This and that: Just a Final Four prep edition
Getting ready for Saturday night, 44 years in the making. Some good reads, some good views and some salty language heading in Purdue’s first Final Four since 1980.
Today’s edition is sponsored by the Purdue Presidential Lecture Series. Learn about the massive potential of quantum dots from Moungi Bawendi, the 2023 Nobel laureate who revolutionized the chemical production of these tiny particles. Bawendi, a 1978 graduate of West Lafayette Jr./Sr. High School, will join Purdue President Mung Chiang for a Presidential Lecture Series event April 25 at 6 p.m. in Elliott Hall of Music. Learn more about the event, which is free and open to the public, at purdue.edu/president/lecture-series.
THIS AND THAT/OTHER READS … A FINAL FOUR PREP EDITION
There was a small moment amid the bustle in the Purdue Memorial Union’s North Ballroom, as Purdue President Mung Chiang was in the wings waiting to answer one-on-one questions in a media scrum about the monumental, $3.87 billion plans by South Korean chip maker SK hynix to build a facility in West Lafayette. Purdue Exponent reporter Wil Courtney and photographer Leah Majeski hand-delivered a commemorative edition of its Monday, April 1, cover celebrating Purdue’s trip to the Final Four. As if Chiang needed much of an excuse to pause to contemplate the Boilers’ run this season – something the Purdue president threads into his comments on just about everything. (That included landing SK hynix, a process that included comparisons to a two-year NCAA Tournament, complete with repeated references to National Player of the Year Zach Edey.) As Chiang thumbed through the edition, I mentioned to him that those babies were going to $25 a pop as a fundraiser for the independent, student-run paper, after the first run copies evaporated from the free racks Monday morning. “I’m not selling this edition to you,” Chiang laughed, tucking it into his suit jacket pocket.
You can’t have Chiang’s copy. But you can get your own and support student journalists in the process. For a copy, get details here.
Visit Lafayette/West Lafayette is assembling a list of watch parties and specials at Greater Lafayette bars, restaurants and other spots for Purdue’s game against North Carolina State in the semi-final game from Phoenix. Find the list here. The Purdue Exponent also had this on events at the Purdue Memorial Union patios (or even inside Mackey Arena, if you’re a student).
Speaking of bars, J&C reporter Jillian Ellison had a look at efforts on campus and just off campus to keep things under control during Final Four games this weekend. That included an emergency bar coalition meeting prepping owners for what was described as “a football game on steroids” type night coming Saturday. (Come for the safety tips, stay for the reason why Harry’s Chocolate Shop rejected some requests to camp out Friday night to get a spot in the iconic campus bar for Saturday’s 6:09 p.m. tipoff.) Here’s Ellison’s story: “Bars and restaurants prepare for Purdue Final Four game.”
Speaking of keeping things under control, Purdue and West Lafayette police say they’re keeping the memory close from 1999, when the Purdue women’s basketball team’s National Championship victory sparked fires, broken windows and eventual tear gas in melees in West Lafayette’s Village area. J&C reporter Ron Wilkins talked to Purdue and West Lafayette police chiefs for this one: “Purdue, West Side police hope to avoid a repeat of 1999 riots after NCAA championship.”
Columnist John Feinstein had a nice piece in The Washington Post this week on the contrasting styles of Purdue’s current coach and his legendary predecessor and why a Final Four run is a testament to both of their careers in West Lafayette. Here it is: “Matt Painter can finish what Gene Keady helped start at Purdue.”
And speaking of the game itself … J&C report Sam King took this crack at breaking down Saturday’s game: “Scouting report: Purdue basketball vs North Carolina State; Prediction for NCAA Final Four.”
Gold and Black columnist Brian Neubert had a good take on everything from what a Final Four run means for Purdue’s recruiting in all sports and for the university in general, the run of profanity in the heat of those postgame moments and more. (Amid the notes, Neubert had this: “Matt Painter for weeks now has seemed to be Easter-egging a harmless, inoffensive four-letter word into his public musings, and after the Tennessee game, Zach Edey wasn’t quite so subtle, declaring in no uncertain terms that his opinion is that Purdue has been underestimated (and that he does, in fact, want Ric Flair).” Read it all here: “Weekly Word: Villainy, the Final Four's impact, profanity and more.”
Gold and Black (a good subscription investment during a week like this … and most times, really, if you’re into Purdue sports) also had this compilation of video of player and coach interviews, as the Boilers settled in at Phoenix: “Purdue on Day 1 at the Final Four.”
Ah, the perks of a campus legend. How about when alumni heading to the Final Four ask themselves about what would make the weekend feel more like Purdue and decide to fly you out to entertain. Welcome aboard, Bruce Barker, the piano man who ended his regular Thursday night slot after decades at the Neon Cactus last fall. He’ll play a private John Purdue Club party in Phoenix on Friday. He’s lined up a gig Saturday night after the Purdue-North Carolina State game – “WIN (or lose: which we won’t),” he posted on social media – at a downtown Phoenix spot called The Duce. He’s also lined up to do a pep rally on Monday ahead of the National Championship game … again, he says, “WHEN we WIN Saturday.”
And finally, if you haven’t seen this, billed as a cinematic movie via Purdue Basketball after Sunday’s win over Tennessee in the Elite Eight …
Thanks, again, to the Purdue Presidential Lecture Series, sponsor of today’s edition, featuring Nobel laureate and West Lafayette graduate Moungi Bawendi April 25 at Elliott Hall of Music. Learn more about the event at purdue.edu/president/lecture-series.
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Tips, story ideas? I’m at davebangert1@gmail.com.
For those interested in the Purdue button featured in this article, Two Tulips Boutique offers this design and many others! You can find them at 834 Main St, Downtown Lafayette.