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Why have we not been to the Final Four for over 30 years?
by GeorgiaBoiler on Jan 27, 2012 8:54 PM EST
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Despite having had some teams that possessed the talent. The teams from 1987-88 and 1993-94, in particular, come to mind, along with possibly the 1995-96 and 1997-98 teams. The loss to Duke in the Elite Eight in 1994 was devastating. I remember us dominating Duke in the first half and then getting pounded in the second half. I have always thought that their Coach K just vastly out-coached our Coach K in that game although in all fairness, outside of Robinson, I never thought that team had tremendous depth. Being seeded #1 in 1996 and then getting hammered by Tubby Smith's #8 seeded Georgia in the second round was sickening (that was the first year we lived here which made it particularly hard to stomach). I can also remember over the years having a hard time in the tournaments with non-conference teams that we should have handled with ease, teams like Western Carolina and Wisconsin-Green Bay come to mind. In that same vein, last year's loss to VCU seemed to me to be primarily a coaching failure, that team had tons of talent even without Hummel.
I have wondered for a long time if it has been a weakness of our coaching staffs in failing to prepare properly for big games especially against non-conference opponents that we are not familiar with. They do a great job historically in conference play but we suffer in the tournaments. Bob Knight has always said that everyone has a will to win but not everyone has a will to prepare to win and John Wooden said something similar, "Failing to prepare is preparing to fail".
Just some thoughts on things I have been wondering about.
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I have wondered similar things...
I feel the pain as many do… But take a program like Kansas, it has lost more as a No. 1 seed than any other program.
Also, 2005 as a 3 seed, loses to Bucknell, 2006 first round loss to 13th seeded Bradley..
Misery loves company I guess, but problem with my comparison is they have one some National Titles and have some final fours of course.. oh well..
Not sure what it is.. Maybe just not enough sustained talent over longer periods of time.
Still cant believe VCU… haha..
This reminds me of another stat
Babe Ruth struck out more than anyone.
Jordan missed more than his share of game-winning shots.
Once one thing goes right, people forget a lot of what goes wrong. We don’t have any good to remember—yet.
by Beavis Beefcake on Jan 29, 2012 10:35 PM EST up reply actions
Bold post (under these fragile times)
but unfortunately very true….I hope you don’t get scrutinized for it
SEVEN BG10 teams went to the final four during Keadys tenure. Northwestern, Iowa and PU were not involved. (iof course later PennSt)
NW shouldn’t even be mentioned cuz they were especially putrid during those years…so
2 of 9 teams never closed in on the deal over 25 year period
by Boilerhoosier91 on Jan 27, 2012 10:22 PM EST reply actions
I think it is a mix of underachieving and terrible luck.
Robinson getting injured, Hummel getting injured, etc, etc. Last year’s team definitely should have gone farther, but in hindsight VCU was playing out of their minds during the tournament. I think Purdue honestly just seems to have been destined to have either a post-season meltdown or some injury at the exact wrong time.
I agree
No one will ever convince me that luck has alot to do with tournaments. Everyone has nights where they are either off or on fire. We have been off at the same time others were hot, like vcu last year. Injuries too, luck, or lack thereof.
Given 50 teams, 1 will probably have 1-in-50-ish bad luck
So, yeah, why not us?
Looking at it this way keeps me a bit saner, though…and what you mention falls in with that.
by Beavis Beefcake on Jan 28, 2012 10:29 PM EST up reply actions
The 2000 Wisconsin loss was the worst for me
I don’t think I have ever been more furious/devastated after a loss. it took me a week to get over it.
A futile crusade to prevent mass ignorance
HammerAndRails, SBNation's Boilermaker Blog
Yes indeed
I truly about lost my wife over that game haha…….we hadn’t been dating very long and she thought I was a psycho during and after that game…sulked for a week at least and I almost blew it with a great woman lol
true story
but as the PU family of fans we are, we get over it and come to our senses (still pisses me off tho!!!)
by Boilerhoosier91 on Jan 27, 2012 11:12 PM EST up reply actions
I had forgotten about that Wisconsin loss.
Thanks for reminding me, I think….
Seriously though, it was horrible. I am still mad about the Duke loss in 94 though, I felt like we were so close in the first half and then the second half was a meltdown. We all had such high hopes for Robinson’s last year. What made it even worse was I was in grad school in North Carolina at the time and had invited a bunch of classmates to our apartment for the game, one of whom was a Duke grad. That was painful.
by GeorgiaBoiler on Jan 27, 2012 11:33 PM EST up reply actions
Ouch
I had to go out to the East Coast after the game. I’m sort of glad I had spring break then. But there were a lot of Duke fans out there who wondered how I could like Purdue? And who said Duke was a team, blah blah, etc. Of course the next year the remainder of Purdue did better than the remainder of Duke but some of those same Duke fans said, well, Grant Hill was obviously better prepared than Robinson.
