Purdue Celebrating after clinching a Sweet 16 berth.

In only two weeks, the Boilermakers have gone from 11 point halves to looking like one of the better teams in the country. I am absolutely floored, to say the least. The surprising return of chemistry has made the Boilermakers a force to be reckoned with. Next up on the table, the Boilers have the Duke Blue Devils. Needless to say, one can expect Purdue to have the entire country rooting for it on Friday night. Nobody likes Duke.

The game that brought them into the Sweet 16 was one of the better ones I’ve seen this year. It’d be hard to name one star of the game, though Chris Kramer makes the most compelling case. The play of the bench, including Patrick Bade (in the surprising performance of the year) and DJ Byrd, made the absolute difference as Purdue went into overtime to defeat Texas A&M. This team continues to give me heart attacks and I can only hope that Purdue continues winning, though I think our shot against Duke is slim. However, should Purdue be able to best Duke, a matchup against Baylor or St Marys might be what it takes to get Purdue to the Final Four. While I have to consider this year a success so far, a trip to the Final Four would be absolutely unheard of given the condition of the team. Even more, it’ll set up the team for next year and I think that a Final Four next year is a reasonable goal, assuming all three Juniors return for their Senior year.

In other surprising news, the Coyptes have won 9 straight. I was fortunate enough to attend win 8 on Saturday, at home against the Blackhawks. One of the most disheartening things to happen in sports, in my opinion, is to have away fans show up at your house and make the place sound like a home game for them. The Blackhawks fans in attendance were everywhere, they were loud, and of course, like anyone from Chicago, they were obnoxious. Surprisingly, the Coyotes fans were actually able to drown them out. As I said a long time before the season began, if the new owners put together a winning team, the fans would come. The game on Saturday was the best atmosphere I’ve encountered in Phoenix hockey since the playoffs in 2002. I fully expect Jobing.com arena to be rocking for the playoffs. The whiteout is one of the best traditions in all of sport, and 8 years for it to be gone was too long. If the Yotes continue playing this way, I’d be surprised if they didn’t make the conference finals at minimum.

It’s a good time to be a sports fan. At least, a Purdue / Phoenix Coyotes fan.

Minnesota 37, Purdue 11.

ELEVEN POINTS. I am beyond words. This domain was a fantastic (and perfectly valid) purchase.

Such ridiculous shots being taken. I’m about to walk away from the tv and just not even bother checking the score after the game but I won’t give up on my Boilers just yet.

On the other hand, my lawn does need to be mowed.

Edit: just as I hit the post button, E’Twaun Moore fell to the ground with an ankle injury. Fantastic. Lawnmower can’t be started fast enough.

In what is hopefully not a sign of things to come, Kevin Millwood has been absolutely wretched for the Orioles in his two Spring Training starts. Okay, so he claims he uses the time to experiment with new pitches and work on different mechanics, but still, a 29.7 ERA isn’t exactly the thing I want to see after spending the big bucks on a guy who will be the ace of the Orioles staff. Though his most recent outing was significantly better than his first showing (81.00 ERA), I’m still not too thrilled at the experimentation. Clearly the experiments aren’t working. Perhaps it’s time to go to more traditional means and at least settle down Orioles fans’ stomachs.

In other news, don’t look now but the PHOENIX Coyotes are in 4th place in the Western Conference. Playoff tickets are up for sale. I see the cart, but that horse is nowhere to be seen. The Coyotes really put it in front of the horse this year. I guess they’re concerned about attendance issues, but if the Coyotes make the playoffs I would not be concerned with that. They have a very realistic shot at winning their first playoff series since moving to Phoenix, and I know the bandwagon will be quickly assembled as it was for the Cardinals 2008 playoff run.

And a short rant here, but the media are counting out Purdue’s chance at getting a 1 seed in the tournament. They’re overlooking Purdue’s body of work with the fear that Hummel’s injury will lead to Purdue not being qualified for a #1 seed. Sure, the Michigan State loss may signify this, but Purdue hasn’t lost to a bad team (yet) without Hummel, but they’re not even the discussion over the likes of Duke and even Ohio State, with whom Purdue split a pair of regular season games. In fact, Lunardi currently has Purdue as a 2 seed in the Kansas bracket, implying that Purdue is the weakest 2 seed of the four!

But what does Lunardi know?

So sure, it’s a split championship. Sure, it’s spoiled by Hummel’s injury, but the Boilermakers are Big Ten Champions for the first time in 14 years. They still stand a chance to get a 1 seed in the tournament, though it’s seeming likely they’ll end up a 2 seed. With already a few upsets in the minor conference championships, it would set up Purdue with a very easy first round game, not to mention water down the field as a whole, which will benefit Purdue in the long run. But for tonight, the Boilermakers are the (Co-) Champions of the Big Ten.

I’ll take it.