GBI Express

The Authority on Purdue Athletics volume 22, EX 25 • march 12, 2012 In this issue: the road less traveled • Pages 1-3: Opening Tip • Pages 6-8: Men's NCAA Preview • Pages 20-21: Women's NCAA Preview Inside The This time Purdue fought its way into the NCAA Tournament BY BRIAN NEUBERT BNeubert@GoldandBlack.com F or the first time since 2007, Purdue had to fight its way into the NCAA Tournament, needing an inspired run late in the season just to secure its place in a field it's been a fixture in the past few years. The Boilermakers are headed to their sixth-consecutive tournament, but with a seeding that matches their lowest ever. The Midwest Regional's No. 10 seed, the Boilermakers play seventh-seeded Saint Mary's Friday in Omaha, with the prize almost certainly being a Sunday meeting with second-seeded Kansas. It's been an exhausting past month for Purdue, which worried PURDUE'S SECOND/ THIRD ROUND NCAA TOURNAMENT INFORMATION Dates: Friday and Sunday Times: 7:27 p.m. ET (Friday)/TBA (Sunday) Place: CenturyLink Center (hosted by Creighton) in Omaha, Neb. Capacity: 18,320 Television: truTV (Friday) / TBD (Sunday) Broadcast Crew: Marv Albert, Steve Kerr, Craig Sager Tickets: A limited number of tickets are availiable, on a priority basis (JPC), at the Purdue Athletic Ticket Office. Deadline is 5 p.m. Tuesday. Note: Fans can gather at the Old Matress Factory across from the arena for a pregame rally on Friday evening. GBIprint.com GoldandBlack.com about a light résumé that put it squarely on the dreaded bubble. But after the Boilermakers needed to win eight of nine games late during the regular season just to get on the Dance floor, players say there's plenty left in their proverbial tanks to keep going. "There's a lot of teams in the country that don't get the chance to play in the NCAA Tournament," said D.J. Byrd, the Big Ten's newly minted Sixth Man-of-the-Year. "Fortunately enough for me, I'll be able to play in my third. "Growing up you talk about March Madness and you're always watching the games on TV. To be part of it is a great feeling and we're excited to come out and give our best showing." It's a stark contrast, though, from last season, the path Purdue took into this year's Field of 68. The past three seasons, Purdue came in highly touted, it being a foregone conclusion the Boilermakers would be playing well into March. It was just a matter of not screwing it up. But this season was a rocky one. First of all, Purdue lost two pros, both of them now with the Boston Celtics. The Boilermakers did return a star, but Robbie Hummel endured, and ultimately overcame, the most pressure on defense, one of the program's defining characteristics for years. Add it all up and it was a struggle. Selection Sunday was March 11 and the Boilermakers could very much still be characterized as a work in progress. That struggle made it that much more satisfying when Purdue finally saw its name called on the selection show. It was a long wait — one Boilermaker joked he worried Purdue had been forgotten about as the bottom right corner of Tom Campbell the bracket neared — Purdue will need to do what it has done for most of the season, and that is to provide great effort if it is going to but a worthwhile one. "It keeps you hunadvance in the 2012 NCAA Tournament. gry," point guard Lewis difficult playing stretch of his caJackson said. "Last year, we're wonreer, asked to carry a team on two dering if we were going to get a 2 surgically repaired knees after a seaseed or a 3 seed and worrying about son-and-a-half idled. locations. A key, albeit enigmatic, piece "This team, we just needed to was lost in mid-February when Kelsey make sure we got in. This team is Barlow was kicked off the team. probably going to appreciate the moAnd Purdue struggled so badly ment a little bit more, because of how with some of its core philosophies hard we had to fight to get there." on the floor that Coach Matt Painter That term, fight, is a comdeviated from them on the fly, backmon theme for Purdue as it ening off his program's trademark ball Numbers 5 The consecutive games in which Terone Johnson has shot better than 50 percent from the field, a team-high. His streak was barely snapped against Ohio State when he was 6-of-13 from the floor. Number of consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances by Purdue's men's basketball team. The number of games Purdue has won in the NCAA Tournament as the lower seed, the third best of any team since the NCAA began seeding the Big Dance in 1979. The last year Purdue played a game in the state of Nebraska. The Boilermakers pulled a mild surprise over the Cornhuskers, winning 58-47 in Lincoln, about 58 miles southwest of Omaha. Purdue's record in NCAA Tournament contests that Robbie Hummel has played. He has scored in double figures only once and has averaged 9.8 points. The Boilermakers all-time record in the Big Dance in games played west of the Mississippi River. Coach Matt Painter is 4-2. 6 10 1978 3-2 9-5 Next week We will publish EXPRESS 26 either Monday, March 19, or Tuesday, March 20, depending on results of men's and women's tournament games. Gold & Black IllustrateD • volume 22, express 25  •  1

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