Time to Step Up: Purdue Basketball Without the Saint

With seven minutes and 11 seconds left in the first half, as Robbie Hummel made a cut through the lane driving towards the hoop, every Boilermaker fan's biggest fear came to a stunning reality: he fell and was helped off the court.  

Throughout the last few hours, this author has been bombarded with text messages, Facebook messages, and an onslaught of depressing status updates. I am ashamed to say that a lot of people are giving up on the Boilermakers.

The last 24 hours have been a roller coaster ride full of emotion for most Boilermaker basketball fans. Whether it be Hummel going down in the first half, or the stunning shot by Keaton Grant to win the game, it has been a day full of emotion.

According to FoxSports.com, two doctors believe that Hummel tore his ACL, and he was going to Indianapolis to receive an MRI today.  We can assume that he will be out for the remainder of the season, and possibly even be injured at the beginning of next year, his final year as a Boilermaker.  

It seems, though, that the Boilermaker nation has been split into half, essentially leaving our team feeling like Tiger Woods's kids. One half believes that the season is over, stick a fork in us, we are nothing without Robbie Hummel.  The other half believes that we still have a shot. It seems as though these people are not as confident as they let on. 

Boilermakers fans need to continue to believe. Losing Hummel means that we lost size, athleticism, and most of all leadership. The energy Hummel brought to the court was by far one of the key factors to the Boilermakers success this year. And of course, losing a player that is averaging 15.7 points a game and 6.9 rebounds is going to hurt any team.

Although the loss is huge, the Boilermakers still have the capability to make a run in March.

Losing Hummel means that we lost our second big man down low. To replace this we have two options which really amount to one—speed.  

The first option, is moving freshman guard Kelsey Barlow to the PF position at the start of the game. With Lewis Jackson healthy again and playing like he is, we could start him at point guard while keeping Keaton Grant in that sixth man role he has been so successful in over the past few weeks.

While this option could be used, Barlow will not be able to play more than 13 or 14 minutes down low due to his lack of size. Chris Kramer will need to step up to help out the absence of Hummel.

The second option is putting Keaton Grant back in to the starting line-up. This would give us more of a shooting threat as Grant has shown brilliant shooting recently averaging 12.6 points a game and shooting 52 percent from the field. He has really decided to show up after a poor beginning to the season and it's nice to see the old Grant back in action. 

Regardless of who is starting, the leadership of Grant and Kramer is going to have to be very prevalent not only on the floor, but at practice. They are going to have to step up and really take this young team into their hands.

As scary as this next statement may sound, it's the truth. The most prevalent player on Purdue's roster right now is Patrick Bade.  Bade, the 6 foot 8 inches 238 pound forward is really going to have to grow up to make this team a force.  He is going to have to start being dominant while he is out on the floor. Sure, no one is expecting Bade to come in and be our savior, but we do expect him to stop making stupid freshman mistakes. He is almost a sophomore, and has been given a considerable amount of playing time.

Although many of you Purdue fans have your doubts about the rest of the year, we are still Purdue. Purdue is known for heart, defense, and desire. All three of these things must be accomplished starting with the fan base.

I encourage you to stop being such negative Nancy's, and still believe in your Boilermakers! Over 100 people braved the elements and walked to the airport to greet our team after a victory against Minnesota. 

I expect the Boilermaker nation to continue supporting them even with the absence of Hummel. Hummel is a huge loss, but we will just have to play with Barlow, Johnson, Kramer, Jackson, Bade, and a little "Moore Hart" to "Grant" us our Big Ten Title.