Hey, Purdue is ... pretty good

I hate the skeptic in my head. He's always ruining every sunny day by A) pointing out the ONE cloud in the sky, or B) saying, "Yeah, but tomorrow it's supposed to rain. Or snow. Or sleet. Hell, it's Indiana, who knows?"

Anyway ... the skeptic has been watching this Purdue basketball team, which some prisoners of the moment have said is the Best Purdue Team Ever, and has been shooting down every positive the more congenial elements of the Blob sees.

Yes, Purdue has won a record 17 games in a row, but the Boilermakers aren't exactly blowing people out.

OK, so they're blowing some people out, even on the road, but those people don't count because A) they're not that good, B) all their good players are hurt, or C) they're not that good.

Purdue is 21-2 and 10-0 in the Big Ten, but they only beat Michigan by four in Mackey, and they only beat an inferior Indiana team by seven.

OK, so the Michigan team shot so well that night it would have beaten anyone else in the nation, and it's the same Michigan team that beat Michigan State by double digits in  Breslin.

And, OK, so yesterday was a rivalry game, and it happened in one of the toughest places to play in America (Assembly Hall), and Indiana, when it shows up to play, is actually not terrible. When Robert Johnson and/or Josh Newkirk show up to play -- which they don't always, occasionally vanishing into the ether -- the Hoosiers can beat people. And Johnson in particular showed up to play yesterday.

Of course, Purdue still won. The Boilermakers put it away with a 9-3 run in the last three minutes, doing all the right things down the stretch because that's who they are, while Indiana didn't because that's who the Hoosiers are. And so the seven-point win was about what should have been expected given the occasion.

Ah, the skeptic in my head says. Just wait.

Just wait until the Boilers play Ohio State or Michigan State. Better yet, just wait until March, when they'll fold like laundry same as ever, because this is Purdue and March is Purdue's kryptonite. The Boilers haven't gotten past the Sweet Sixteen since Matt Painter's been on the sideline. They haven't been to a Final Four since before Gene Keady. So slow your roll, everyone.

Have I mentioned how much I hate this guy?

Because, you know, he's dead right about the aforementioned, and we all know it. Whether or not this is Purdue's Best Team Ever wasn't decided Sunday, and it won't be decided this month or next. It'll be decided in March, because that's when these things always get decided.

In the meantime, the Blob's judgment is this: Purdue is pretty damn good. They play solid defense. They have a multitude of weapons on offense. They not only have an old-school physical presence on the blocks in Isaac Haas, they have some of the best 3-point shooters in the nation on the perimeter, a pretty devastating combination. They are deep. They are unselfish. They make you work overtime on defense because they move the basketball so well and they find the open man -- and they have about six open men who can kill you when they're found.

Best Purdue team ever?

I don't know. That 1969 Final Four team with Rick Mount was pretty good, too. And the Troy Lewis-Todd Mitchell-Everette Stephens team in 1988 was even better -- and never mind that it got knocked out in the NCAA regional by Mitch Richmond and Kansas State.

A cautionary tale, perhaps?

No. Just Purdue being Purdue, the skeptic in my head whispers.

Hate that guy. Really, really hate him.