Poll Dancing: Big Drago Carries Purdue up the Rankings

Isaac Haas looked like the player that most Purdue fans hoped he could be this season, during the last few games. His effort earned him the first B1G POW honor for a Purdue player this season, as he scored nearly 19 points/game while grabbing six boards per game. More importantly, he was  active...motivated...and had a bit of a chip on his shoulder (especially versus Maryland). When a 7'2" gentle giant carries you, the ride can be nice, as our Boilers have discovered.

On Twitter earlier this evening, J noted that J Bilas' college basketball ranking 'gets it' when it comes to our Boilers. In Bilas' ranking system, Purdue lands at #10, in spite of a rotten couple of games in the Bahamas.

I'm not sure our Boilers deserve that high of a mark...just yet. I think Purdue might become a top 10-15 team as the season progresses. But as this squad gets more comfortable to life without Biggie, their effort on the glass seems to be getting a bit better.

The first few games in Mackey were kinda silly. As Purdue hit an abnormally-high percentage of their three pointers, some bad habits were created. It's fun to watch TMC, Vince, Cline and Boogie raining threes...even for their teammates, it seems. But as Purdue struggled to get its touch under the ballroom ceilings at the Atlantis Resort, they clearly didn't adjust their effort on the glass. That spelled the grim scene that J and lil' Money witnessed in person.

Things have leveled a bit...Purdue is shooting well, but not out of its collective mind, and at the same time, team effort seems to have increased. As Purdue has gotten back to playing basketball as Matty prefers, their rebounding and defensive rotations are improving steadily. The end result is our Boilers have won three straight, as you all know.

So where does the streak help them land?

Their *BSCR currently stands at 17.8.

Their highest ranking in the index is eight, according to Sagarin's equation...their lowest (as usual) is the RPI at 29.

Next up, Purdue plays Valpo on Thursday on FS1's early 6:30 slot.

*BSCR is the Boiled Sports Composite Ranking