New bloods, blue bloods: Is Purdue becoming the epicenter of Hoosier State hoops?
The Boilermakers’ lack of titles long has been the line of demarcation between the programs. Could a deep 2024 Tournament run change that?
theathletic.com
A little clickbait and a long read but it speaks to the ground Purdue has made up with regards to the state.
For those that don't have a sub, a few snippets:
Two of the last three to win the Mr Basketball award (Braden Smith and Caleb Furst) are at Purdue. Three of the last four winners of the modern-era Indiana Gatorade Player of the Year (Trey Kaufman-Renn, Furst and Fletcher Loyer) are in West Lafayette, too. Furst and Smith are the first back-to-back Indiana Mr. Basketball selections to opt for Purdue since the 1960s, and the three consecutive Gatorade Players of the Year marks a first in program history.
“After Miller got fired, they stopped talking to me,’’ Smith says. “I also didn’t feel like, as a staff, they were as well -connected once I met with Purdue. Now, to me, there’s nothing better in sports than proving people wrong. I get to say, ‘I told you so.’”
One source, a recruiting expert who asked not to be named so he could speak candidly, says Purdue’s persistence separates the staff. “When Painter locks on a guy, he usually gets him,’’ the source says. “And it’s him front and center, not his staff. That stuff matters. I’m not sure Indiana has worked hard enough.’’ It’s a common complaint lodged, particularly, at Hoosiers third-year head coach Mike Woodson.
“The stability, the coaching stability versus Indiana, the fact that they had a coach in Paint for such a long time, that mattered,’’ says Kaufman-Renn, who grew up in Sellersburg, deep in the Southern Indiana Hoosier belt. “I wanted to know that things would be the same for me every year.’’
As for tradition? “I knew who Bob Knight was,’’ Kaufman-Renn says. “I’d never heard of Gene Keady.’’
“But here’s the thing about IU. People refer to it almost by rote as a blue blood,’’ says longtime sportswriter Mike Lopresti, who grew up in Richmond and has chronicled the two programs for much of his career. “I would suggest you look at the last 30 years. There ain’t a lot of blue in the blood there.’’
The two fan bases streamed through the turnstiles en masse, an up-to-the-rafters 17,222 at Assembly Hall, and 17,315 more filling Gainbridge Fieldhouse. They cheered, they caterwauled – one Hoosier fan even rose from his wheelchair to give an official an earful. Just as the black-and-gold fans made their way to their seats, the candy-striped faithful headed to their cars. Indiana gave the Jayhawks 35 minutes of misery; alas, the game went the full 40. Kansas took its first lead with 4:53 to play and defeated Indiana 75-71.
Purdue, meanwhile, nearly followed the same script. The Boilermakers gave back a 15-point second-half lead, but Smith, the Indiana boy, drained a 3 and swiped a steal in the 92-84 win.
Two days later, Purdue rose to No. 1 in the rankings.
