The Purdue Boilermakers’ trip to the NCAA Tournament is anything but normal.
In some ways, this is the norm. Purdue and the NCAA Tournament are as closely linked as anything in the sport. Purdue has been a top-four seed in the NCAA tournament the past nine seasons. The last time Purdue entered the NCAA Tournament with a name higher than 5 was in 2015.
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For chapters from that period, this mark is more of a warning sign than a point of pride. Purdue became a supporting character in a Cinderella story. It was the senior who helped Purdue triumph over tragedy.
Fletcher Loyer and Braden Smith were on the job from Day 1 at Purdue, and Kaufman-Renn joined them the following season to directly address Purdue’s loss to FDU.
Since then, Purdue has won a B10 regular-season title, two B10 tournament titles, a national championship and a Sweet 16 appearance. The Purdue senior has been through a thousand college basketball careers at this point and has seen it all while wearing the same jersey.
Having had enough experience at this point, there is no shame in getting caught up in the nostalgia and sentimentality of playing in a tournament for the last time.
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But if there’s emotion to be found, it doesn’t come from the mouths of Brayden Smith or Kaufman-Wren.
“Just win,” Brayden Smith said matter-of-factly when asked how he would handle what awaits him tomorrow night. Brayden Smith straightened up before Purdue’s 2:45 practice before going 15-2 against a dog-statue-obsessed Queens team.
This is a fitting juxtaposition with Kaufman-Raine’s approach to the same answer. Kaufman-Lane pauses before each answer as he contemplates the death of his college basketball career. Smith’s forthright directness matches Kaufman-Ryan’s philosophical strolls toward answers over the past four seasons. This is no exception.
“Our goal at the beginning of the year was to win a national championship,” Kaufman-Wren said after a pause. He then thought back to his aunt’s last high school game and how it was the most frustrating thing he had ever seen because he knew that was the end of her ever playing basketball on the team again.
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Kaufmann-Rene then offered his solution to avoid a similar fate, “I plan to win the last game so I don’t have to deal with this.”
But whether it’s a poet or a point guard, Purdue’s principles are the same. One game at a time. Just win.
On the court, Smith would deliver a sonnet of lob passes. Anticipate moves like great men constructing syllables. Every dribble has a rhyme and a reason. Every look in his eyes was filled with purpose and passion. Every second Smith spends on the field builds up to what will happen Friday night and will likely be on the first few pages of the next and final chapter of Smith and Purdue’s legacy.
For a team that has accomplished just about everything, they are about to break a record that spans nearly four decades together. With just two assists per game in his career (once as a sophomore and once as a freshman), Smith will surpass every point guard before him to top the all-time assists list in college basketball.
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The question is not if, or even when, but who. Who will be the record breaker?
“He’s the best passer of all time,” Kaufman-Raine said of Smith and what his record means.
Will philosopher Kaufman-Renn break that record by matching Smith’s verse to verse in short volumes over the past two seasons? Or was it Loyer, the stoic man who used his voice to lead the team while Kaufman-Wren and Smith learned to use theirs?
Or will assistance be provided to one of those who will follow the steps of this advanced course? Or was it Clough who caught the pass that allowed Smith to break Wisconsin’s Big Ten record? An important final piece and physicality that the team needed last season.
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There are storylines all over the place regarding the story and the team that has such continuity. Whoever breaks the record will be a story worth telling. It seemed fitting and storybook.
In a college basketball landscape outlined in fleeting colors, Purdue turns the old into gold.
Now begins its final script. Like the previous pages, the last page will appear fading to black.
The question is will they bring gold?
