Purdue coach Matt Painter could have spent this past offseason shrugging off another stunning NCAA Tournament exit, Instead, he and the Boilermakers owned it. From the moment Painter and Virginia coach Tony Bennett traded postgame text messages last March, Painter and the third-ranked Boilermakers knew what their next mission had to be.
FILE - Purdue center Zach Edey reacts after being fouled by Fairleigh Dickinson in the second half of a first-round college basketball game in the men’s NCAA Tournament in Columbus, Ohio, Friday, March 17, 2023. Edey was named to the preseason AP All-America men’s NCAA college basketball team, revealed Monday, Oct. 23, 2023. FILE - Purdue center Zach Edey gets a dunk in front of Rutgers center Clifford Omoruyi during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game in West Lafayette, Ind.
But the lowest-seeded team in the 68-team tourney field had different thoughts. The Knights used a harassing, confusing defense to put the bigger Boilermakers on their heels and as the pressure mounted, Purdue’s 3-point shots stopped falling in, Edey’s impact shrunk, and Fairleigh Dickinson emerged as the second No. 16 seed to beat a No. 1, 63-58.
Only one other coach truly understood what Painter and Purdue were dealing with — Bennett, whose top-seeded Cavaliers lost to No. 16 UMBC 74-54 exactly five years earlier.Both grew up in the Midwest, played for Gene Keady and served Big Ten stints for their coaching mentors. Bennett even helped lead Wisconsin-Green Bay past Painter and Purdue in December 1991 at Mackey Arena, and Keady, who coached Bennett on the 1991 U.S.
Forward Mason Gillis watched game tape and started searching for solutions. Edey opted to return for his fourth college season and worked overtime putting up shot after shot in his quest to become the fifth back-to-back winner of The Associated Press player of the year award.
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