I spent much of this weekend camping with my son’s Scout troop. For the sixth time in my life Purdue was a single win away from reaching the Final Four. For the third time, that Final Four was right in our own backyard in Indianapolis where I would easily be able to attend.
In 1980 I was still a baby.
In 1994 I was in middle school and not following Purdue as much. 14 year olds don’t have a lot of disposable income to go to Final Fours, either.
In 2000 I was a sophomore, and I probably spent the next
few days furious at losing to Wisconsin for the third time that year and missing out on a Final Four in Indy.
In 2019 I was a full grown adult, sitting courtside as Mamadi Diakite and Kihei Clark ripped my heart out.
In 2024 I was at home watching, as life circumstances put me on the sidelines when Purdue finally broke through to the promised land. After this one, I admit that I was weeping tears of joy in my living room as it was a huge release after so much failure. I was also elated that something I had created years ago was the ticket to get guys like LEdman, Casey, and Juan in the building for that moment. It made me feel like a proud dad.
This time I had my phone out and airpods in, sitting by a campfire as the Scouts bedded down for the night. I looked up at the stars above Mounds State Park with Purdue holding a 7 point lead and the vibes were immaculate. All felt right with the universe, and after said life circumstances prevented me from going to Phoenix two years ago I knew nothing would be in my way if the Boilers just held on for another 20 minutes. I felt great, at peace, and like my often chaotic personal life was in a good spot to where I was not using college basketball as an escape mechanism. I even asked a God I am not sure I still believe in, at least the way I used to, “please?”
It all began to come apart just 39 seconds in. Trey Kaufman-Renn missed a layup and committed his third foul on the rebound. After sitting a large portion of the first half in foul trouble Purdue’s star forward had to sub out. The Boilermakers made a surprising run with him limited in the first half, so there was hope Purdue could hang on.
The Boilers held on and traded points for a bit, with Oscar Cluff’s basket with 17:23 left keeping that seven point halftime lead intact. The Wildcats would then go on to score 11 of the next 12 points, all while Braden Smith tweaked an ankle. We didn’t know it yet, but it was over from there. Much of that is due to the little margins.
Even when TKR was able to come back in the game he had to hold back just enough on defense to avoid that fourth foul. That was something Arizona was able to attack. Even though he stayed in the game, you could tell that the ankle was bothering Smith that his shot was off. He was missing that last little 5% of explosiveness he needed and that he started the game with so hot. With 11:13 left Fletcher Loyer picked up his third foul, depriving Purdue one of its best players as the Wildcats were taking the game over. He came back a few minutes later, only to get foul No. 4 24 seconds after reentering the game, this time with Purdue down 11. At that point everything was going wrong. TKR was (rightfully) losing his cool after a series of no calls in the paint. Smith was struggling shooting the ball after his red hot start. Arizona was dominating and making it very clear they were the better team.
As the final minutes ticked away I was hoping for one last curtain call. I was hoping for a deadball so Smith, Loyer, and TKR could get the well-deserved recognition of a standing ovation as they got subbed out individually. I knew the game was over, but there was no deadball. Instead, we got TKR getting denied on a short shot after one more pick and roll with Smith, then one last three pointer from Loyer in the corner with eight seconds left. It was the 1,103rd, and final, assist of BRaden Smith’s college career. That would serve as the curtain call to this era of Purdue basketball.
And what an era it was:
- A record of 117-30
- An incredible regular season non-conference record of 41-3 against a brutal slate
- Four straight early season invitational championships, including the Phil Knight and Maui Invitationals that had absolutely loaded fields
- Two Big Ten championships
- Two Big Ten Tournament championships
- Three Sweet 16s
- Two Elite Eights
- A National runner-up as the 44-year Final Four drought ended.
It is hard to believe the worst loss in NCAA Tournament history is on these guys’ record, but it is also a testament to how they recovered from that as freshmen, accomplished so much with one of the best college players of all-time in Zach Edey, then made their own mark the last two seasons. In a way it hurts because we don’t get one more week from these guys in Indy, but in another way they accomplished so much you can’t be disappointed. They did things no Purdue has ever done. The last few weeks of a postseason run, especially after the struggles they had down the stretch, was deeply satisfying. Winning the whole thing is just so difficult to do and asking Purdue to go through Arizona, then Michigan (again), then either UConn or Illinois was a tall order, but it was still at least possible, at least around 10pm Saturday night.
One of the greatest eras in Purdue basketball ended Saturday just short of its goal, but when it was over I had little doubt this group put forth the best possible effort it could. Arizona was just better, and when TKR got that third foul and Braden rolled his ankle it flipped the game. Purdue was still very good for much of the night. It turns out their best was not as good as Arizona’s.
Now it is time for a new era. After so much success with this last group it is natural think there will be a step back, and there probably will be. Purdue is going to look very different next year with one (maybe two) starters back depending on Cluff’s eligibility case. It has four strong bench contributors returning in Gicarri Harris, Daniel Jacobsen, Omer Mayer, and Jack Benter. It has two solid players coming out of a redshirt year in Antione West and Raleigh Burgess. It has a top 10 high school recruiting class coming in as well as a high profile transfer in Caden Pierce.
