Issue link: http://read.uberflip.com/i/476122
GOLDANDBLACK EXPRESS • VOLUME 25, EXPRESS 24 • 4 J on Octeus was in that awk- ward position after Pur- due's win over Illinois Satur- day, taking the mic on senior night to tell people how much he's enjoyed playing in Mack- ey Arena, hoping deep down he never, ever has to again. You see, the come-from- behind victory that preceded Purdue's Octeus-centric postgame ceremony prob- ably secured the Boilermakers' place in the NCAA Tournament, but there remain no firm guarantees. Nothing should be taken for granted until the word "Purdue" flashes across the screen on CBS. Should the Boilermakers somehow get snubbed come Selection Sunday despite at least a dozen Big Ten victories, the finality of senior night will have been premature. The NIT would mean more home games and thus more appearances on Keady Court for Purdue's senior point guard/godsend. Great. At the end of December, an NIT invitation would have seemed like cause for couch-burning at Purdue. Today, it would go over like a parting gift to a game show contestant who just blew the grand prize, like a year's worth of laundry de - tergent for a "Price Is Right" contestant who just overbid on the Showcase Showdown by a buck. Great. The eyeball test says Purdue is an NCAA Tournament team. It will have another opportunity to prove it at the Big Ten Tournament in Chicago, host of the event for no good reason at all. (Indy is a better host and it's not even close. And let's not even go down the D.C. road at this point.) But headed to the United Center, Purdue has put one foot in the NCAA door despite, ironi- cally, Indiana's best efforts to spill coffee all over the Boilermakers' résumé. (Cue the sinister Tom Crean cackle sound effect.) Purdue deserves to return to college basket- ball's greatest stage. It has earned it, by any objec- tive measure, the last two months. The first two months, maybe not so much. The résumé is far from perfect — sullied by face-palm non-conference losses and a bad RPI relative to the field — but the product unques- tionably passes the look test. The human element remains Purdue's great- est ally. Look, I know selection committees have their criteria and total bodies of work —the Boil- ermakers' is flawed — are the end-all, be-all. But if machine-like decision-making was the aim, machines would make the decisions. They don't. The selection committee is made up of hu- man beings with minds, hearts, eyes wide open and reasonable-thought capabilities. The com- puters are in the room, but their opinions are just considerations. At the end of the day, living, breathing ani- mate beings make these decisions and it will be very difficult for any living, breathing animate be- ing with any basketball savvy, or ability to process information, to turn Purdue away, if you ask me. Barring a dumpster-fire performance in Chicago and absolute bubble anarchy, Purdue is going to return to the NCAA Tournament, I think, meaning for Octeus that "good-bye" was actually "good-bye." It was a difficult "good-bye" for a player who's been on campus less than five months, but in a short peri- od impacted not only a singular team, but also the direction of a program. There's no telling where Purdue would have been without Octeus this season. Perish the thought. During senior night, Octeus said, "I wish I had more years at Purdue." As he said it, dozens of fans, like school children all blurting out an an- swer at once, yelled, "So do we!" It was a difficult good-bye for both parties. For Purdue, Octeus was the per- fect player at the perfect time, saving a season — that's not overstatement — in which the program needed to do something positive. For Octeus, Purdue saved him from college basketball's no man's land and has helped get him into po- sition to reach his goal of playing in another NCAA Tournament. It's been a difficult good-bye to end a story that's still almost too amazing to believe. But Selection Sunday is very likely going to ensure it's the right kind of good- bye. j Neubert can be contacted at BNeubert@GoldandBlack.com F R O M E D I T O R B R I A N N E U B E R T Going Out In Style SHOP OFFICIAL PURDUE GEAR BASKETBALL FEVER FOLLETT'S PURDUE BOOKSTORES Purdue West - Black & Gold Mine /FollettsPurdueBookstores follettspurdue.com