Tag / Northwestern

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2025-2026 Final Standings

Purdue’s men’s basketball season came to an end on Sunday, falling to Arizona in the Elite Eight.  It was a disappointing, but appropriate, end for a team ranked #1 in the pre-season and expected to compete for a national title but struggled throughout the conference schedule.  While home tickets remained hard to come by this season, I did manage to see six games in five arenas across four states, thanks to a January trip out west to California, a Valentine’s Day visit to Iowa City, and the Big Ten Tournament here at the United Center, tied for the greatest number of games I’ve attended in a single season while adding both the Galen Center and Pauley Pavilion to my collection.

2026 Team Records – Men

TeamName Won Loss Winning Pctg
UCLA Bruins 1 0 1.000
Purdue Boilermakers 5 1 0.833
USC Trojans 0 1 0.000
Penn State Nittany Lions 0 1 0.000
Northwestern Wildcats 0 1 0.000
Nebraska Cornhuskers 0 1 0.000
Iowa Hawkeyes 0 1 0.000
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Fitbit 12 – Week 8

A pretty great week, as I surpassed 30,000 steps for the fifth straight week, ran my streak of 4000+ days to 20, and notched my highest step total completely in the state of Illinois since July.  The week got off to a good start on Sunday thanks to unseasonably warm temperatures, leading to a longer walk through the neighborhood finishing 18 steps away from 6300.  Record high temperatures on Monday facilitated a walk to Walgreens to pick up a prescription, which left me with 7700 steps, the first time I’ve reached my daily goal since January’s trip to California.  The temperature, and my step total, dropped on Tuesday, but I still managed 4800 steps.  The low point of the week came on Wednesday, but that still ended up at 4400 steps.  An impromptu trip to the United Center on Thursday to see Purdue battle Northwestern in the Big Ten Tournament left me 22 steps shy of 4100.  A return trip on Friday to see Purdue defeat Nebraska was even better, finishing 26 steps away from 6200.  Saturday finished the week strong with 4750 steps on the nose.

Total steps: 40,233

Daily average: 5747.6

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Braden Watch

Tying his career high with 16 assists in yesterday’s victory over Northwestern in the third round of the Big Ten Tournament, Braden Smith has surpassed both Ed Cota and Chris Corchiani and now sits in second place on the NCAA’s career assists chart.  Smith is now just 31 assists away from tying Duke’s Bobby Hurley’s record of 1,076.  At his current pace of 8.9 assists per game, Smith would need Purdue to play four more games between the Big Ten Tournament and the NCAA Tournament in order to best Hurley.  Suddenly, with two of those games guaranteed, this once again feels possible.

1,076 – Bobby Hurley
1,045 – Braden Smith

 

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Braden Watch

With nine assists in yesterday’s victory over Northwestern, Braden Smith remains in fourth place on the NCAA’s career assists chart.  With just one regular season game remaining, Smith is now ten assists away from tying North Carolina’s Ed Cota for third place and 54 away from Bobby Hurley’s record of 1076.  At his current pace of 8.7 assists per game, Smith would need over six more games to reach Hurley, meaning Purdue would need to play at least five games between the Big Ten Tournament and the NCAA Tournament.

1,076 – Bobby Hurley
1,038 – Chris Corchiani
1,030 – Ed Cota
1,020 – Braden Smith

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2025 College Basketball Tipoff

The Purdue men’s basketball team kicks off the 2025-2026 regular season tonight against Evansville.  With Danny out of school and losing my John Purdue Club pre-sale opportunities, it may be a while before I attend another regular season home game, but, like last year, I can look for road opportunities.  So, with the 129th season in school history about to get underway, let’s take a look at the results of the now 25 men’s college basketball games I have attended in my lifetime, with the latest coming at Carver-Hawkeye Arena in Iowa.

All-Time Team Records – Men

Team Won Loss Winning Pctg
Indiana Hoosiers 1 0 1.000
North Texas Mean Green 1 0 1.000
Virginia Commonwealth Rams 1 0 1.000
Butler Bulldogs 1 0 1.000
Purdue Boilermakers 17 7 0.708
Northwestern Wildcats 2 3 0.400
Illinois Fighting Illini 2 4 0.333
Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders 0 1 0.000
Gonzaga Bulldogs 0 1 0.000
Houston Cougars 0 1 0.000
Iowa Hawkeyes 0 1 0.000
Iowa State Cyclones 0 1 0.000
Long Beach State 49ers 0 1 0.000
Ohio State Buckeyes 0 1 0.000
Penn State Nittany Lions 0 1 0.000
Tennessee Volunteers 0 1 0.000
Vermont Catamounts 0 1 0.000
Jacksonville Dolphins 0 1 0.000
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2025 College Football Kickoff

With a new coach and a revamped roster with nearly 60 transfers, the Purdue Boilermakers kick off their 2025 gridiron campaign today.  With Danny having graduated last spring-ish, I did not make it to any games last fall, so my games attended total remains at 32, covering six different stadiums in a whopping three states, including one bowl game.

