Jordan Hulls was very clear that the Purdue game was just like any other Big Ten game when he addressed the media this afternoon.
He said every place IU goes, it'll see a hostile crowd. He said as a competitor, you want to win every Big Ten game as much as the others.
I'm not buying that.
While Hulls may have been politically correct with his statements, I decided to dig a little deeper into his typical pregame jargon. In the grand scheme of IU's season and this rivalry, what would a potential win do for IU?
Let's get the bare basics out of the way. A win would get IU back to .500 in the Big Ten with six conference games to go. A win at Mackey would also give IU it's first win in West Lafayette since 2006 when Mike Davis was at the helm. A win would probably be enough to keep IU in the top 25.
But those few things are all on the surface.
What has Tom Crean preached from the moment he stepped onto the IU campus to clean up Chernobyl? IU needs to take back the state of Indiana.
That doesn't mean simply winning the recruiting battle. Anyone can point to how well Crean recruited within state lines in these past couple years and that's all well and good. Starting #TheMovement might sound glamorous but stars on rivals.com doesn't win games.
One can talk about all of the hurdles IU overcame this season. IU knocked off No. 1 Kentucky, IU got its first road win in the Big Ten in nearly two years and IU finally surpassed four Big Ten wins for the first time in the Crean era.
But IU basketball is not completely back until it wins at Mackey.
That might be a little hard for IU fans to hear. But think about it. What good is a team if it can't knock off its biggest rival? IU has lost five straight games to the Boilermakers, the longest streak since 1972.
This is the first time in the Crean era in which IU comes into Mackey as the favorite. Everyone has pegged Purdue as a bubble team while IU has been slotted as a team that should make the tournament as long as it doesn't completely collapse in Big Ten play.
Now is the perfect time for IU to take back bragging rights in the state of Indiana. It's no secret that Purdue has absolutely owned this rivalry since Crean took over. The closest thing IU fans have had to bragging rights is a fantasy about a half-court heave from Verdell Jones at the buzzer that almost went in.
Being close never has and never will matter in this rivalry. If IU does anything but win this game, it will hurt more than a typical Big Ten loss, no matter what Hulls will say in the postgame presser.
From the Nathan Hart School of Momentum, there's no such thing. The outcome of this game will not impact any future game for the rest of the season.
But this single game is one Crean needs and needs bad. A win would prove to IU that they can win a road game against someone that isn't a sub-par Division 1 team. A win would send a message across the state that the tide is changing to the ways of old. Most importantly for IU, a win would represent another hurdle overcome in this roller coaster of a season.
