Purdue’s men’s basketball season came to an end last weekend, falling to Houston in the Sweet Sixteen. It was a strong showing, coming off their appearance in the title game last year and the loss of Zach Edey. Tickets were hard to come by this season, and the only game I was able to attend was in Iowa City, adding Carver-Hawkeye Arena to my collection.
2025 Team Records – Men
| Team | Won | Loss | Winning Pctg |
|---|---|---|---|
| Purdue Boilermakers | 1 | 0 | 1.000 |
| Iowa Hawkeyes | 0 | 1 | 0.000 |
A decent week, thanks in part to surpassing my daily step goal for the first time in 2025. Sunday got the week off to an ok start, finishing just 3 steps shy of 3900. A nice improvement on Monday, thanks to some unseasonably warm weather and a lunch trip to Portillos, left me 22 steps away from 4800. A road trip to Iowa on Tuesday to see Purdue defeat Iowa at Carver-Hawkeye Arena put me over 7600 steps, my first time reaching my daily goal since my trip to Boston in November. An early morning drive home followed by a day of work on Wednesday dropped me to 4000 steps. An 18-step improvement left me pretty even on Thursday. Friday saw a very slight drop-off, leaving me just 14 steps away from 4000. A midday brunch threw me off track on Saturday, ending the week with just 3100 steps.
Total steps: 31,486
Daily average: 4498
As we ring in the new year, it’s time to take a look back at the trips out of Illinois that I took last year. Things got off to a fast start, as I traveled down to West Lafayette the first weekend of the year with Danny to see Purdue take on Illinois at Mackey Arena. Since they were still on break, Danny was able to play with the basketball band as Purdue topped their conference rival 83-78.
I returned to campus mere days later, as the Iowa women’s basketball team, featuring star attraction Caitlin Clark, invaded Mackey Arena. Danny was once again playing with the band, so I watched the game, which Iowa won easily, solo before heading back to my hotel.
Later in January, I made my final trip to Mackey Arena of the year as the Purdue women’s basketball team battled IU. While the game did not go well for the Boilers, Danny did get to spend some time with his Nana for her birthday the following day.
After a quiet February, basketball again was the reason for my next trip at the end of March. Purdue’s men’s team was in Detroit for the Sweet Sixteen. They won Friday night against Gonzaga to advance to the Elite Eight. Saturday night, we headed across to border to Windsor to have dinner at Caesar’s Palace. Danny drove up on Sunday for the return trip to Little Caesars Arena, where Purdue earned its first Final Four appearance in 44 years.
We returned to West Lafayette in late April for Danny’s last band concert. Atter lunch with him and his friends, we headed to the Elliot Hall of Music and settled in for an afternoon of music. Thankfully, his section was first, so we were able to take our leave early and head back home.
A few weeks later, we returned to Indiana for Danny’s graduation. First, we all met up at Fair Oaks Farms in Fair Oaks, Indiana for an early dinner and pictures before making the remainder of the journey to West Lafayette. After the ceremony, we were allowed time to take a picture or two before Danny went off to celebrate with his friends and we headed home.
A week later, it was time for another graduation, this time in Boston. We arrived in town on Saturday, hunkering down in a hotel just off the North End. We eventually met up with the graduate-to-be at a local favorite called The Yardhouse, where we enjoyed a traditional Massachusetts dinner. After a quick breakfast the following morning, we headed to Agganis Arena on the BU campus for the graduation ceremony. After a quick lunch, we decamped to the hotel for gifts before a nice dinner in the North End. Monday we were able to meet up with Angelina for lunch before an afternoon flight home.
With all of that out of the way, I had my first international trip since COVID in July, when I went to Amsterdam for a week to visit Val, leaving on a Tuesday afternoon and landing in Amsterdam on Wednesday morning. After a day of rest to recover from the overnight travel, I set out to visit the local sights, including the Rijksmuseum, the national museum of the Netherlands, before dinner out with my hosts. On Friday, I headed out to see some working windmills. The next night, we headed out to the former Heineken brewery to see the Heineken Experience. After a day of rest on Sunday, I spent Monday bumming around the museum campus before dinner and a tour of the Red Light District. The next morning, I set out to the airport for the long flight home.
