After a disappointing upset against a 16-seed last year, Purdue has made it to the Final Four. Will the Boilermakers’ comeback story end with their first national title?
Winning should come easy when you have the best player in college basketball. Add an elite shooting team on top of that, and the season-long dominance of Purdue is no surprise. Yet, for various reasons, there are still those who want to discount the Boilermakers’ accomplishments.
Purdue doesn’t care. As Zach Edey said right after punching his ticket to the Final Four, “We are f—ing winners, it’s what we do.”
It is certainly what they do. Since Edey first set foot on campus, Purdue is 109-28, a winning percentage just under 80 percent. This year’s team has also set the school record for most wins in a single season, with 33 and counting.
Purdue is a win over 11-seed NC State away from its first national final appearance since 1969, and just two wins away from the school’s first NCAA Tournament championship. A national title would not just cement this Purdue team in the history books and silence the criticism about head coach Matt Painter — it would also cap off one of the best college basketball careers in the 21st century.
Final Four previews:
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