OMAHA - As Robbie Hummel and Lewis Jackson departed their locker room Sunday night to travel a long hallway toward the post-game press conference, where they'd be asked to put into words the heartbreak of Purdue's 63-60 near-miss against overwhelming favorite Kansas, the two seniors put their arms around one another and walked as one, a comforting gesture but also a stark symbol of their togetherness as they now go their separate ways.
It was a telling visual, as wrenching as the circumstances of the Boilermakers' loss to the Jayhawks in a game in which the better team lost thanks to a fateful, disastrous final minute.
Purdue fought Kansas all night. The No. 6 team in the country, playing essentially on a home floor, had to earn everything it got the entire game, except for the final minute, when three run-outs snatched a win from the Boilermakers.
Had the Boilermakers lost this game, nobody would have batted an eye. They had every reason to.
People will cry, I'm sure, about Purdue allegedly just being content to try to milk the clock and protect a modest lead, but I don't buy it. Give Kansas some freaking credit here. The nation's sixth-ranked team - for a reason, remember - asserted itself defensively in the second half. Had Purdue not hit Kansas with some well-designed plays from the sideline and some sheer effort plays on the offensive boards in the second half, this might not have come down to the final minute at all.
Purdue did all it could just to hold Kansas off as long as it did.
In the end, a couple ill-fated offensive possessions just led to the Jayhawks finally breaking through.
And that was crushing for a team that busted its ass to get this win, for a coaching staff that drew up a picture-perfect game plan and proved idiots like me wrong by beating Kansas at its own game. If you're pissed right now, there's no arguing with you, but Matt Painter earned every damn dime tonight.
And it was heart-breaking for Robbie Hummel, who even in defeat added another notch to his glorious legacy as a Boilermaker. There will never be another like him, a player that good, that tough, that high in character and that caring.
Hummel went through absolute hell this season, more than you know, and more than anyone who's gone through what he's gone through deserved.
But he overcame it and literally saved Purdue's season.
Six weeks ago, Purdue was not an NCAA Tournament team.
Then, like Clark Kent coming out of the phone booth, Robbie Hummel became Robbie Hummel again and six weeks later he was dominating against a big-time opponent in the NCAA Tournament, knee pain or no knee pain.
If you saw all the ice on all those knees in Purdue's locker room after its practice Saturday, you'd be wondering how in God's name they even got to this point.
The book is now closed on the Class of 2007, Hummel departing a year after E'Twaun Moore and JaJuan Johnson.
If you're capable of thinking beyond the black and white of record books, you know the role those three played in the resurrection of Purdue basketball, both in wins and losses and the general resuscitation of the program. Their legacies will be that of legends, Final Four or not.
They were denied their prime, remember. You can call it an excuse if you want, but if Hummel is never hurt, this team is celebrating at least one Final Four, maybe a national title and everyone knows it.
Fast forward back to tonight.
Purdue lost to Kansas when as things were, it probably shouldn't have.
But there can be victory in defeat. It wasn't readily apparent in a heart-broken locker room immediately afterward, but in a couple days these players and coaches should realize they much to be proud of, proud of how they represented themselves and their school Sunday night on college basketball's greatest stages against one of its greatest programs.
And when the bloodthirsty on the Internet sleep off their buzzes, maybe they'll be blessed with the benefit of the same perspective.
This team fought through so much to get to where things finished up. This easily could have been a doomed season.
This isn't about any one player, but in a perfect world, Robbie Hummel finishes up two weekends from now.
Purdue lost Sunday night.
But that doesn't mean that maybe in some small sense, it's a winner.
Copyright, Boilers, Inc. 2012. All Rights Reserved. Reproducing or using editorial or graphical content, in whole or in part, without permission, is strictly prohibited. E-mail GoldandBlack.com/Boilers, Inc.
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Copyright, Boilers, Inc. 2012. All Rights Reserved. Reproducing or using editorial or graphical content, in whole or in part, without permission, is strictly prohibited. E-mail GoldandBlack.com/Boilers, Inc.
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