Its tough to find positives in Purdue's win over Virginia Tech

Neither Purdue or Virginia Tech was a winner in their ugly, 58-55 overtime debacle.

Sure, the Boilermakers came out victorious. (Ironically, it was also the game that decided the ACC/Big Ten Challenge, which the Big Ten won 6-5.)

But Purdue looked more like a team that will struggle to stay afloat in the loaded Big Ten than one that will compete for the Big Ten title.

Simply put, the Boilermakers cannot score. Of the 58 points that Purdue had tonight, 29 came from center JaJuan Johnson. It took 24 shots for Johnson to get those 29 points, which is far too inefficient for a center that is the focal point of an offense, especially when it happens against a front line as depleted as Virginia Tech's.


Johnson can score on the block, there's no question about that. He has a nice finesse game in the post, and his jump hook has become a serious weapon.

But when he is on the floor with only one other legitimate scoring threat -- E'Twaun Moore -- it allows opposing defenses to swarm him. What happens when he's going up against Jared Sullinger or the trio of Ralph Sampson, Trevor Mbakwe, and Colton Iverson, not Victor Davila?

And let's face it -- Virginia Tech is not a very good team right now. They are not deep, Jeff Allen cannot stay out of foul trouble, and their two best scorers -- Malcolm Delaney and Dorenzo Hudson -- are playing far from their best basketball.

I'm not sure it is humanly possible to struggle more than Malcolm Delaney did tonight. He finished the with just nine points on 2-18 shooting. He also added four turnovers. Generally speaking, having your primary ball handler commit four turnovers is not a good thing, but it actually was an improvement for Delaney; he came in averaging nearly six per game.

Much of Delaney's struggles tonight can be attributed to Purdue's defense, and I get that Purdue's game plan was to take Delaney out of the game, forcing the other four Hokies on the floor to try and win the game. But when you do this good of a job slowing down a guy like Delaney -- who is one of the top five or ten most important players to his team in the country -- you should not be going to overtime with that team, even if the game is on the road.

For the Hokies, this may have been a loss that they couldn't afford.

Seth Greenberg ramped up Tech's schedule this season after ending up on the wrong side of the bubble too many times. The move may have backfired, however, as his team has lost all three of their marquee matchups -- at Kansas State, to UNLV in Anaheim, and to Purdue at home.

There really isn't that much else on the Hokie's schedule to bolster their profile. They will get a chance to play Mississippi State after Renardo Sidney returns, but the Bulldogs just lost at home to Florida Atlantic. Is Sidney -- a kid that hasn't played in a game since the spring of 2009 -- really going to turn them into a tournament team and a potential marquee win for Tech?

There isn't much on their ACC docket, either. After Duke, the ACC does not appear to be that strong this season. How much weight will a win at Florida State hold come Selection Sunday? Or a sweep of NC State? Or wins over North Carolina and Maryland?

Credit must be given to Greenberg for putting together a more rigorous non-conference schedule this season. But losing all of the marquee games may actually be worse than not playing them. Last season there was a legitimate argument for Virginia Tech being a top 25 team.

Right now?

There isn't.

Could we once again be looking at a season where the Hokies are on the outside of the NCAA Tournament looking in?

If Matt Painter can't figure out how to get his team to score more, Purdue may be joining them.