Weekly Word: The absence of Jeff Brohm, basketball and predictions

The Weekly Word is GoldandBlack.com's weekly, obviously, column covering Purdue football, basketball and recruiting, as well as college sports issues, the true meaning of life, or whatever other topics might come to mind in a given week.

If there's anything the past few months have taught us — especially in the world of college sports, muddling through during a global health crisis — it's this: Be ready for anything.

Well, anything just hit Purdue right between the eyes, with the news that its football coach is positive for COVID-19, exactly one week prior to the season opener that's finally here.

First and foremost, obviously, everyone must hope Purdue's Jeff Brohm is well and remains so, which it sure seems like he is and will be. That's the most important part of this, but this is a big deal in the context of Purdue's season, too.

This Iowa game is a big game to start off a big opportunity for Purdue. The schedule is favorable and the team, far as we know, both promising and healthy. The Boilermakers would like nothing more following last season's tragic comedy of injuries than to experience smooth sailing this season, insofar as anything can be smooth nowadays. No catastrophes, let's just put it that way. It wasn't all that long ago that Purdue's two most important players were lost for the season on the same play, so that's the standard.

The Brohm news is a most dubious manner to start the process of plugging the flow of hard luck, and it does matter, a lot, even if it's just one week, one game that he misses.

We've said all along that this season is a wild card, a year in which outcomes will be as randomized as ever, and determined, quite plausibly, by amplified DNA and molecular composition as third-down conversions or goal-line stands.

Purdue, facing this highly important game against a program it's had success against, is at risk here.

I'm not saying Purdue's going to lose to Iowa because Jeff Brohm is unlikely to be there, but I'm saying this is a big deal, and if the Boilermakers win without their head coach, that would really be something.

You see, Brohm isn't a figurehead, like many coaches are, one of those CEO types who oversees staffs that do most of the heavy-lifting. Everything Purdue does, and is, is tied to its head coach, from game-day decision-making, to accountability and especially — especially — the offense, for which Brohm is the voice, during the week, during the game, always. While assistant coaches obviously have their roles, this has never struck me as a democracy in that sense. Maybe I'm wrong.

I know the head coach will have his role from quarantine during the week, quality control on the practice field during said week now lies in the hands of the assistant coaches, the loudest voice in the room no longer present, and game-day decision-making and play-calling being passed down within the family to Brian Brohm.

There are going to be challenges in this, very real ones, and they may be compounded by the opponent.

There's this interesting dichotomy, I think, to facing Iowa right out of the chute.

For one thing, they're about as predictable as they come, so the element of surprise may not be so pronounced right off the bat. But on the other hand, no program has accomplished more by playing possum, waiting for its opponent to screw up, then pouncing, than Iowa has. At night, Kirk Ferentz falls asleep dreaming of winning games 12-6.

Iowa may not be sharp as a tack either given the fact its offseason was, shall we say eventful, and the Hawkeyes faced all the same challenges during coronapalooza and everyone else in America. But Purdue faces one more big obstacle at the 11th hour, heading into a game where it must be sharp as can be, under the circumstances. That process involves Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday and not just Saturday afternoon.

This is a big game for Purdue to begin what could be a big season.

It has gotten off on a challenging foot, however.

That's 2020 for you.

• If this season is to be the Aaron Wheeler Redemption Tour that the junior forward is hoping for, that can encompass a lot of parts to the game, but the clearest and most obvious is just shooting. That may seem to be oversimplifying things, but it really isn't.

If Wheeler simply makes more open shots this season, things are very different, and that's where reason for optimism lies, because Wheeler has proven himself to be a good shooter and he took mostly good shots last season. He just didn't make 'em, for whatever reason. Maybe it was just a fluke.

Either way, the opportunity Wheeler didn't necessarily capitalize on last season is now renewed. It's him and Mason Gillis at forward, and provided neither of them trip over their own feet, there's no worse than a platoon — and plenty of minutes to go around — at that position.

Those two can complement each other well and make Purdue more athletic at forward. Rebounding and floor-spreading will be very important, too.

Wheeler's struggles were part of Purdue's struggles last season. He was far from the only Boilermaker to endure a disappointing season. But the script can be flipped this season, and he can very much be part of Purdue's turnaround as well.

• This off-season obviously wasn't ideal in any way, shape or form, and that certainly includes the fact that at least at Purdue, its full team was rarely together, Instead working in four-man pods in order to limit risk and streamline contact-tracing.

Where this may have been a backhanded benefit, though, may have been in some of the Individual pairings that came from it, notably in the Jaden Ivey-Brandon Newman pairing that put two pretty competitive young guards head to head on a daily basis.

"Ask anyone who was there," Newman said. "There were probably some words exchanged, just little things to push one another and elevate our level of play and not let one another take plays off or slack."

