next year by upstart Virginia Commonwealth in the round of 32. Meanwhile, all Hummel could do was watch. Watch, coach, and wonder. "He was always there to help," junior guard D.J. Byrd recalled. "Whether I needed to open up on this screen or set a screen here. He just kind of knew what was going on, and he was always there for that." A lesser man would've walked away after the first ACL tear. Most would've limped away after the second. Hummel got back on the horse. Legends stick it out. "The two times he hurt it, it was non-contact," senior guard Lewis Jackson said, shaking his head. "And it's just, Why me?' You would think a guy would quit. And that just speaks so much about his character. If I'm banged up with a little sore ankle or anything, how I can I not come to work with this man every day and fight, just because of what he's fighting in order to help this team?" "It's probably the No. 1 story for us in the last seven, eight years since I've been back at Purdue," Painter added. "In terms of everything he has had to endure with his back injury, his two ACL injuries and just a guy who has stayed with it and not made any excuses. "He's had a long road and really didn't get into rhythm in terms of shooting the basketball until February." The Boilermakers, no coincidence, took off after that. "There were points in the season where it was a team thing, where (we wondered) Is our resume good enough to get us in the tournament?'" Hummel said. "And at the end of the season, we started playing our best basketball and we were able to get in. There were times where it was myself asking, Will I be on the court andor will the team be there?' And those both definitely occurred." Between February 12-29, with Purdue slipping on the wrong side of the NCAA tournament bubble, Hummel upped his scoring clip to 23.7 points per game. The Boilermakers won five of six. Legends rise to the occasion. Fri, 16 Mar 2012 02:42:19 -0400 http://network.yardbarker.com/college_basketball/article_external/hummel_ready_lead_purdue_in_tournament/10325227 http://network.yardbarker.com/college_basketball/article_external/hummel_ready_lead_purdue_in_tournament/10325227 Hummel ready lead Purdue in tournament http://www.yardbarker.com/college_basketball/articles/hummel_ready_lead_purdue_in_tournament/10325227 http://www.yardbarker.com/media/1/2/1203294b0df433af7438b5e81841c2b77f92654a/mini/Big_Ten_Tournamnet_9c11.jpg Talk about a story-book ending! Purdue recruit Basil Smotherman, a Lawrence (Ind.) North High junior who has committed to play for Purdue, hits a crazy near full court length shot to end his high school career. What’s more insane is the amount of times it hits the rim before it goes in! In fact, that three got even more important by game’s end, when Lawrence North pulled out a 63-60 victory on Senior Night. What a way to end your high school career by nailing a court-length miracle three to win the game! Sat, 03 Mar 2012 12:41:16 -0500 http://network.yardbarker.com/college_basketball/article_external/purdue_commit_hits_miraculous_court_length_three_on_senior_night/10222780 http://network.yardbarker.com/college_basketball/article_external/purdue_commit_hits_miraculous_court_length_three_on_senior_night/10222780 Video: Purdue commit drains full-court shot http://www.yardbarker.com/college_basketball/articles/purdue_commit_hits_miraculous_court_length_three_on_senior_night/10222780 http://www.yardbarker.com/media/4/1/41141e1099208a2a412177d35f5214bbb31719e7/mini/Full-Court-Shot.jpg Some Michigan State fans in the Izzone section taunted Purdue’s Robbie Hummel by telling him to tear his ACL again. This incident lead to a bit of an altercation with Matt Painter, the Purdue head coach. Painter was not the only coach that was ticked off. Michigan State head coach Tom Izzo was also upset over the heckling by Spartan fans. Here’s what he had to say: “Robbie Hummel is one of the most respected people in this league, and I want our fans to be as hard as they can be,” Izzo said. “I just don’t want them to be ignorant. “That would be a very ignorant statement. I would throw the guy out of here that said something like that. If he wants to talk about his grandmother, I wouldn’t like it, but I’d deal with it. But if he wants to talk about an injury to a kid who’s been through so much, I’ll try to find out who it was and make sure that I buy his ticket.” It’s unfortunate that a small handful of fans that act like idiots can make a whole fan base look bad. My whole family ro Mon, 23 Jan 2012 17:54:10 -0500 http://network.yardbarker.com/college_basketball/article_external/tom_izzo_has_a_few_words_for_izzone_fans_who_rooted_for_robbie_hummel_to_tear_his_acl_again/9539729 http://network.yardbarker.com/college_basketball/article_external/tom_izzo_has_a_few_words_for_izzone_fans_who_rooted_for_robbie_hummel_to_tear_his_acl_again/9539729 Tom Izzo Has A Few Words For Izzone Fans Who Rooted For Robbie Hummel To Tear His ACL Again http://www.yardbarker.com/college_basketball/articles/tom_izzo_has_a_few_words_for_izzone_fans_who_rooted_for_robbie_hummel_to_tear_his_acl_again/9539729 http://www.yardbarker.com/media/1/2/1203294b0df433af7438b5e81841c2b77f92654a/mini/Big_Ten_Tournamnet_9c11.jpg Purdue forward Robbie Hummel is used to hard work. The senior captain of the Boilermakers missed two late free throws in what turned out to be a close win over High Point on Monday night. Hummel says it felt like a loss and he stayed late into the night practicing his free throws. Hummel is back after missing last season with a knee injury, and the final few weeks of the year before that. His 3-pointer in the final minute Thursday gave Purdue a 91-90 victory over Iona in the opening round of the Puerto Rico Tip-Off. Thu, 17 Nov 2011 17:07:45 -0500 http://network.yardbarker.com/college_basketball/article_external/hummel_puts_in_extra_time_effort_to_help_purdue/8163442 http://network.yardbarker.com/college_basketball/article_external/hummel_puts_in_extra_time_effort_to_help_purdue/8163442 Hummel puts in extra time, effort to help Purdue http://www.yardbarker.com/college_basketball/articles/hummel_puts_in_extra_time_effort_to_help_purdue/8163442 http://www.yardbarker.com/media/9/e/9e663fccc5bfd385f8af1f369b478b7a7063ab5f/mini/e5.jpg