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The first head football coach in Purdue history was a man named Albert Berg, who coached the team to an 0-1 record in the inaugural 1887 season. He was paid $1, which is about $25 in today’s money to do so. The result was not good for Purdue, as they lost to Butler 48-6.
Still Albert Berg was an incredibly talented and unique man who overcame the obstacle of deafness. Yes, he was able to become Purdue’s first ever football coach despite being deaf.
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We have 2020 vision, NFL Draft style, for the first time, right here, right now. It’s our first ever 2020 NFL mock draft, and the order, for now was simply replicated from 2019. Team needs, nor the 2019 NFL mock draft (which you can view over at this link), were taken into account.
As we have a whole draft, and two rounds of free agency to go through, it’s just too early to factor in team needs. Obviously this will be modified and reworked hundreds, if not thousands of times between now and 2020 NFL Draft day. Enjoy!
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Saturday night you will say goodbye to “the narratives” (such an overused word these days) surrounding Tony Bennett and the Virginia Cavaliers or Matt Painter and the Purdue Boilermakers. Neither coach has been to the Final Four.
It’s been 35 years since Virginia has reached college basketball’s promised land; 39 for Purdue. It’s the proverbial “something’s gotta give” game as one side will finally see the “they just don’t make deep runs in March” motif put to rest for good (or at least for a long while). The time is now for either the Purdue Boilermakers or the Virginia Cavaliers to get “off brand,” and the opportunity to do so begins Saturday night at 8:49 EST on TBS.
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Purdue’s unexpected early exit from the Big Ten Tournament is now ancient history as they won handily in Hartford last night over Old Dominion 61-48 in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
The Boilermakers will next take on the defending national champions Villanova Wildcats at approximately 7:40 p.m. central on Saturday, March 23 on TNT. Some believe that the Boilermakers’ surprise early ending in Chicago will be a blessing in disguise, as it gives the team some rest, and more time to get ready for the big dance.
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Last St. Patrick’s Day, University of Maryland-Baltimore County shocked Virginia 74-54 to become the first No. 16 seed in the history of the NCAA tournament to ever beat a No. 1 seed.
And with that upset, the Retrievers became media darlings, lovable underdogs, breakers of brackets all over the world. Thanks to UMBC, there were just 25 perfect brackets remaining among the tens of millions submitted before March Madness began.
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Lots of college basketball pundits have deemed the Big Ten the strongest conference in the nation this season, and the numbers seen to verify this. From top to bottom, it’s the strongest conference in the country, but it’s strongest teams aren’t among the elite of the elite nationally.
The Big Ten has three teams, #6 Michigan State, #10 Michigan and #13 Purdue that have a legitimate shot of winning it all, but none are likely to earn a #1 seed on Selection Sunday. You won’t find any of that trio among the top favorites to be crowned kings of March Madness either. In short, the Midwestern based league, headquartered in Chicago, is just not top heavy enough.
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Social change is accomplished when hearts and minds are moved to change. The first time I heard the “IU Sucks” chant at a Purdue home game (win over Northwestern in 2016), I admit that I thought it quirky and funny. It reminded me of the times I’ve been to Fenway Park, when the Boston Red Sox are playing the Detroit Tigers and the fans chant “Yankees Suck!”
Over time though, my opinion has evolved, and if you clicked here with an open mind, perhaps yours will too. Or maybe it won’t, but the point is Purdue head coach Matt Painter believes it’s time to abolish the “IU Sucks” chant, and I agree with him wholeheartedly.
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It won’t be official until tomorrow, but Purdue junior combo guard Carsen Edwards (23.4 points per game entering the regular season finale) will win the Big Ten scoring title. It will make him the third Boilermaker in the last nine years to lead the Big Ten in scoring (JaJuan Johnson in 2011 (20.7) and Caleb Swanigan in 2017 (18.9).
No other Big Ten team has had more than one league scoring champ during that span. It’s an impressive achievement for Edwards, who already has an AP All-American third team plaudit, and the Jerry West Award (nation’s best shooting guard) from last season on his resume.
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Congratulations to the #11 Purdue men’s basketball team, on their clinching a share of the 2018-19 Big Ten Championship after defeating Northwestern, 70-57, at Welsh-Ryan Arena today. That gives them a record-setting 24th league title, and approximately 1/5 of all the Big Ten regular season conference titles that have been awarded.
Here is video of the final seconds ticking away, and the moment the Boilers officially became champs. Below that, you’ll find video of the trophy exiting the court.
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Purdue basketball coach Matt Painter has said a couple things in the past week that we should all really pay attention to. Take heed of the Boilermakers boss’ words, you might learn something and become a better person because of it.
In general, there has been a belief in recent years that Big Ten basketball coaches, as a whole, have better media skills than Big Ten football coaches. Since Bo Ryan left, and P.J. Fleck came aboard, the dynamic changed somewhat. However, it appears that Matt Painter, and also Minnesota’s Richard Pitino, are really stepping up and filling the void left by Ryan in the press conference game.
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In their shocking 73-63 upset of #6 Michigan State Sunday, the unranked Purdue Boilermakers ended MSU’s 13 game win streak, as well as their bid for the first 10-0 Big Ten start in school history. This past weekend’s loss also saw State trail by their largest margin (23) in any game this season, before an epic fake rally window dressed the score quite a bit.
Purdue also held Sparty to their lowest point total in a half since 2004 and ended State’s 21 game conference win streak. So now with this blockbuster win under their belt, where do the Purdue Boilermakers stand in terms of season profile/postseason projection?
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(Editor’s note: re-posting this and updating it from 2017 and 2018, in honor of the Purdue Boilermakers hosting the Indiana Hoosiers on Saturday, the first of the two meetings between the two teams this season)
While there is no rivalry in B1G basketball as high stakes and as passionate as El Clasico (the name of the series between Real Madrid and Barcelona), the Purdue Boilermakers (11-6, 4-2) and #25 Indiana Hoosiers (12-5, 3-3) rivalry often comes close. Typically, the two teams are more than just regionally relevant, but nationally as well. In a given year, we often see at least one of the two teams influencing the NCAA Championship odds here as we head towards the final stretch run of the regular season.
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