FanHouse RobbieHummell

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 game hinged upon if outside shooting could trump an inside game. It worked for most of regulation for the Purdue Boilermakers, but the three-point shooting well ran dry late in the game, Robbie Hummell fouled out, and the Oklahoma Sooners rode the back of the Griffin family to victory in the NIT Season Tip-Off Championship today.

With all the defensive attention inside on Blake Griffin -- and rightfully so -- his brother Taylor stepped up for the Sooners with a 19 point, seven rebound effort. Oh, don't worry; Blake got his, too, as he compiled 18 points and 22 rebounds, despite being double and triple-teamed routinely. Freshman guard Willie Warren threw in 22 points of his own, benefitting from the attention the inside game was getting.

At one point, Purdue led by nine and had hit half of their three point attempts. Alas, they missed their last seven attempts from behind the arc, and the points in the paint and free throw discrepancies caught up with them.

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.