In that same workout group, freshman center Zach Edey's first taste of college basketball would have been competing against one of the best rebounders maybe in college basketball In Trevion Williams, whose girth clearly would have tested the freshman's need for strength and such.

Meanwhile, Williams credited Edey — listed at 7-foot-4 — for "making things tough" on him. Williams has sometimes struggled against superior height and length, and again, 7-foot-4.

By and large this off-season was disjointed and broken, but some little shreds of good may have come out of it after all.

• Purdue wants to play faster this season and sidestep the need to execute in the halfcourt when it can by pushing the ball up the floor quickly. That puts the onus on everyone to run and its guards to be aggressive, but two players worth highlighting in that sense are the Boilermakers' two fastest players — Isaiah Thompson and Jaden Ivey. Those are two players whose aggressiveness and decision-making In the open floor could really matter

Making preseason predictions heading into this season of all seasons may be the stupidest thing I've ever done, but here goes.

Some sites have their fearless predictions. Not us. Mine terrify me, especially this year, when we're all bound — until games are played — to know less about the teams we cover than ever before. That's just the reality of it.

Anyway ...

Purdue will field a much-improved secondary

The Boilermakers should be excited about their infusion of grown men into a defensive backfield that needs an upgrade, and if Geovonte Howard, Tyler Coyle and D.J. Johnson live up, this may be a strength. But don't forget about Cory Trice, who did some really positive things last year as a redshirt freshman playing corner on a whim and now has experience doing it.

The physical part of it may not be as big a deal as the mental part of it. This is a lot of new guys coming from a lot of different places, and they've had a lot to learn in a short period of time, under bizarre circumstances.

Payne Durham will catch a bunch of touchdowns

This may not be that bold a call since the young tight end caught four last season playing off the threat Brycen Hopkins posed, but some third party is gonna get fat off Rondale Moore and David Bell's gravity, Purdue loves throwing to the tight end, especially in the red zone, and Durham has a chance to be a pretty good player, I think. Maybe over a nine-game season he scores a half dozen times.

Freshman impact continues

Purdue can play everyone this season if it wants — don't cost nuthin' — but there's a difference between a freshman setting foot on the field and a freshman playing.

You may not see as many really play as you did last season in part because a healthy roster may not require as many call-ups as occurred last season and the spot where Purdue's fielded all-star freshmen the past few years — wide receiver — is choking on studs, making for a congested depth chart.

But you'll see a bunch of rookies play again, and a few of them will be offensive lineman Gus Hartwig — a rarity at his position — and jack-of-all-trades defensive back Sanoussi Kane, two of Purdue's many mid-year enrollees.

The redshirt freshman class' time is now, however: Offensive lineman Cam Craig, wide receivers T.J. Sheffield and Mershawn Rice and young tight ends Garrett Miller and Kyle Bilodeau most notably.

Defense takes time

Purdue has the pieces to improve defensively this season, but my guess is it doesn't necessarily happen overnight. Such is the nature of new systems, especially when they're being implemented when a pandemic cut into practice-field hours over the span of many months.

The Boilermakers are breaking in a new system, and while the pieces appear solid, the pieces must be well positioned and knowledgeable, and that could be a bit of an adjustment. What you don't want to happen is to change course defensively in hopes of choking off big plays, and then giving up big plays as part of the growing pains of change.

Multiple quarterbacks play ... again

I don't know who's starting at quarterback vs. Iowa, and I also don't know how much separation there was between A and B or A, B and C. It stands to reason to suggest this could be one of those seasons where multiple guys get a crack and changes happen in-game if things aren't going well.

Also very possible that there are elemental considerations that Purdue could utilize a platoon for.

Purdue must — must, must, must — grow some teeth in the running game, and if perhaps having a running threat under center can be a means to that end, it's worth considering.

I'll assert again that Austin Burton was brought here for a reason.

A healthy Rondale Moore lives up

Provided Purdue can keep him out of the training room, the Boilermakers' All-American will be one of the best offensive players in college football again and one of the most impactful. He'll produce despite schools scheming to stop him, probably watching last year's TCU film, and make more than his share of big plays, getting the ball in his hands however possible. Less could be more, since Purdue has a lot of weapons around him.

As important will be what he means for everyone else on this offense. Everyone who's part of that unit got better when he came back, and the Moore-Bell combo is harrowing for Big Ten defensive coordinators to think about. Something's got to give, and it's up to Purdue to take advantage, putting the onus on decision-making and execution under center.

Purdue's record

I'd have felt confident in this before Brohm got COVID, and that makes me categorize this Iowa game as a toss-up. If it can beat Iowa, I think 6-3 is the sort of season that's very much a possibility if a lot of things fall into place against a schedule that's as manageable as could have been hoped for.

Understand this, though: (Excrement) happens, and this year, it's gonna happen. It has already happened. Results could be a total crapshoot from week to week, and that's just the reality of this warped reality Purdue and everyone else is delving into in the year 2020.

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