My final trip of the year was a return to Boston in November to celebrate birthdays with Angelina. I arrived in town on Friday night, getting to the hotel late. Saturday, we went to see Heretic before going out to dinner. Sunday morning, I Ubered around Boston to see Angelina at various points of the Boston Half marathon. Once she finished the race, we had lunch and then I headed to the airport to return home.
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 |
Less than two and a half minutes into last night’s game against Michigan, Caitlin Clark broke the NCAA women’s scoring record, notching her 3,528th point with a deep three from the left side, surpassing Kelsey Plum. Clark had scored Iowa’s first eight points, getting the record out of the way early after failing to score in the fourth quarter of their last game, a loss to Nebraska. That wasn’t the end of her night, though, as she finished with a career-high, and Iowa record, 49 points along with thirteen assists, five rebounds, and a steal.
Finishing the game with 3,569 points, less than 100 points away from Lynette Woodard’s all time women’s record of 3,649, set in 1981 before women’s sports were administered by the NCAA. Pistol Pete Maravich’s overall record of 3,667, lies just beyond that. Both of those should fall by the end of this season.
Sports and snow combine for what passes as a good week these days. The week got off to a slow start on Sunday, needing 40 additional steps to make it to 3900. Monday was even worse, finishing just over 3500 steps. Tuesday bounced back a bit, beating Monday’s total by 11 steps. Things improved greatly on Wednesday, as a trip to West Lafayette to see Purdue do battle against Caitlin Clark and the Iowa Hawkeyes led to 7500 steps, my first time hitting my daily goal in 2023. Breakfast with Danny and a short walk on campus on Thursday left me with 5400 steps. A snowstorm, and the requisite snow blowing that followed, put me a mere 14 steps away from 6700. Falling temperatures on Saturday led to my worst day of the week, ending the day still 36 steps shy of 3400.
Total steps: 34,284
Daily average: 4897.7
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 happen to have a hotel room booked for Houston for Final Four weekend just in case, so fingers crossed. So, without further ado, let’s take a look at this year’s selections.
Alabama enters the tournament under a cloud of scandal, as their star player was recently involved in the murder of a young woman. Because of that, I have second seed Arizona going to the Final Four.
Fun fact: the first college basketball game I ever attended was Purdue versus Houston at Market Square Arena back in 1993. Both teams are top seeds in this tournament. It pains me to have Indiana going as far as I do, but they were a formidable opponent this year, so I see them giving the field a run for their money. In the end, though, I have Xavier going on to Houston.
The Sweet 16 kicks off today following an opening weekend with upsets galore, but, thankfully, with my champion pick still alive. Unfortunately, half of my Final Four was wiped out, but, hey, that’s the fun part.
Only a couple of Xs in this region, though one of them I had going to the regional final. Michigan State allowed Coach K’s last go-around to continue and helped contribute to the Big 10’s supposed flameout during the first weekend.
Well, this side of the bracket is where my Final Four picks have flamed out, so nothing here really matters. Continue reading →
The NCAA tournament returns in full force after a year break in 2020 and a bubble tournament centered in Indianapolis in 2021 due to the pandemic. I’m not in any pools this year, so these selections have no ultimate bearing on my life, aside from personal pride. So, without further ado, let’s take a look at this year’s selections.
Gonzaga is the overall #1 and my pick to come out of this region and moving on to the Final Four. I did throw the occasional upset in the earlier rounds, so we’ll see how those pay off.
A bit of an upset here, as I have #3 Tennessee advancing. Continue reading →
For the first time in the history of man kind, the #1 ranked men’s college basketball team in the country calls Mackey Arena home. The 8-0 Boilermakers were a unanimous No. 1 in the poll released earlier today, moving up #2 last week following victories over Florida State and Iowa and a Duke loss to Ohio State. Prior to this week, Purdue had the second-most appearances in the AP poll, 379 weeks, for a school that had never been ranked #1, behind Maryland with 434 weeks. Purdue goes on the road this week with a Big 10 game at Rutgers on Thursday and the Basketball Hall of Fame Invitational against North Carolina State on Sunday in Brooklyn.