All-Time Team Records

University Won Loss Winning Pctg
Syracuse Orange 1 0 1.000
Penn State Nittany Lions 2 0 1.000
Ohio State Buckeyes 1 0 1.000
Wisconsin Badgers 1 0 1.000
Louisiana State Tigers 1 0 1.000
Notre Dame Fighting Irish 4 1 0.800
Purdue Boilermakers 19 11 0.633
Northern Illinois Huskies 1 1 0.500
Illinois Fighting Illini 2 7 0.222
Indiana Hoosiers 0 3 0.000
Michigan Wolverines 0 1 0.000
Michigan State Spartans 0 1 0.000
Minnesota Golden Gophers 0 1 0.000
Florida Atlantic Owls 0 1 0.000
Northwestern Wildcats 0 3 0.000
Western Michigan Broncos 0 1 0.000
North Carolina State Wolfpack 0 1 0.000
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College Basketball Tipoff

Fresh off of an appearance in the championship game of last year’s NCAA tournament, the Purdue men’s basketball team kicks off the 2024-2025 regular season tomorrow night.  With Danny out of school and an expanded Big Ten limiting how often each team visits the other schools in the conference, it may be a while before I attend another regular season game.  So, with the 128th season in school history about to get underway, let’s take a look at the results of the now 24 men’s college basketball games I have attended in my lifetime. You’d think it would be more, since I was a big fan and we had a great team while I was in school, but for some reason I only made it to two games while enrolled in college. The other 22 have been post-graduation, having added four games last year, two at Mackey and two in Detroit for the NCAA tournament.  Anyway, without further ado, here are the standings for those 24 games.

All-Time Team Records – Men

Team Won Loss Winning Pctg
North Texas Mean Green 1 0 1.000
Indiana Hoosiers 1 0 1.000
Virginia Commonwealth Rams 1 0 1.000
Butler Bulldogs 1 0 1.000
Purdue Boilermakers 16 7 0.696
Northwestern Wildcats 2 3 0.400
Illinois Fighting Illini 2 4 0.333
Gonzaga Bulldogs 0 1 0.000
Houston Cougars 0 1 0.000
Iowa State Cyclones 0 1 0.000
Jacksonville Dolphins 0 1 0.000
Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders 0 1 0.000
Ohio State Buckeyes 0 1 0.000
Penn State Nittany Lions 0 1 0.000
Tennessee Volunteers 0 1 0.000
Vermont Catamounts 0 1 0.000
Long Beach State 49ers 0 1 0.000
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2024 College Football Kickoff

The Purdue Boilermakers, kick off their 2024 gridiron campaign today, starting a new era of Big Ten football with new member Oregon coming to town in October, for just their third visit to Ross-Ade Stadium.  Now that Danny has graduated, my game attendance is likely to trickle back down to the once every couple of years pace I was on before he matriculated after attending an all-time high five games last fall.  That said, it’s time to take a look at the results of the now 32 college football games I have attended since the 1993 season, covering six different stadiums in a whopping three states, including one bowl game.

All-Time Team Records

University Won Loss Winning Pctg
Syracuse Orange 1 0 1.000
Penn State Nittany Lions 2 0 1.000
Ohio State Buckeyes 1 0 1.000
Wisconsin Badgers 1 0 1.000
Louisiana State Tigers 1 0 1.000
Notre Dame Fighting Irish 4 1 0.800
Purdue Boilermakers 19 11 0.633
Northern Illinois Huskies 1 1 0.500
Illinois Fighting Illini Continue reading →
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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.

Continue reading →

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College Basketball Tipoff

The men’s Purdue Boilermakers kicked off the 2023-2024 season last night, the 126th in school history, so let’s take a look at the results of the now 20 men’s college basketball games I have attended in my lifetime. You’d think it would be more, since I was a big fan and we had a great team while I was in school, but for some reason I only made it to two games while enrolled in college. The other 18 have been post-graduation, with the latest three coming last season thanks to a trip to Bloomington and the Big Ten Tournament being at the United Center.  Anyway, without further ado, here are the standings for those 20 games.

All-Time Team Records – Men

Team Won Loss Winning Pctg
Virginia Commonwealth Rams 1 0 1.000
North Texas Mean Green 1 0 1.000
Indiana Hoosiers 1 0 1.000
Butler Bulldogs 1 0 1.000
Purdue Boilermakers 12 7 0.631578947368421
Northwestern Wildcats 2 3 0.400
Illinois Fighting Illini 2 3 0.400
Vermont Catamounts 0 1 0.000
Penn State Nittany Lions 0 1 0.000
Ohio State Buckeyes 0 1 0.000
Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders 0 1 0.000
Long Beach State 49ers 0 1 0.000
Iowa State Cyclones 0 1 0.000
Houston Cougars 0 1 0.000