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.
On the other end of the floor, Purdue's backcourt size will create several mismatches on the perimeter. Robbie Hummell and E'Twaun Moore pose difficult tasks for any team, and if the threes are falling, the Boilers could beat anyone in the country. "
It's gonna boil down to the Boilers' (wow, did I really mean to word it like that?) ability to stop Griffin -- who may be the best player in college basketball, with all due respect to everyone's love-child Tyler Hansbrough -- in the low-post and crash the boards. For the Sooners, they need to feed Griffin, and handcuff Hummell and Moore.
