LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Purdue is the men's college basketball program that Indiana has not been for 25 years.
Consistently ranked.
Consistently bound for the NCAA Tournament.
Consistently difficult to beat at home.
Consistently packed with players from Indiana high school programs.
I mention that today because the Hoosiers visit the Boilermakers in Mackey Arena at 8 p.m. for a game that will be televised nationally (and carried locally on WDRB) by Fox Sports with Jason Benetti and former Purdue forward Robbie Hummel on the call.
Purdue head coach Matt Painter has not done everything that Bob Knight did during his 29-season run in Bloomington. The obvious gaps are Painter has yet to hang an NCAA championship banner or directed his program with the controversy that surrounded Knight. But he does have five Big Ten titles.
Only Connecticut stopped Purdue last season. Who knows? The Boilermakers are ranked No. 10 in the latest Associated Press Top 25, No. 9 in the NCAA NET formula and No. 8 in Ken Pomeroy's analytics.
Maybe Painter's formidable 16-5 team will be a surprise winner in this season's NCAA Tournament. Purdue packs a top-10 offense and top-30 defense.
However, it will not be a surprise if the Boilermakers make the tournament. That has never been a question.
It will be a surprise if Mike Woodson's 14-7 Indiana team plays into mid-March. Not only are the Hoosiers 12-point underdogs, they have lost four of their last five.
They are beginning a stretch that requires IU to play at Purdue (Friday night), at Wisconsin (Tuesday), at home against Michigan (Feb. 8) and at Michigan State (Feb. 11).
At the end of that journey, IU is likely to be 14-11 and absent from NCAA Tournament consideration for the second straight season.
Let the record show that over the last 10 NCAA Tournaments (the event was canceled in 2020 by COVID), Indiana teams coached by Woodson, Archie Miller and Tom Crean have won four NCAA Tournament games in four appearances.
During the same stretch Purdue has won 14 NCAA Tournament games in nine appearances.
The Boilermakers are solidly on track to make their 10th consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance, the third-longest streak nationally, trailing Michigan State (26) and Gonzaga (25).
Indiana has not made 10 NCAA Tournament appearances in the last two decades.
The Boilermakers are likely to start four former Indiana high school players: Trey Kaufman-Renn of Silver Creek, Braden Smith of Westfield, Fletcher Loyer of Homestead and Caleb Furst of Blackhawk Christian.
Indiana is likely to start one (either Anthony Leal of Bloomington South or Trey Galloway of Culver Military) or perhaps two (Luke Goode of Homestead).
Counting walk-ons, the Boilermakers' roster is packed 11 guys who played high school in-state, including Jack Benter of Brownstown Central and Jace Rayl, the grandson of IU legend Jimmy Rayl of Kokomo.
In addition to the three guys I mentioned, Indiana has two other in-state guys including Langdon Hatton of North Harrison.
Last season Purdue beat Indiana by 21 and 20 points. It was the first time the Boilermakers beat the Hoosiers by 20 or more in back-to-back games since 1934.
If Purdue makes another 20-point statement in Mackey Arena, it will be first time the Boilermakers have won three straight by that margin over the Hoosiers since ... 1903, the third year of the rivalry.
Even during his first three wobbly seasons. Tom Crean did not come close to tying that ugly record with rosters packed with freshmen and walk-ons. In his first three seasons, Crean lost to the Boilermakers by 14, three, 19, 14 and 11.
A native of central Indiana who starred at Delta High School near Muncie, Painter answered media questions for nearly 20 minutes Thursday, sharing his love of the Purdue-Indiana rivalry.
"You want to win," Painter said. "You want to beat your rival. You don't want them to have the upper hand on you.
"For us, it's we want to win the Big Ten. That comes before the NCAA (Tournament). People always put their focus on the NCAAs. We schedule that way. We prepare that way.
"But when you're playing and you're in the trenches, man, it's hard. It's hard to play 20 games and be the best. It really is.
"We don't look at it as just another game. People say that, 'Oh, so, you look at it as just another game.'
"No. Not at all. It's a rivalry game. It's cool.
"Anybody who's been in a conference growing up and had a rival or like whatever, it doesn't matter, Cubs-Cardinals, Duke-North Carolina, things of that nature, it makes it enjoyable.
"It's probably more the fans, right? But I am a Purdue fan."
Woodson grew up in Indianapolis, starring at Broad Ripple High School before playing for Knight at IU from 1976-80. For the record, it was a loss to Purdue in the Sweet Sixteen of the 1980 NCAA Tournament that ended Woodson's college career.
Woodson answered zero media questions about the rivalry for zero minutes this week.
Only once (Jan. 21) in the last two months has Woodson answered questions in a pregame media session about IU's uneven season.
But if Purdue hangs another 20-point punishment on his IU team tonight in Mackey Arena, Woodson won't be able to avoid the questions.
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