Smith might not be Superman, but his return could save March

There's an old saying that it takes losing something to really value it. But that's not the case for people in West Lafayette, and it's certainly not the case for the players in Purdue's locker room.

Even if it took the Bob Cousy Award committee till the end of the season to see it, Braden Smith's teammates, Purdue fans, and the Big Ten at large has known that Purdue's 29-3 season rests largely on Braden Smith's evolution from plucky true freshman to one of the best point guards in the country.

So it makes sense that for a little over five minutes, a lot of the world shut down for Purdue fans when Braden Smith drove left and Tyson Walker got a piece of him and a ripple of reactions tore through Smith's body - first his foot hitting the ground, then his knee buckling, and ending with his body going to the ground beyond the basketball stanchion as he felt a little pain at the top of his calf.

Zach Edey made his way from across the court to look over his point guard. Tyson Walker stood not far away either, a competitor's respect as he watched as the uncertainty and pain recoiled inside of Smith as the Purdue curse seemed to take one more cruel, twisted path on its way to March.

Just a little bit past where Smith crumpled to the floor, a jogging Smith brought Purdue fans back to their feet. After the hush, a roar, as Smith made his way back from the tunnels where televisions showed Smith running back and forth with Purdue's trainer after the injury.

The worst of it seemed avoided. Smith made his way back to the Purdue bench. Smith took his abnormal place next to PJ Thompson on the bench.

"I don't like not playing him," Matt Painter said after the game, something he's said any time I've asked him about Smith being on the bench this season.

Painter noticed Smith there and went to his sophomore guard. He asked once, and then as if he couldn't believe it, or because he wanted to be sure this wasn't just Smith being tough, he asked again if Smith was good to go. Smith was slightly smiling and nodded as he massaged an area on the top of his right calf.

After the game, a plastic bag with ice was wrapped over that same spot on that same calf.

"I'm not trying to be invincible or Superman or nothing," Smith said after the game. "I just - I play for my guys and I want to be out there for them."

Purdue needed him. When Smith went out, Purdue did a good job holding the line. Lance Jones was given more ball handling duties. Purdue looked to get offense through Edey in the post, but Purdue's offense and its elaborate, moving parts is something designed to take the best from its star inside, Zach Edey, and Smith's genius.

It also didn't help that during each second Smith was tucked into the halls of the Target Center, his teammates had the same uncertainty that fans did watching.

"It made it long," Fletcher Loyer said of those few minutes while Smith was away from the court. "Just worried. You didn't know what was going on. I mean that's a guy you see put in so much work, get so much better... you get scared for a second. That's your boy. That's my roommate on the road. That's my guy."

For Lance Jones, who took over the primary guard role with Smith off the floor, the same uncertainty lingered.

"A lot," Jones tells me after the game after letting out an exasperated noise of some relief on what was going through his mind while Smith was on the floor. Jones never got a good view of the play, was on the other side of the court, and didn't know what had happened.

"Just driving left, tried to plant off my right - just hyperextended," Smith said after the game about the play. "A little bit of shock - wasn't expecting my knee to buckle like that. I was just like what in the world just happened. Then there was a little bit of pain in the back of my calf."

Calf pain is probably the best case scenario for a school that has a history of devastating knee injuries in the state of Minnesota.

But the Smith that returned to the game wasn't at full health. His shot wasn't falling before the injury, but he lacked a little juice with the ball after. Painter will take that, especially with all the small things Smith does well. Smith made the game-clinching assist to Loyer in the corner right after Michigan State tied the game late in the second half.

"I thought he wasn't the same," Painter said after the game. "He wasn't as aggressive. He didn't try to get to his pull up or drive very much. He was just solid out there."

It's perhaps the greatest compliment to his growth. Smith's mere presence is enough to fortify his team against Michigan State's gang of talented guards.

"We'll see," Painter said after the game, looking to Purdue's game on Saturday against Wisconsin. "Sometimes those things in the next day you're perfectly fine, and sometimes they get progressively worse. So we'll just kind of see what's going on and see how he's feeling tonight and tomorrow morning."

Wisconsin's starting point guard, Chucky Hepburn, missed Wisconsin's game against Northwestern and is questionable for Saturday as the two team's could be without their two starting point guards.

Smith is at war with himself. Purdue is at war with itself.

Purdue didn't need to win this game. I've said it. Other media members have said it. It's an easy narrative. Did Purdue want this game as much as Michigan State? Smith answered that question with an exclamation.

"I just wanted to come out and play for them," Smith told me after the game. "A lot of people have said this tournament doesn't mean nothing for us, but I don't believe that. I think when we step on the court we're gonna try to win everything we play."

Smith proved that, and it's no surprise. Mason Gillis told me after the game part of the rallying cry was that he knew that Smith wouldn't be able to stomach if they lost after he went out.

"He's gonna feel like sh*t if he's sitting out and we lose," Gillis said.

But Purdue does have higher goals than just the Big Ten Tournament. It has its sights set on March and a Final Four in Phoenix.

Purdue needs Braden Smith for that, a fully healthy one.

Something Painter knows too well. After the game, he said if there's any risk that Smith can injure his leg more by playing tomorrow, they'll most likely sit him.

Purdue might want to do that regardless, but that won't be the case if Smith has anything to say about it.