Not so much about the outcome. I just think with Woodson and Fife in the locker room now, our boys will at least have more fire and intensity in these Purdue games.
For too long, I feel like the IU program has had to be reminded how important these games are every year. How big the rivalry is. Often times, the people doing the reminding are the Purdue players and fans on game day. Showing them the game meant waaaayyy more to them than it did to IU. Some of those games IU still won...they had a good little run in the Crean years. But by and large...the importance of the rivalry has remained strong in West Laffy, and has faded in Bloomington. Purdue is 20-14 against IU since RMK left town. To be fair, Purdue has had the better team more often than not during these years. But you can visually see that the game has meant more to them, than it does to us. Recently, it looked like Archie didn't give a Martha's Broom about Purdue. At times he placated by saying it was important. But visually you could see he didn't really care. And then how he handled the RMK game last year, there was proof he wasn't "bought in".
I can't imagine any scenario where Woody and Dane aren't fully bought in to how important these games are. Purdue is a really good basketball team, they're just better than we are in most areas. So, in the end, a renewed spirit by our program in this game might not matter in terms of getting a win tonight. But I have a feeling its gonna be more heated and intense than it has been recently.
I've been lukewarm on the Woody hire. I've been critical after losses. But Woody is back here to rekindle the IU fire in games like these. Dane is back here because he wants to bring that fire back to Bloomington. I've got a really good feeling that tonights game is going to be exciting to watch. It'll evoke IU/Purdue emotions that have been dormant for a while. It'll be amazing if IU wins tonight. If they don't, I'm sure the technical basketball reasons they don't, will be frustrating. But I bet it won't end up being because they don't have the fire.
For too long, I feel like the IU program has had to be reminded how important these games are every year. How big the rivalry is. Often times, the people doing the reminding are the Purdue players and fans on game day. Showing them the game meant waaaayyy more to them than it did to IU. Some of those games IU still won...they had a good little run in the Crean years. But by and large...the importance of the rivalry has remained strong in West Laffy, and has faded in Bloomington. Purdue is 20-14 against IU since RMK left town. To be fair, Purdue has had the better team more often than not during these years. But you can visually see that the game has meant more to them, than it does to us. Recently, it looked like Archie didn't give a Martha's Broom about Purdue. At times he placated by saying it was important. But visually you could see he didn't really care. And then how he handled the RMK game last year, there was proof he wasn't "bought in".
I can't imagine any scenario where Woody and Dane aren't fully bought in to how important these games are. Purdue is a really good basketball team, they're just better than we are in most areas. So, in the end, a renewed spirit by our program in this game might not matter in terms of getting a win tonight. But I have a feeling its gonna be more heated and intense than it has been recently.
I've been lukewarm on the Woody hire. I've been critical after losses. But Woody is back here to rekindle the IU fire in games like these. Dane is back here because he wants to bring that fire back to Bloomington. I've got a really good feeling that tonights game is going to be exciting to watch. It'll evoke IU/Purdue emotions that have been dormant for a while. It'll be amazing if IU wins tonight. If they don't, I'm sure the technical basketball reasons they don't, will be frustrating. But I bet it won't end up being because they don't have the fire.
