Musings of an Old Sportswriter

On Purdue and IU, the NBA's 65-game threshold and other stuff...

It’s going to be different this time for Purdue.

No, really. Swear to you, it’s going to be different. And when I say different, I don’t mean they’ll beat the 16^th seed in the NCAA Tournament opener and that’s it. I mean, they’re going to reach the Final Four, the first time Purdue has done so since 1980.

I know, I said that last year. Wrote it and ended up with egg on my face. And I wasn’t alone. All the smart money was on Purdue to reach the Final Four and possibly even win the whole damn thing.

And then Fairleigh Dickinson happened, just the way North Texas happened and Saint Peter’s happened and we could go on and on.

It’s going to be different this year.

I say that because Lance Jones is a difference maker; if you watched Purdue’s victory Sunday over No. 6 Wisconsin, you know this. He has now scored 20 or more points in three of the last four games and is averaging 15.6 points per game in Big Ten play.

On a day when Zach Edey was just average (by his lofty standards), scoring 18 points and grabbing 13 rebounds, the Boilers relied upon Jones, Braden Smith and others to do something that doesn’t often happen – win a game in Madison. Purdue now has wins over six of the top 12 teams on KenPom – No. 4 Arizona, No. 6 Tennessee, No. 7 Alabama, No. 10 Illinois, No. 11 Marquette and No. 12 Wisconsin. They own the most impressive resume in college basketball.