This past weekend was one of the busiest on record for Purdue sports. Saturday alone had a round of 32 game for men’s basketball, a baseball doubleheader, softball action, tennis action, swimming and diving at the NCAA championships, and the wrestling NCAA championships. As a result, there is a lot of ground to cover in Boilermusings.

How Sweet It Is (To Already Be Rich)

From the fan’s perspective, you couldn’t ask for a better opening weekend to the NCAA Tournament for Purdue. Not only did the Boilermakers grab a pair of wins to move on to the Sweet 16 for the sixth time in eight years, it did so by double digit margins. Even better, Purdue was playing in the earliest session on both days. By 3pm on both Thursday and Saturday you could put your feet up and relax knowing Purdue had won.

It was a welcome change after losing six of nine going into the tournament. The tournament overall might also be a testament to the bloated nature of superconferences in college sports. No top 4 seed went down in the first two rounds. In fact, most of the games involving said seeds weren’t all that close. The lone double-digit seed alive for the second weekend is Arkansas, and you do not get to claim Cinderella status if you’re in the SEC.

Of course, a large reason for this is 22 teams from just two conferences. Of the 16 teams left, seven are from the SEC and four each from the Big Ten and Big 12. The lone outlier is… Duke, from the not-exactly-poverty-conference ACC.

The first year of megaconferences dictated by football money has led to an NCAA Tournament thoroughly dominated by said megaconferences. The closest we came to a Cinderella in the second weekend was Colorado State (with Ethan Morton), who fell at the buzzer to Maryland.

Sadly, this may be the new normal in the NCAA Tournament. The SEC getting 14 bids is absurd, especially when two teams got in with 6-12 records in-league. As expected, both of those teams failed to advance since they probably did not belong in the field anyway. Membership in the club of the privileged, especially the SEC and Big Ten, has its perks, and we’re probably going to see more fields like this in the future. Even if there is a Cinderella run the major conference schools are right there to poach the best players from those schools. Purdue helped Tobin Anderson and Shaheen Holloway get big raises after they coached major upsets. Now players can benefit from that too thanks to NIL.

If you’re already a fan of one of the major conference schools that’s great. Purdue’s address in the Big Ten has been solid for more than a century and the Boilermakers will continue to benefit from that going forward.

A TrailBlazer

Purdue came incredibly close to getting a national champion this weekend as sophomore wrestler Joey Blaze finished as the national runner-up in the 157 pound weight class at the NCAA Championships. He scored a massive upset of No. 1 ranked Tyler Kasak of Penn State in the quarterfinals, but lost in the championship match to Nebraska’s Antrell Taylor 4-2.

For his efforts Blaze was named as an All-American. Matt Ramos in his final season also earned that status as he finished fourth at 125 pounds. He is the first two-time All-American since Ben Wissel (2005-06) and just the 12th multiple-time All-American in school history.

As a team, Purdue finished 13th, its best finish as a team at the championships since 1992 with 34.5 team points from five total qualifiers.

Baseball Drops Series with Michigan

The first home conference series of baseball season ended with mild disappointment as Michigan took two of three from Purdue. The Wolverines run-ruled Purdue 13-3 in game 1 in just seven innings as Purdue gave up four in the third and six in the fourth. Matt Spear’s three-run home run in the fourth was basically the deciding blow to the game.

On Saturday the teams met for a doubleheader due to impending weather on Sunday and the Boilers were able to earn a split. Lukas Cook had a solo home run in the eighth, followed by a bases loaded walk for Keenan Spence and a wild pitch that brought home another run as Purdue rallied late to win 9-6 in game 1. Avery Cook got out a bases loaded jame to secure the win in the ninth.

In game three Purdue had its chances, but a five run third inning and a four run fifth inning led to a 12-9 loss. Cook was the tying run at the plate in the bottom of the eighth as Purdue trailed 11-9, but he struck out looking with a runner at second.

Purdue now sits at 19-4 overall in advance of a midweek home game vs. Valparaiso and 3-3 in the Big Ten. UCLA, who is in this week’s d1baseball.com poll at No. 24, comes to Alexander Field this weekend.

Softball Draws Four-Game Weekend Split

Softball was in Oklahoma City this weekend at the home of the Women’s College World Series and it split a pair of games each with Wisconsin and Maryland to move to 19-14 overall and 2-5 in the Big Ten. Purdue won game one vs Wisconsin 9-1 behind a four hit pitching performance from Kendall Klochack. While Delaney Reefe had a two-run home run. The Badgers took the second game on Friday 8-4.

On Saturday and Sunday Purdue swapped to face Maryland, and the Boilers got another split. Ther Terrapins won 8-1 on Saturday, but Purdue rallied for a 2-0 Sunday win thanks to a two-run home run from Jordyn Ramos. Julia Gossett also scattered seven hits in the complete game shutout.

Three more All-Americans in Women’s Diving

Even with the retirement of Adam Soldati Purdue continues to be one of the best diving programs in the country. At the NCAA meet over the weekend Daryn Wright (4th place on the platform), Sophie McAfee (7th place on the platform), and Avery Worobel (12th on 1-meter) were named All-Americans in diving. Worobel is the third female diver at Purdue to earn All-American honors as a true freshman. Wright and McAfee also were named All-Americans by finishing in the top 10 on the 3-meter.

Other Updates

Men’s Tennis – Lost to Michigan 4-3 and Michigan State 5-2

Men’s Golf – Leads a field of 15 in the Hootie at Bull’s bay through two rounds going into Tuesday’s final round.

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