FanHouse JaJuan Johnson

The scrappy Purdue Boilermakers forced the top-seeded Connecticut Huskies to slow down and play a defensive-oriented game Thursday night in the Sweet 16. In the process, though, they learned a couple things. First of all, you can't spot a team of UConn's caliber an 8-0 lead. Secondly, they don't have a Hasheem Thabeet in the Big Ten.

The 7'3" Tanzanian behemoth stuffed the stat sheet as much as he affected Purdue's game with his presence. Thabeet put together a sparkling 15-point, 15-rebound, 4-block effort, while also putting the handcuffs on Purdue's post-scoring.

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For the second consecutive game, the Purdue Boilermakers looked like they were going to cruise to an easy victory. For the second consecutive game, however, they allowed their opposition to creep back into the game and make things a little too interesting.

You have to give the Huskies credit, as they battled back into the game behind the inside-outside duo of Jon Brockman and Isaiah Thomas. Purdue, though, held off the furious comeback bid by Washington, and ended up winning a game in which it never trailed.

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For much of the season, the Purdue Boilermakers have failed to meet lofty preseason expectations. Of course, they've had to deal with the constant injury issues in the back of Robbie Hummel -- the preseason Big Ten player of the year. Even when Hummel played, there were stretches where he was noticeably hampered by the back woes and wasn't playing up to par.

If the past two games in the Big Ten Tournament are any indication, though, Hummel and the Boilers are back. They will be a very dangerous out in the NCAA Tournament if this carries over, because they currently look like the team who was in most preseason top 10 lists.

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This was supposed to the be the year Purdue made the leap into the elite of college basketball. They still can, after all, there is still some college football to be played. It's way early to be counting teams out. The Purdue Boilermakers, however, have some things that need to be ironed out if they want more than a nice little Sweet 16 squad.

In their past two games, Purdue has played top-flight competition.

In their past two games, Purdue has been exposed for their two major flaws.

Now, before all the Purdue fans start flipping out and calling me out for being an IU grad -- which I am, so it's not news to me -- please realize the relative terms I'm using here. Purdue is a very solid basketball team. They handled a quality opponent in Boston College without much headache.

I'm merely pointing out that if Purdue wants to jump into the echelon with college basketball's elite that they need to do something about two aspects of their game.

If there's one weak spot on the 10th ranked Purdue Boilermakers right now, it's definitely their lack of bulk on the inside. The Boilers aren't short, but the size of their bigs who garner playing time doesn't involve as many lbs as some other teams. Today, they face a very tough test when butting heads with 11th ranked Oklahoma.

Not sure if you've heard of him, but Blake Griffin is a decent basketball player. He hung 32 and 15 on UAB earlier this week, and he's going to be throwing his massive 6'9" 245 lb frame tonight. Purdue's game plan should be to do everything they can to shut Griffin down and make the guards beat them. Purdue's perimeter defense -- led by reigning Big Ten defensive player of the year, Chris Kramer -- is superb. JaJuan Johnson isn't going to be able to handle Griffin on his own, so the Boilers should send a variety of different double-teams down low in an effort to force as many passes as possible from the stout Griffin.