Those that think there will be a huge dropoff and Purdue will struggle to make the tournament are sorely mistaken. Purdue is in an incredibly envious position compared to the other 360+ Division I teams in that it enters each season, regardless of roster makeup or experience, knowing the bare minimum expectation is an NCAA Tournament bid.
Think about that for a moment. When was the last time Purdue even a Bubble team? Yes, the 2019-20 season probably would not have seen us in the tournament, but it feels like an incredible outlier among the last decade. Not only has Purdue made 11 consecutive NCAA Tournaments, in the last nine it has been no worse than a four seed. That’s incredible. For much of the last decade Purdue has solidly been one of the 16 best teams in America despite roster turnover, a pandemic, different styles of play, NIL and the transfer portal turning the world upside down, and a bunch of other factors. There has been no sweating out Selection Sunday for a decade now. Here is who else in all of college basketball that can say they have made each of the last 11 tournaments:
Kansas – 36 straight bids
Michigan State – 28 straight bids
Gonzaga – 27 straight bids.
End list.
That’s it.
All four teams in this year’s Final Four? All have missed the tourney completely since we last missed it. The same is true for the other seven teams in the Elite Eight.
What Matt Painter has done in West Lafayette is incredible, and that is why I think we’re merely at the beginning of a new era. He has built a program where the transition from the old to the new is almost seamless. There was a two year dropoff from the end of the Hummel-Moore-Johnson era until Purdue clawed back to the tournament in 2014-15 to start this current streak, but how many times has an “era” ended only to start over new the very next year and sometimes exceeds the previous?
- In 2016-17 Purdue was supposed to struggle as a young team after losing senior leaders Rapheal Davis and AJ Hammons. It won the Big Ten with Big Ten Player of the Year Caleb Swanigan and said young core, reaching the Sweet 16.
- In 2018-19, after graduating four senior starters Purdue started 6-5 and looked shaky. It won the Big Ten again and came a second away from a Final Four behind Carsen Edwards
- Purdue was lost and in a weird place entering the bizarre 2020-21 season, but Jaden Ivey and Trevion Williams led Purdue to a 4 seed, establishing a solid foundation for the 2021-22 season where Purdue would be ranked No. 1 for the first time in program history.
- 2022-23 was supposed to be a dropoff too. Purdue only got ranked No. 1 again, won the Big Ten by multiple games, and earned a No. 1 seed before an absolutely horrid night in Columbus, thus setting the stage for the past three seasons.
My point here is that as a program, Purdue now reloads instead of rebuilds. It may take a little time to see how next year’s roster comes together and flows with each other, but I have very little doubt that the Boilermakers will be in the mix next year with 22-25 regular season wins and another top level Big Ten finish. It will look different, to be sure, but it will play to its strengths. It is what Matt Painter does at this point. He switched from post-dominated with Isaac Haas in 2017-18 to guard dominated in 2018-19 and did even better. It lost a lottery pick in 2021-22 and got even better with a freshman backcourt the next season. Those teams still had a huge piece to build around (Carsen Edwards and Edey, respectively), but they were drastic changes all around and they ended up exceeding expectations.
As I shut my phone down Saturday night in my tent I felt the most peace I have felt after a tourney loss maybe ever. I don’t know if it is because of old age or what, but for the longest time every loss was gutting. In a span of five years you had Virginia, St. Peter’s, and FDU as three of the highest profile losses a team can suffer in March. After this one I was sated. The only downside is I am still on my personal quest to see Purdue play in a Final Four in person. As for the rest? This team gave everything it had Saturday night. Braden Smith was willing to die in order to win that game. TKR was boiling over because he was playing so hard and not getting calls. They had Arizona on the ropes, and the Wildcats had to play tremendous basketball in the second half to win how they did.
That’s still three Elite Eights in the last seven tournaments. Three times Purdue has been on the brink of a Final Four in seven years, and each team was made up very differently from the other two. In seven of the last nine tournament the Boilermakers have made the second weekend, too. Simply put, Matt Painter gets it done. Next season he will pass Gene Keady as Purdue’s all-time winningest coach and by every metric he has exceeded his mentor. I have no reason to think that Purdue won’t be among the Big Ten’s elite next season and be competitive in March. Yes, this season did not end where we had hoped when Purdue entered the year ranked No. 1, but this year’s Final Four teams were ranked 4, 7, 13, and 17. There will be other chances as long as Matt Painter is on the sideline, and the last decade has shown that it is far more likely the old era will lead to a new one that might end up being even better than the previous.
The Boilermakers will be good next year. We just don’t know the makeup of it yet, and that brings its own level of excitement. Given how… unhinged I have been about Purdue basketball in the past and how i now have an almost zen-like level of peace over the matter, that is saying something.
