One of Purdue’s favorite sons will forever be represented at Mackey Arena. At halftime of Purdue’s game Saturday night, the Boilermakers unveiled Robbie Hummel’s No. 4 jersey in the rafters. Hummel was a well-chronicled player during his decorated career in West Lafayette, both for his standout play and his unfortunate injury history.

How much do Purdue fans love Robbie Hummel? So much, evidently, they’ll put his mug on their desserts. @GoldandBlackcom tweeted a picture of a plate full of cookies at Hummel’s NBA draft party Thursday night, and half of the tasty treats featured Hummel in a Purdue uniform. See the cookies in this post.

BTN’s Jim Jackson caught up with six Big Ten names working out at the NBA’s pre-draft combine in Chicago. Jackson talked to Jared Sullinger, William Buford, Draymond Green, Jordan Taylor, Meyers Leonard, and Robbie Hummel. If you’re running games down at the gym, that’s a pretty good first six right there.Sullinger talks about getting into NBA shape this spring while Hummel tells Jackson about his numerous workouts  and how his knees are feeling so far. Watch all of the interviews down in this post. Also, The Sporting News has a quick look at the combine here, and the NBA Draft is June 28. The draft order is set with New Orleans holding the No. 1 pick.And if you want to see the official NBA prospect profile with strengths and weakness for  each of these Big Ten players, check them out: Jared Sullinger, William Buford, Draymond Green, Jordan Taylor, Meyers Leonard, and Robbie Hummel.***************

Wisconsin’s Jordan Taylor was a late addition to the NBA Combine, but he’ll join Illinois’ Meyers Leonard, Michigan State’s Draymond Green, Ohio State’s William Buford and Jared Sullinger and Purdue’s Robbie Hummel at the event June 6-8 in Chicago (see the full list of players). The combine is a great way for players to make last-minute improvements to their draft stock, and that’s exactly what these guys will try to do. The 2012 NBA Draft is June 28.

Purdue All-American forward Robbie Hummel has been selected as the 2012 Lowe’s Senior CLASS Award winner for men’s basketball. The announcement and trophy presentation were made Friday by Lowe’s, an official corporate sponsor of the NCAA, during the open practice sessions of Final Four Friday at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome.

Josh: It’s time to reflect on another season of Big Ten hoops. I think the rest of college basketball has finally taken notice of something that’s been true for the past 18 months or so–the Big Ten is the best conference in college basketball. Still, you look at the conference today, you see two great teams, 3 pretty darn good teams, a team good enough to make the Dance, and then mediocrity. Heck, even a couple of pretty bad teams. I mean, it’s hard to say the conference underachieved, but here goes–the conference underachieved. Sure, this is still the best action you’ll find, and it’s not close, but we’re still talking about a league that’s probably going to get 6 bids, with only a couple of standout teams. Does that sound much different than the past decade, when the Big Ten wasn’t measuring up to the likes of the ACC and the Big East?

Aaron Craft is a very good defensive player. Let’s get that out of the way. Whatever you think of the next few paragraphs, remember that we all agree that Craft’s defense would improve just about any collegiate basketball team.

This week on “The Journey,” you got to experience Senior Night with some of the Big Ten’s biggest stars, including Michigan seniors Zach Novak and Stu Douglass, Ohio State’s William Buford, Purdue’s Robbie Hummel and Iowa’s Matt Gatens. It was moving footage, to say the least. Watch a segment from Sunday night’s show now and catch three terrific bonus clips inside this post.

Wednesday was Senior Night at Mackey Arena, and that meant it was Purdue fans’ final chance to say goodbye to Robbie Hummel, as well as Lewis Jackson and Ryne Smith. As great as Jackson and Smith are, Hummel was the star of the festivities. The forward, of course, came to Purdue along with JaJuan Johnson and E’Twaun Moore, and the trio put Purdue back on the national map. Unfortunately, injuries plagued Hummel throughout his career and kept him off the court for a year and a half. I went to Twitter to ask Purdue fans for their favorite Hummel moment or memory. See the responses in this post.

The Big Ten Conference released its Big Ten Men’s Basketball Players of the Week for Feb. 20-26 action on Monday. See the winners and what they did to earn the distinctions in this post. The women’s honors were released Monday, too.

With Saturday’s win over Michigan, Purdue has seemingly punched its ticket to the Dance. At 9-7 in conference play, the Boilermakers are probably right where most expected them to finish this season–still solidly in the field of 68, but not a serious contender for the conference championship. But how they got to this point is very unexpected. Ever since the Baby Boilers arrived at West Lafayette, defense has been the calling card of this team:

Another night, another set of at-large hopes dashed. On Wednesday evening, Minnesota hoped to keep their NCAA Tournament hopes alive, at least for another few days, with a crucial home matchup against Michigan State. Things were looking up when the Gophers took a nine-point lead with just over 10 minutes remaining. Maybe Minnesota really would pull this off and get back onto the bubble.

Prior to his breakout performance against Ohio State, Adreian Payne had scored double figures in exactly two Big Ten games as a Spartan. And although his offense was certainly a big reason for Michigan State’s victory, his defense probably deserves more credit. Payne did something that few ever will–make Jared Sullinger look like a bad basketball player. The Ohio State big man was frustrated all game long, and although he had 17 points and 16 rebounds, it came at a cost of 10 turnovers (not to mention 4 fouls).

Last Tuesday, we watched Illinois and Michigan State fight it out to a 42-41 final. A week later, Ohio State and Purdue matched that point total on the first possession of the second half in an entertaining 87-84 Ohio State win. Both teams used outstanding three-point shooting and minuscule turnover rates to power themselves above 1.30 points per trip, marking a season-high output for both sides.

The knock on Indiana this season was that while the Hoosiers are nearly unbeatable at home, they’re almost the opposite on the road. To wit, the home and away efficiencies are Stevenson-esque in conference play: