A Real Humm(el) Dinger

by Jordan Loperena 3/15/09

In what was probably the best game of the weekend, the Purdue Boilermakers captured the Big Ten Tournament title today over the Ohio State Buckeyes by a final score of 65-61. The Buckeyes made quite a run and gave a very outstanding effort, as they did all weekend. However it was not enough.

E'Twaun Moore, JaJuan Johnson, and Chris Kramer were spectacular for the Boilers and so was Keaton Grant off the bench. However, the Most Valuable Player award belonged to Robbie Hummel. He was not only statistically impressive throughout the entire tournament, but Hummel defined the phrase "lead by example". He's not your 30 points per game type of leader. He's not your double-double every single game type of leader (but close). Robbie Hummel is your put the ball in the basket, grab the rebound, down to business type of leader. You will rarely see him holding his jersey up so the crowd can read "Purdue". He won't jump up on the scorers' table after scoring the game winning shot. He definitely won't be found taunting his opponents' players or fans. He plays the game the way it is supposed to be played and respects it the way it's supposed to be played. That is why I was more than happy to see Purdue take this tournament. Ohio State will get into the NCAA tournament after an impressive showing this weekend and Evan Turner will continue to turn heads after he made his best efforts for Big Ten Tourney MVP this weekend.

Time for the real March Madness to begin, should be a fun month!