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GOLD AND BLACK ILLUSTRATED VOLUME 28, ISSUE 4 20 BY ALAN KARPICK AKarpick@GoldandBlack.com I t's been 38 years, so excuse me if my mind is a little bit fuzzy on the facts. But this is how I remember it. I was as a sophomore basketball manager in 1979-80, the year a Purdue's men's basketball team most recently reached a Final Four. Off the court, the team didn't appear to hang out together all that often. In some cases, they didn't appear to like each other all that well. But four decades of separation apparently makes the heart grow fonder. At least it did the weekend of Feb. 17-18, when eight team members and seven managers returned to be honored in Mackey Arena. "You realize how different things were back then," said Brian Walker, the starting point guard. "Today, teams live together, train together, do everything together. Back then, it wasn't that way. You played the season and then went your separate ways for the most part." Make no mistake, however: On the court this team was all business and functioned well as a unit. It had a cerebral, sometimes difficult, coach in Lee Rose. Rose would chal- lenge his players in ways physical and mental. Always look- ing for an edge for his team. "Some of the guys loved him and some struggled with Coach's approach," Walker said about Rose, now 81, who wasn't able to make it to Mackey from his home in Char- lotte due to health issues. "But we all respected him." Rose, a consummate tactician, had plenty of talent on the roster, starting with No. 1 NBA draft pick and All-Amer- ica center Joe Barry Carroll. But there was a good support- P R E S E N T S T H E 1 9 8 0 F I N A L F O U R T E A M R E U N I O N Memorable Weekend Purdue's most recent Final Four team welcomed back Charles Jischke / Purdue Athletics Fifteen members of the nation's third-place finisher in the 1980 NCAA Tournament returned to Mackey Arena for the Penn State game Feb. 18. Pictured (from left): Managers Jon Stevens, Kerry Walsh, Gary Solgere and Scott Strietelmeier, players Drake Morris, Steve Walker, Keith Edmonson, Arnette Hallman, Brian Walker, Roosevelt Barnes, John Anthrop, Jon Kitchel and managers Alan Karpick, Tony Natali and Ed Potts.