On May 18, 1997, I graduated from Purdue University. Today, nearly 27 years later, Danny will do the same. It has been a quick four years, with a freshman year impacted by COVID, three years of football games, a trip to Florida for a bowl game, two trips to watch men’s NCAA tournament games, women’s basketball games in Mackey, and the ever-present band concerts both on and off campus. I could not be prouder of him and look forward to seeing what comes next.
Tag / NCAA Tournament
FB10: Week 12
A bit of a down week, as work and weather kept getting in the way. Things got off to a slow start on Sunday, where 40 more steps were needed just to get to 3900. Monday saw a big increase, coming 13 steps away from 4700 while watching Purdue battle, but ultimately lose, in the NCAA Tournament Championship. Things fell off a cliff on Tuesday, dropping down to 3100 steps. Things were slightly worse on Wednesday, as I fell to just 3000 steps. Thursday saw a slight increase, going up to 3300 steps. Friday was a nice bounce back, coming just 5 steps shy of 4200. My return to Guaranteed Rate Field on Saturday closed out the week on a high-ish note, only 19 steps away from 4700.
Total steps: 26,868
Daily average: 3842.6
2023-2024 Final Standings
Purdue’s season of redemption came one win short, falling to UCONN last night in the national championship game. It was the best tournament showing by a Purdue team since 1969, their last appearance in the championship game. Thanks to my donations to the John Purdue Club, I was able to score tickets to two home games, my first visits to Mackey for men’s basketball since 2015. I then was able to attend the Sweet Sixteen and Elite Eight games in Detroit, adding Little Caesars Arena to my stadium collection.
2023-2024 Team Records – Men
| Team Name | Won | Loss | Winning Pctg |
|---|---|---|---|
| Purdue Boilermakers | 4 | 0 | 1.000 |
| Tennessee Volunteers | 0 | 1 | 0.000 |
| Jacksonville Dolphins | 0 | 1 | 0.000 |
| Illinois Fighting Illini | 0 | 1 | 0.000 |
| Gonzaga Bulldogs | 0 | 1 | 0.000 |
On the women’s side, I made it to two Big Ten battles, seeing Caitlin Clark in person for the first time while enjoying Danny’s performances with the band.
2023-2024 Team Records – Women
| Team Name | Won | Loss | Winning Pctg |
|---|---|---|---|
| Iowa Hawkeyes | 1 | 0 | 1.000 |
| Indiana Hoosiers | 1 | 0 | 1.000 |
| Purdue Boilermakers | 0 | 2 | 0.000 |
40 Minutes To Glory
The Purdue redemption tour continued last night in Glendale, AZ, as the Boilermakers, competing in their first Final Four since 1980, defeated North Carolina State 63-50. They advance to the championship game for the first time since 1969, facing UCONN tomorrow night, as the Huskies attempt to go back-to-back.
Win or lose, this iteration of Purdue basketball will be lacing it up for the final time. Here’s hoping they go out with a bang,
Hope Springs Eternal
Only four teams remain standing following a tournament filled with minor upsets. My bracket is busted and my Final Four predictions, save one, are completely toast. But, how about that one. Purdue finds itself in the Final Four for just the third time ever and the first time since 1980, so the hope remains alive for this weekend. Purdue faces 11-seed NC State tonight, and wouldn’t losing to a double-digit seed be a way to go out after these last three years, with defending champion UCONN and Alabama in the other game. The winners face off on Monday for the national championship.
FB10: Week 10
It looked to be a bleak week thanks to work, until sports reared its head at the to change the trajectory. Things got off to a decent start on Sunday, finishing just 5 steps away from 4600. Monday saw a small decrease, falling down to the 3900-step plateau. Things were even worse on Tuesday, as I dropped down even further to 3300 steps. Thanks to meetings, Wednesday bottomed out, leaving me 13 steps shy of 2500. The start of the baseball season on Thursday helped turn things around, as I returned to Guaranteed Rate Field for the first time in 2024 and earned 6500 steps. An impromptu trip to Detroit on Friday for the Sweet Sixteen propelled me just past my 7500 daily step goal for the first time since January. A Purdue victory on Friday meant spending Saturday in Detroit, with dinner over the border at Caesar’s Palace in Windsor, finishing the week with 4400 steps.
Total steps: 32,876
Daily average: 4696.6
Finally, Heading To The Final Four
For the first time since 1980, the Purdue Boilermakers are headed to the Final Four. This afternoon’s victory over Tennessee in the Elite Eight showdown at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit gives Purdue its first regional championship in the men’s NCAA tournament in 44 years. The team will battle NC State Saturday in Phoenix for their shot to advance to the championship game.
What a weekend in Detroit! Seeing a Sweet Sixteen victory against Gonzaga on Friday followed by today’s win against Tennessee, both teams that we had already defeated this year during non-conference play, was exhilarating and. to be honest, a little nerve racking. Here’s looking forward to an exciting weekend as the school looks for its first basketball championship since the women’s team won it all in 1999.
How Sweet (16) It Is
The Sweet Sixteen kicks off today following an opening weekend with upsets galore that played havoc with my bracket, although my entire Final Four is still intact, which is better than some.
Things look pretty decent here. Auburn’s loss to Yale knocked me for a bit of a loop, but, aside from that, things are fairly clean, with three of the four teams heading into this weekend still alive.
Things are slightly worse on this side of the bracket, with just two of the four teams I picked playing this weekend. While Nebraska did me dirty, I correctly picked that Wisconsin had peaked after beating Purdue in the Big Ten Tournament two weeks ago.
It’s Time To Dance
The nation’s attention turns to the college hoops scene for the next few weeks as the NCAA tournament kicks off later today. I’m not in any pools this year, so most of these selections have no ultimate bearing on my life, aside from personal pride. I do have the potential to purchase tickets for future rounds should a certain school from West Lafayette manage to get out of their own way and not embarrass themselves this weekend. So, without further ado, let’s take a look at this year’s selections.
My selections here are mostly chalk, with a couple early upsets but with the top four seeds heading to the Sweet Sixteen. Iowa State is my pick to advance to the Final Four.
Fun fact: the first men’s college basketball game I ever attended was Purdue versus Houston at Market Square Arena back in 1993. Both teams are once again top seeds in this tournament. I’m hoping Nebraska continues to pull off upsets against teams they have no business beating. In the end, though, I have Marquette going on to Phoenix.
Looking For Redemption
By nearly every metric, these last four season of Purdue men’s basketball have been the most successful in program history. They’ve won back-to-back conference championships. They’ve won 59 Big Ten games, setting a school record and tying the conference record.
The one metric where they have fallen short is in the NCAA tournament. Heading into this year’s tournament, they have put together two first round exits, against 13-seed North Texas in 2021 and 16-seed Fairleigh Dickinson last year, becoming just the second 1-seed to fall in the opening round. In 2022, they advanced to the Sweet Sixteen, where they were felled by 15-seed St. Peter’s.
Purdue enters the tournament this week as the #1 seed in the Midwest region and look to have an achievable path to the Final Four. But they are coming off of a rough Big Ten tournament, where they scored a season-low 67 points in their victory over Michigan State before losing to Wisconsin in the semi-finals. While Zach Edey was able to get his, scoring 29 and 28 points respectively, Lance Jones was the only other Boilermaker to reach double digits in either game, scoring 10 against Michigan State. The so-called supporting cast answered the bell all year, but if they disappear once again in the tournament, Purdue will once again be on the outside looking in and will have squandered their best chance in decades at making the Final Four, let alone winning a national championship.