The biggest surprise team in college basketball this season has been the Purdue Boilermakers. From unranked, to the top five, and eventually the top team in the rankings for a couple weeks, Matt Painter’s crew finds ways to win. On Monday, Purdue registered their fourth consecutive win after losing to Rutgers courtesy of Zach Edey‘s dominance. Edey has been the most dominant player in college basketball, but it’s the freshman guards that have surprised most college basketball fans.
Former Boilermaker, and current Big Ten Network analyst, Rapheal Davis joined the Ride with JMV on Thursday’s show to break down the success of the two freshman guards for Matt Painter in Fletcher Loyer and Braden Smith. A couple other topics that Davis discussed with JMV about the Boilers were:
- Loyer and Smith’s ability to have a short-term memory with failure
- Loyer’s second half success
Now travel two-hours south to Bloomington, where the Indiana Hoosiers had all the preseason hype with Mike Woodson entering his second season at the helm of the Hoosiers, Trayce Jackson-Davis returning, and being ranked within the top-fifteen during the preseason. Since Xavier Johnson‘s foot injury at Kansas, IU has struggled defensively, and even more so following Race Thompson‘s leg injury in Iowa. Davis explained where IU’s defense is really struggling along with the following:
- How their defense was off prior to Johnson’s injury
- IU fans need to take their win over Wisconsin with a grain of salt
To listen to JMV’s full conversation with Rapheal Davis, download the podcast containing the interview below! You can always listen to the Ride with JMV from 3pm-6pm on 93.5/107.5 The Fan, but you can watch and interact with the show by going to the 107.5 The Fan YouTube Channel.
