Gene Keady had three teams earn No. 1 seeds in the NCAA Tournament during his 25-year coaching tenure: 1987-88, 1993-94 and 1995-96. But only one of those squads reached the Elite Eight: The 1993-94 club led by Glenn Robinson.
The “Big Dog” was the national player of the year that season as a junior, as he led Purdue to the first of what would be three Big Ten championships in a row. Robinson paced the nation in scoring with 30.3 average and also hauled in 10.1 rebounds per game, as the Boilermakers went 14-4 in the Big Ten and entered the Big Dance with a 26-4 mark. It looked like Keady had a team capable of making the Final Four.
Playing in the South Region, Purdue cruised by No. 16 Central Florida (98-67) and No. 9 Alabama (83-73) in its first two 1994 NCAA tourney games, played in Rupp Arena in Lexington, Ky. It was on to Knoxville, Tenn., for the Sweet 16, where a clash with No. 4 Kansas loomed.
The nation got to see the full fury of the Big Dog in Thompson-Boling Arena. On a Thursday night, Robinson scored 30 points in the first half and finished with 44 on 15-of-33 shooting in the Boilermakers’ 83-78 victory over Roy Williams and the Jayhawks. Robinson hit 6-of-10 3-pointers, 8-of-9 free throws and also corralled seven rebounds. He had a memorable dunk vs. KU big man Greg Ostertag that still has Purdue fans buzzing.
Sidekick Cuonzo Martin also caused jaws to drop vs. the Jayhawks by tallying 29 points on 9-of-18 shooting (8-of-13 from 3-point range). The only thing that stood between Purdue and its first Final Four since 1980 was mighty Duke. The No. 2 Blue Devils had dispatched No. 6 Marquette to play Purdue for a spot in the Final Four in Charlotte, N.C.
Duke was too much for the Boilers on a Saturday night in Knoxville, taking a 69-60 triumph in a game billed as a superstar showdown between Robinson and Duke's Grant Hill. But neither led his squad in scoring. Hill had just 11 points, while Robinson finished with a season-low 13. The Gary, Ind., native hit just 6-of-22 shots and was 0-of-6 from 3-point land. Turns out, Robinson was playing with a bad back hurt while roughhousing with teammates before the game in the team hotel.
"He hurt his back against Kansas," said Martin in the book Tales from Boilermaker Country. "Then we had a little horseplay going on that night (in the team hotel) before the Duke game. He really hurt his back then. There was some wrestling going on. We used to always wrestle as a team.
"That (sore back) took a lot out of him, but you can't make an excuse for him. He tried to play and didn't say anything about it. We lost the game and moved on."
In the Final Four, Duke went on to beat No. 3 Florida to reach the title game. But in the championship tilt, the Blue Devils lost to No. 1 Arkansas, which beat No. 2 Arizona in its national semifinal game. The Hogs had a special team coached by Nolan Richardson, who used a frenetic “40 minutes of hell” style led by Corliss Williamson, Scotty Thurman and Dwight Stewart to win the national championship.
That leads us to this: WHAT IF Glenn Robinson hadn’t played vs. Duke with a bad back? Would Purdue have won vs. the Blue Devils?
In the Final Four, would a healthy Big Dog have been able to lead the Boilers past Lon Kruger-coached Florida, which had Dametri “Da Meat Hook” Hill and Andrew DeClercq?
And then Arkansas?
Tell us your thoughts.
The “Big Dog” was the national player of the year that season as a junior, as he led Purdue to the first of what would be three Big Ten championships in a row. Robinson paced the nation in scoring with 30.3 average and also hauled in 10.1 rebounds per game, as the Boilermakers went 14-4 in the Big Ten and entered the Big Dance with a 26-4 mark. It looked like Keady had a team capable of making the Final Four.
Playing in the South Region, Purdue cruised by No. 16 Central Florida (98-67) and No. 9 Alabama (83-73) in its first two 1994 NCAA tourney games, played in Rupp Arena in Lexington, Ky. It was on to Knoxville, Tenn., for the Sweet 16, where a clash with No. 4 Kansas loomed.
The nation got to see the full fury of the Big Dog in Thompson-Boling Arena. On a Thursday night, Robinson scored 30 points in the first half and finished with 44 on 15-of-33 shooting in the Boilermakers’ 83-78 victory over Roy Williams and the Jayhawks. Robinson hit 6-of-10 3-pointers, 8-of-9 free throws and also corralled seven rebounds. He had a memorable dunk vs. KU big man Greg Ostertag that still has Purdue fans buzzing.
Sidekick Cuonzo Martin also caused jaws to drop vs. the Jayhawks by tallying 29 points on 9-of-18 shooting (8-of-13 from 3-point range). The only thing that stood between Purdue and its first Final Four since 1980 was mighty Duke. The No. 2 Blue Devils had dispatched No. 6 Marquette to play Purdue for a spot in the Final Four in Charlotte, N.C.
Duke was too much for the Boilers on a Saturday night in Knoxville, taking a 69-60 triumph in a game billed as a superstar showdown between Robinson and Duke's Grant Hill. But neither led his squad in scoring. Hill had just 11 points, while Robinson finished with a season-low 13. The Gary, Ind., native hit just 6-of-22 shots and was 0-of-6 from 3-point land. Turns out, Robinson was playing with a bad back hurt while roughhousing with teammates before the game in the team hotel.
"He hurt his back against Kansas," said Martin in the book Tales from Boilermaker Country. "Then we had a little horseplay going on that night (in the team hotel) before the Duke game. He really hurt his back then. There was some wrestling going on. We used to always wrestle as a team.
"That (sore back) took a lot out of him, but you can't make an excuse for him. He tried to play and didn't say anything about it. We lost the game and moved on."
In the Final Four, Duke went on to beat No. 3 Florida to reach the title game. But in the championship tilt, the Blue Devils lost to No. 1 Arkansas, which beat No. 2 Arizona in its national semifinal game. The Hogs had a special team coached by Nolan Richardson, who used a frenetic “40 minutes of hell” style led by Corliss Williamson, Scotty Thurman and Dwight Stewart to win the national championship.
That leads us to this: WHAT IF Glenn Robinson hadn’t played vs. Duke with a bad back? Would Purdue have won vs. the Blue Devils?
In the Final Four, would a healthy Big Dog have been able to lead the Boilers past Lon Kruger-coached Florida, which had Dametri “Da Meat Hook” Hill and Andrew DeClercq?
And then Arkansas?
Tell us your thoughts.
