Fight, hold the flight

 Your Purdue Boilermakers survived a '90s-style bludgeonfest against Michigan State yesterday, winning 67-62 in an ugly crawl in which blood was literally spilled and the Spartans did what the Spartans do in March, which is refuse to go down easy.

At one point, Purdue also seemed to do what Purdue does in March, which is arrive with a less-than-adequate supply of good luck.

A lot of oh-crap gasps emanated from Boilermaker World when point guard Braden Smith went down clutching his knee at one point, and then disappeared up the ramp to the locker room. With the obvious exception of Zach Edey, after all, Smith is the one indispensable man for Matt Painter's bunch, the engine that drives what has been an absolute juggernaut this season.

Ah, but a few minutes later, back came Smith, declaring himself good to go. And back onto the floor he went.

It was at this point the Blob (and other observers) had a heretical thought: Why?

Look, I get it. Matt Painter is as competitive as competitive gets, and his team takes its hard-nosed flavor from him. It's the trait that most separates this year's Purdue model from last year's, and it's been evident since the first tip back in November.

They're a nasty, pugnacious, bring-it-on lot, these Boilers. And that's largely been fueled by the fact they're sick to death of hearing they're a bunch of chokers whose throats get narrow at the very thought of March.

So, yeah, they fought like hell yesterday, and, yeah, they'll fight like hell against Wisconsin today, and if they win that they'll fight like hell in the Big Ten championship game tomorrow. But the question persists: Why?

Because Braden Smith going down, and then coming back in, illuminated an obvious and inconvenient fact: If you're Purdue, why worry about a quarterfinal conference tournament game when the tournament that matters is next week?

After all, if Painter had parked Smith after he went down, and Purdue had lost, it would have zero bearing on what happens next week. The Boilers are a lock No. 1 seed, and they were going to be a lock No. 1 seed no matter what happened yesterday in Minneapolis. So all that's really at stake for them this weekend is the chance to collect another shiny knick-knack for their trophy case.

And, yes, I know, that matters to them. But enough to risk losing a vital cog right before the big show?

No one in charge of the multiple-bid conferences wants to hear this, but their conference tournaments matter only to the financials and the bubble teams. The Purdues, the UConns, the Houstons aren't going to be affected an iota by whether or not they win or lose in their conference tournaments. And so, in the case of the Big Ten, this week was crucial only to the Michigan States, the Ohio States, the Nebraskas and the Wisconsins. And maybe to the Indianas, the Northwesterns and other riders of the cusp, too.

Purdue?

Purdue could have sat out the whole schmear. But of course the Boilermakers wouldn't be in a position to do that if they were the sittin'-out kind.

So buckle up, Wisky. No take-it-easy in these Purdues.