There are the obvious Purdue vs 2019 UVA parallels, but let me point out two other ones I’ve been working on in my head ever since the brackets were revealed.
1. The Tennessee vs 2019 Purdue parallel
Tennessee comes out of the 2/3 matchup and is playing for their schools first ever final 4, and in that game has one of their generational players, an all American, have an incredible game and single handedly carry his team, but they get ultimately denied. Tennessee going for their first final 4 ever is not that dissimilar than Purdue going for their first in nearly 40 years, painters first. And Knecht going for 37 is pretty close to Edward’s 42. And being denied by a 1 seed seeking redemption after losing to a 16 seed the year prior.
I think our takeaway should be to assume this continues to play out. Tennessee will be the next 1 seed to lose to a 16 and then make a final 4 the following year. The one thing that could go wrong here is unlike Virginia and Purdue, Tennessee has awful fans and will absolutely fire Rick Barnes for losing to a 16 seed
2. The weird NPOY tournament matchup
I remember several years ago we as Purdue fans would ask “wait why is Frank Mason going to win all the NPOY awards and Biggie won’t win any of them?” And then we got thoroughly destroyed by Frank Mason and Kansas in the tournament. I remember a Kansas fan telling me “yea what you’re going through reminds me of what we went through a few years back. We had no idea why everyone was on Anthony Davis and no one was on Thomas Robinson for NPOY. Then we played Kentucky in the NCAA tournament and he destroyed us, we all sort of got to see it first hand.” Well that happened yesterday. There hasn’t been much chatter for anyone as NPOY other than Edey this year, but the chatter out there has been for Knecht, and I couldn’t help but think of the Biggie vs Frank Mason game, and by extension, the Thomas Robinson vs Anthony Davis game, when I saw the bracket come out. And for the Tennessee fans to see their NPOY candidate score 37 and not be the best player in the game, culminating in Edey blocking the shot that makes it a one possession game with under a minute to play, it’s just crazy to think that Kansas fans had their full circle moment and now Purdue fans have had theirs. Will be interesting to see if Tennessee gets an NPOy who has a similar match showdown
1. The Tennessee vs 2019 Purdue parallel
Tennessee comes out of the 2/3 matchup and is playing for their schools first ever final 4, and in that game has one of their generational players, an all American, have an incredible game and single handedly carry his team, but they get ultimately denied. Tennessee going for their first final 4 ever is not that dissimilar than Purdue going for their first in nearly 40 years, painters first. And Knecht going for 37 is pretty close to Edward’s 42. And being denied by a 1 seed seeking redemption after losing to a 16 seed the year prior.
I think our takeaway should be to assume this continues to play out. Tennessee will be the next 1 seed to lose to a 16 and then make a final 4 the following year. The one thing that could go wrong here is unlike Virginia and Purdue, Tennessee has awful fans and will absolutely fire Rick Barnes for losing to a 16 seed
2. The weird NPOY tournament matchup
I remember several years ago we as Purdue fans would ask “wait why is Frank Mason going to win all the NPOY awards and Biggie won’t win any of them?” And then we got thoroughly destroyed by Frank Mason and Kansas in the tournament. I remember a Kansas fan telling me “yea what you’re going through reminds me of what we went through a few years back. We had no idea why everyone was on Anthony Davis and no one was on Thomas Robinson for NPOY. Then we played Kentucky in the NCAA tournament and he destroyed us, we all sort of got to see it first hand.” Well that happened yesterday. There hasn’t been much chatter for anyone as NPOY other than Edey this year, but the chatter out there has been for Knecht, and I couldn’t help but think of the Biggie vs Frank Mason game, and by extension, the Thomas Robinson vs Anthony Davis game, when I saw the bracket come out. And for the Tennessee fans to see their NPOY candidate score 37 and not be the best player in the game, culminating in Edey blocking the shot that makes it a one possession game with under a minute to play, it’s just crazy to think that Kansas fans had their full circle moment and now Purdue fans have had theirs. Will be interesting to see if Tennessee gets an NPOy who has a similar match showdown
