Purdue just lost Robbie Hummel for the rest of the season and quite possibly lost their chance of playing in the Final Four in their home state. Hummel is as important to the Boilermakers as any player is to any other team but Purdue has enough depth to adjust. Players like Keaton Grant and Chris Kramer need to step up on offense now, which Grant has already done the last three games. If he can continue to score in double figures consistently then he can replace Hummel's offense. The problem is going to be defense, rebounding and perhaps more importantly height on the inside. Besides JuJaun Johnson the only other big player Purdue has that plays regularly was Hummel. Losing him on the inside creates problems that perhaps don't show up in the box score like points do but are just as important. It's easy to see the Boilers getting out rebounded by bigger teams now and perhaps have the other teams inside guys go off on them since Johnson can't cover everyone. Hummel is generously listed as 6'8", he's probably closer to 6'6", but he still played inside well on defense and filled a lot of wholes that Purdue's bench is going to have a hard time covering.
All of which leads to another question, why doesn't Purdue have more big guys? They have 13 guys listed on the roster as guards, 2 as forwards and 1 as a center. Really, 13 guards? Their "backup" forward, Patrick Bade is a 6'8" freshman who's played a total of 186 minutes this season. So what happens now, start four guards and Johnson? Start a freshman for the final three games of the season, the Big Ten Tournament and the NCAA Tournament? What other options do they have? I guess it's something I'd like to know, why did Matt Painter construct his roster this way? Did he purposely sign all those guards or did he lose out recruiting other big men and didn't have any other choice? One way or the other it's put Purdue in a tough situation. They can perhaps replace Hummel's offense but how are they going to replace him inside?
I still think Purdue has a good chance of winning the Big Ten outright and perhaps doing well in the Big Ten Tournament, if not winning that as well. Their chances of a #1 seed in the NCAA Tournament are probably gone though since it already seems like everyone in the media is itching to drop them in the rankings and/or move Syracuse in front of them. They're the #3 ranked team in the country right now but whether they win or lose their next few games they're going to drop in the rankings just for losing Hummel. How far will they go in the NCAA's without Hummel? I'm guessing Sweet Sixteen, unless the selection committee somehow awards them a #1 seed (they won't, see what they did to Cincinnati in 2000 when they lost Kenyon Martin). With a #1 seed I would guess they'd make it to the Elite Eight but no further.
It's too bad really, the trip to the Final Four was only an hour down I65 in Indy.
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