It’s a new school record! 17 straight victories for the Purdue Men’s Basketball team and the eighth longest winning streak in Big Ten history. Unfortunately, it came against my underdog Indiana Hoosiers. I think the most people were expecting a lopsided Boiler win, but IU hung in there until the end. It was a great national TV showcase for the state of Indiana, but another frustrating loss for a once proud Cream and Crimson program with five National Championships. Now, it’s Purdue’s turn. In actuality, Purdue leads the 117 year rivalry 118-89, having dominated in the early years, earning 51 or the first 62 games through 1939. They’ve won the BIG 10 Conference  Championship 23 times to Indiana’s 22. Overall, Indiana is the 11th all time winning Division 1 program, while Purdue is 19th, but Indiana has had better success in the NCAA tournament. In my lifetime, the joke has always been that Spring was officially here when IU was still playing basketball and Purdue wasn’t. That likely won’t be the case this year. Boiler Up!

Purdue has captured a NIT (Not in Tournament) Championship back in 1974, but so did Indiana in 1979, over Purdue on a last second shot. Ejections, technical fouls, a sucker punch, tirades, double overtime, a thrown chair, and a jackass have all played a role in the storied basketball wars between the two schools. Legendary coaches Bob Knight and Gene Keady added to the madness. IU has been ranked #1 in the country many times throughout the years, while Purdue has never been there or finished there. The closest the Boilers have come was #2 in 1987, defeating the soon to become National Champion Hoosiers that year in West Lafayette. Purdue has advanced to the Elite Eight four times, the Final Four twice (1969 and 1980), and to the National Championship in game in 1969 losing to UCLA and Purdue alumni, John Wooden, along with his super-star center Lew Alcindor, a.k.a Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Rick “The Rocket” Mount led the Boilermakers. Purdue lost its only other Final Four match-up in 1980, again to UCLA, this time coached by Larry Brown. Purdue’s Joe Barry Carroll was the tourney top scorer that year.

Could this finally be Purdue’s year? They have already secured the #2 National ranking, after wearing down unranked Indiana. Could 7’2″ Boiler big man Issac Haas be the next Joe Barry Carroll? He has the advantage of 7″3″ twin tower teammate Matt Haarms. They only have to get by Virginia to achieve the elusive rankings pinnacle. It’s reminiscent of the 1980’s, the last time these two universities were basketball dominant. Virginia also has not won a National Championship, but has appeared in both the 1981 and 1984 Final Four. They lost to North Carolina in 1981, while North Carolina than fell to National Champion Indiana. It was IU’s fourth title, with Isiah Thomas leading them to the Promised Land, if I could just sneak in another plug for the Hoosiers in this PU year (they won the Oaken Bucket, too). The 1981 Virginia Cavaliers were led by 7’4″ Ralph Sampson, who left the program in 1983 for the NBA. Somehow, the #7 seeded 1984 Cavaliers, without him, advanced to Seattle’s Final Four, but lost to Houston and Akeem Olajuwon.

More than thirty years have gone by since Purdue and Virginia have been national basketball powers, but they’re both back in the spotlight this year. Will we see them both in San Antonio, host of this year’s Final Four? Will Indiana even make the NIT? If not, I will be on the Purdue bandwagon. I think that I deserve to ride their coattails. After all, I was a 2000-2002 John Purdue Club loyal member, I have a Gene Keady signed jersey in my office (it’s not in a frame as big as the one that holds my 1976 IU jersey), I was the landlord for Black & Gold Magazine for three years; I provided the television studios for the weekly Coaches Show with Gene Keady; I formed a television partnership with Purdue University through a T-1 connection, allowing coverage for all Purdue athletics; I was a Purdue season basketball ticket holder and attended the banquets each year I was running the TV station in Lafayette, Indiana.

I can’t help it if both my parents went to Indiana University, and that they made me wear the IU logo as a child. They made me a Purdue hater! I only spent two years at Indiana University, but do hold a B.S. degree from there. All I did at Indiana was spend my dad’s money. I was never a Indiana basketball season ticket holder, only football (they were less expensive and easier to get). I think I actually have more ties to Purdue. Plus, a couple of Purdue grads have agreed to let me on the Boilermaker Express for the rest of this season, as a trial only. Boiler Up!