Purdue had recently lost unexpectedly in the Big Ten Tournament last week, and Braden Smith sat down with star Zach Edey and coach Matt Painter to talk to reporters.
It took three questions to bring up a scary memory from March Madness: the Boilermakers’ unlikely loss as a No. 1 seed to 16th-seeded Fairleigh Dickinson in last year’s NCAA Tournament.
“I don’t think we’re really concerned about what happened last year,” Smith said simply.
Yes, Purdue has seemed like a potential title contender all season and has another 1-seed as the NCAAs start this week. However, one bad night at the worst possible time haunts a program that has experienced multiple March Madness setbacks.
Only one other program understands that humiliation: Virginia, which lost to UMBC in the first-ever 16-vs-1 upset in 2018. Yet those Cavaliers regrouped to win the national championship the following season, offering a plan for the Boilermakers’ potential path to redemption and proof it can be done.
“They weren’t the first to do it, so it’s not the worst thing in the world — it’s the second-worst thing in the world,” said former Virginia star Ty Jerome, now with the NBA’s Cleveland Cavaliers. “To go through that together and bounce back together … it’s definitely going to make them stronger. I hope they’ve talked about it.
“That’s the best way to move forward, is to embrace it, to talk about it and let it fuel you.”
Like Virginia five years ago, Purdue has heard constant questions, references, and taunts. In preseason. During wins and losses. They’ll intensify this week; that’s what happens when you are on the wrong side of a 150-2 all-time record for No. 1 seeds against No. 16 seeds.
“Every arena we went to, we heard chants of ‘FDU! FDU!’ throughout the whole game,” reserve forward Camden Heide said, “so we’ve kind of heard it ever since we lost.”
But the moment is here, the opportunity to put an end to it all. The Boilermakers (29-4) lead the Midwest Region, led by a reigning national player of the year in the 7-foot-4 Edey — who was named an unanimous Associated Press first-team All-American for the second straight season on Tuesday.
Yet Friday’s first-round game against the Montana State-Grambling winner also feels like going back to a crime scene for a program under long-standing pressure to reach its first Final Four since 1980. It shows why the Boilermakers’ challenge is different from that of No. 1 overall tournament seed and reigning national champion Connecticut, or fellow top regional seeds Houston and North Carolina with recent Final Four trips.
“We’ve embraced it for 12 months,” Painter said, adding: “A lot of times, that’s the best medicine, is to be able to sit in that adversity. But you can’t fix something if you don’t own it. And I think from a staff standpoint, we own it and our players own it.”
The similarities to Virginia are clear. Both started the following seasons highly ranked and won early season important tournaments (Purdue with the Maui Invitational, Virginia with the Battle 4 Atlantis in the Bahamas ).
Each team won the regular season competition in their conference (Virginia tied UNC in the Atlantic Coast Conference) before losing in the semifinals of the league tournament. They both entered the NCAA tournament as top seeds with 29 wins each.
They also carried the weight of recent losses in the postseason, including shocking upsets. And there was something deeper, the sinking feeling when a Final Four dream is destroyed in the first game, which is usually seen as an easy win for title contenders. Virginia coach Tony Bennett remembered hearing about Purdue's trouble last March.
“I changed the channel and someone said, ‘Uh-oh, it might happen again,’” Bennett told the AP. “And I remember thinking, ‘Please, no. I hope that doesn’t happen to them.’”
When it did, Bennett texted Painter.
“Matt is one of the best coaches we’ve got in the college game, he’s a man of character,” Bennett said. “And not many can say, except for me: I’ve felt that pain. … So I just wanted to tell him, ‘If you ever want to talk, I’m here. I think the world of you and hopefully your story is the same as ours.’”
For Bennett, that story started with trying to rebuild his players’ confidence. He told them everyone – family, friends, critics – would watch their response, and they had the opportunity to weave their own incredible comeback tale.
However, the upset from UMBC took a long time to heal.
The eventual Most Outstanding Player of the Final Four, Kyle Guy, openly talked about battling anxiety and shared that the team received death threats. Jerome described feeling “shock and trauma” when they returned to the team hotel, and facing the embarrassment felt like “rock bottom.”
“I couldn’t tell you two weeks, I couldn’t tell you two years because we were all dealing with it in different ways up until we won it the following year, to be honest,” Jerome told the AP.
“I know for me, it definitely motivated me, but it was in the back of my mind all summer,” he added. “It was hard to relax. It was hard to enjoy other areas of life. And the following season, you hear it everywhere you go. And although we were dominant all season, you almost deal with the idea of: how much does the regular season matter? You want to get back on the court and get revenge for last year.”
DeAndre Hunter, who missed the UMBC game due to injury and is now with the NBA’s Atlanta Hawks, remembers talking with Jerome immediately afterward about coming back to win the title.
“It just comes from within,” Hunter said. “Everybody’s going to be down on you. Everybody’s going to be thinking about that game that you lost. That’s how it was for us. That’s all people talked about the whole year. It didn’t matter how we did during the year.”
Virginia eventually got its perfect ending, but not without intense nerves. The Cavaliers struggled again against 16th-seeded Gardner-Webb and were behind by 14 in the first half, reminding both Jerome and Hunter of the 2019 situation.
Virginia started the second half with a 14-2 run to take control, securing the win that was anything but routine a year ago.
“I think once we overcame that obstacle … we felt like we weren’t going to lose,” Hunter said.
The Cavaliers managed to survive their regional final match against Purdue, with Carsen Edwards scoring 42 points against their strong defense. They needed a buzzer-beater from Kihei Clark to force overtime before advancing.
During the Final Four, Virginia narrowly defeated Auburn 63-62 when Guy made three free throws with 0.6 seconds remaining after being fouled on a 3-pointer. They secured the victory by using Hunter’s crucial 3-pointer with 12.9 seconds left to force overtime before winning against Texas Tech for the title.
On that night in Minneapolis, they cut the nets and danced amidst falling confetti in what seemed like a mix of celebration and emotional release. They took turns with big smiles and mesmerized looks at the video boards as the traditional tournament-capping highlight montage, “One Shining Moment”, began playing.
Bennett cherished the moment from the background, leaning against the stage’s edge while holding a cut-down net.
Jerome felt that Bennett was the ideal coach to guide the Cavaliers through tough times and to achieve what CBS announcer Jim Nantz hailed as an “all-time turnaround title.” He sees similarities with Painter.
As for advice, Hunter suggested the Boilermakers remember “all the naysayers” to prove them wrong. Jerome remarked that they should “double down on what they believe in and what got them there, and be present in the moment as much as possible.
“It’s a one-game elimination and you’re the better team,” Jerome said. “You can’t play tight.”
Then he provided his endorsement.
“Purdue is my champion this year, in my bracket,” he said before the field was even set.
Now it’s up to the Boilermakers to follow the Cavaliers’ path through that wilderness.
“Yes, we are trying to prove ourselves from last year because we shouldn’t have lost to FDU,” forward Mason Gillis said. “But we know we can’t change that. The only thing that we can do is go out and play our best every single game from here on out.”
