For Purdue, the umpteenth time is the charm

Everything is lining up for the Boilers, who are poised to cast off their star-crossed history and make a run -- really -- to the Final Four. Get on the bandwagon. You won't be disappointed.

It’s going to be different this time.

Seriously.

I mean it.

This time, the Boilers won’t be heading into their first-round game against either Montana State or Grambling having gone 4-4 in their previous eight games. They won’t be heading into the NCAA Tournament with two then-freshmen, Braden Smith and Fletcher Loyer, hitting a wall and shooting poorly the final few weeks of the regular season and Big Ten Tournament. And they will start this run with transfer Lance Jones, the do-everything guard who gives the Boilers an athletic and fearless element in the backcourt.

Just as Virginia became the first-ever 1 seed to get upset by 16 seed Maryland-Baltimore County in 2018 and win it all in 2019, the Boilers believe they are poised to erase the past – and there’s a lot of ugly history there, one that includes North Texas, Saint Peter’s and, of course, FDU – and follow it all up with a trip to the Final Four in Glendale, Ariz.

The loss to Wisconsin in the Big Ten Tournament? Disappointing, but ultimately meaningless. If nothing else, it re-confirmed the fact that when the Boilers turn the ball over at a high rate, they can be beaten by anybody. That was a game they should have won, a game they’re going to need to win once they get deeper in the NCAA Tournament, but there’s nothing wrong with a little bit of rest, especially given Smith’s calf injury.

I’m jumping on the Boiler bandwagon.