We really have had a lot of great moments as Purdue fans even without the pinnacle. I have faith.
Then again, I like the Cubs, too.
by Beavis Beefcake on Jan 28, 2012 12:24 AM EST up reply actions
I was a sophomore that year
Season ticket holder too, and the Final Four was in Indy with two teams (MSU and Florida) we had beaten during the regular season. I was all set to be part of the Final Four student section.
A futile crusade to prevent mass ignorance
HammerAndRails, SBNation's Boilermaker Blog
by BoilerTMill on Jan 28, 2012 10:38 AM EST up reply actions
the duke game
haunts me to this day…..grob had NO business not making it to a FF (think glen rice at minimum)
by Boilerhoosier91 on Jan 28, 2012 12:23 AM EST reply actions
The past sucks.
We can’t dwell on it though. All you can do is move forward….and I couldn’t be more excited. This program is set to go places its never been before under Coach Painter.
by Jackson Brunner on Jan 28, 2012 2:51 AM EST reply actions
The past hardly sucks
Purdue has a rich tradition of winning and routinely putting outstanding players and teams on the floor. Regular Final Four trips are all we lack. If we had those, we would probably take them for granted and collectively wring our hands about our lack of National Championships.
As someone who was on campus during out last Final Four, I can tell you it will be pretty sweet when it happens again. That said, after losing on Saturday afternoon, we all felt the same gut wrenching pain described after the games mentioned above. Unless you win it all, your season ends with a bitter loss.
"There's no hope until Hope is gone!"
To be clear
the Saturday afternoon I was referring to was in April of 1980.
"There's no hope until Hope is gone!"
Oh how awesome it would be to be on campus for a final four.
Please let is happen before I Die!!!!!!!!!
by Boiler_Ditsor on Jan 28, 2012 9:08 PM EST up reply actions
This I very much agree!!
We can’t dwell on it (the past) though. All you can do is move forward….and I couldn’t be more excited.
It's all a crapshoot
We were 3rd in the Big Ten and a 6th seed when we last went in 1980.
During most of Keady’s tenure, you’d have to say that, besides GRob, we really didn’t get the big recruits. Our success was based on scrappiness and hard-nosed players. Not a bevy of talent. At least compared to the big programs of those times.
Nobody cares about your fantasy baseball team
"We have the Cannon, the Bucket, the Little Caesar's Bowl trophies, and I'm pretty sure the Nation's Best Kick-Off Team Trophy as well to put in our trophy case" --Purdue Coach Danny Hope
by carmen_fanzone on Jan 28, 2012 11:52 AM EST reply actions
Michael Robinson was a McD AA
…just that he was overshadowed by a redshirt frosh named Brian Cardinal.
In a word luck
People like to discount it because it sucks to realize some things are beyond your control.
It’s the same reason all the 1 seeds have only made it to the final four one time, sure they are better teams but the odds of one of them stumbling at some point are immense.
It’s not fun to be on the receiving end but for every team that has an unreal run there are several in its wake that ‘underachieved.’
Luck is a 2-way street
but many fan bases only think they have bad luck. How many fan bases or teams that make the Final Four would credit that to being lucky? Probably none. It’s a lot easier to credit the failures to bad luck and not the other way around.
Old Gene
Keady was a great regular season coach. But his teams would lose to talent rich teams in the tournament. I can still see him sitting and smacking the chair next to him—-like that would help. CMP does not sit during the games (much). My own opinion is that Purdue took a nose dive after Webber went to IL. That was an 18year coaching team that broke-up. If we can get the new talent to gel as a team without injuring a few in practice, we’ll be fine for the long term next year. For this year just support the coaching staff and players and see where it comes out at the end of the season.
You think Weber is the missing piece? Lawl
The guy is lucky Charlie Weis exists to be the poster boy for terminal underachievement.
"Hey Jay, what time is it?"
"9:30"
"AND IU STILL SUCKS!"
by Boiler Bandsman on Jan 29, 2012 8:01 PM EST up reply actions
I think we are ascribing too much to bad luck.
Izzo’s teams have been to the Final Four 6 times in 13 years.
is that luck or perhaps something else?
Perhaps the coaches do everything humanly possibly to prepare.
The players do the same mentally, physically, and emotionally. The fans do a great job of traveling to cheer on their beloved team. Then all together the truth sets in. You’re Purdue. Thus, failure.
/hateweek’d
"It's an easy game, man. Easy game."
~Edgerrin James
by 87 Rides A Surfboard on Jan 30, 2012 5:32 PM EST reply actions
*possible
Shit. I hath trolled myself.
"It's an easy game, man. Easy game."
~Edgerrin James
by 87 Rides A Surfboard on Jan 30, 2012 5:33 PM EST up reply actions
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