FanHouse Nemanja Calasan

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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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.

The Big Ten Diaries recaps the previous night's action in Big Ten Basketball, but of course, you're probably smart enough to figure that out on your own.

Indiana Hoosiers 78 Michigan Wolverines 64

If D.J. White and Eric Gordon play like they did in Ann Arbor on Tuesday night all season, I don't know that there's anybody in this country that can beat the Hoosiers. Of course, it will probably be a bit tougher to do against North Carolina than Michigan, but it's not the Hoosiers' fault the Big Ten is very top heavy this year.

White scored 21 points and also grabbed 22 boards to become the first Hoosier to have a 20/20 game since Alan Henderson in 1995. D.J. was already scary enough in his first three years on campus, now that he's gotten into much better shape physically, he's an absolute beast.

Eric Gordon matched his number with 23 points, including 4 three-pointers, just another ho-hum night for the youngster. He just makes everything he does look so easy, which you just don't see freshman do very often. At least not the kind that stick around longer than a year.

For Michigan, Manny Harris-speaking of freshman-led the team with 19 points. There's hope on the horizon, Wolverines fans!