Memories of 40 years ago

Related: Run From Nowhere (2009 story) | Memories of Purdue's 1980 Final Four Team (2018 story) | Hallman recalls Final Four | Sweet 16 Memories: 1980 | The Final Four Formula (2016 interview with Lee Rose | Billy Keller talks Final Four memories (2019 Gold and Black Radio podcast) | Rose has empathy for Painter (2010 story)

Final Four, national championship semi-final. March 22, 1980. Market Square Arena. Purdue vs. UCLA.

Through today's challenges presented of COVID-19, it was a good time to reflect on what took place 40 years ago today. After all, what else do we have to do right now? Watching the NBC replay yesterday of the first half, I was happy to find something to occupy my time. It quickly took me back to that late Saturday afternoon in Indy.

As a sophomore basketball manager for coach Lee Rose's team, it couldn't have been more exciting for me.Yet, as a second-year manager, I didn't rank high enough to get on the bench, as the NCAA allowed only two managers on the bench at the regionals the week before in Lexington, Ky., and at the Final Four. So, I watched from the stands, thankful that I had a ticket and the ability to be part of it all.

I remember the practice leading up to the game was hectic, as so many players had tests that week. It is hard to believe, but if my memory is correct, there were members of the starting five that actually missed practice the week of the Final Four.

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NCAA Productions' 1980 Final Four Highlights

As a student, campus was abuzz. The students were back from spring break and there were parties all around campus planned for the matchup with the Bruins. In fact, my wife-to-be actually watched the game at my fraternity house while I made the short trip down I-65 to the game.

It wasn't a dominant Purdue crowd, as one might think. First, the game was played in Market Square Arena, a facility that seated "only" 16,637 fans. Each team got an allotment of about 2,000 tickets, so with no StubHub, there weren't a lot of extra tickets floating around. Despite being only 60 miles from home, Purdue fans didn't take over the arena as they did in future years when the Boilermakers played in the Pontiac Silverdome (1988), Hoosier Dome (1990) and even last year in Louisville.

Watching the game yesterday, it reminded me that the Boilermakers didn't play very well against the slightly favored Bruins. Joe Barry Carroll had been unstoppable for much of the first four games of the tourney, but UCLA's quickness and jumping ability really hampered Purdue around the hoop.

Swing players Keith Edmonson and Drake Morris, who had shot the ball so well in the first four games of the tournament, really struggled in the first half, as Purdue couldn't get on track. Edmonson was much better in the second half, but the struggle continued for Purdue's offense to get going and to get the ball into Carroll as much as Rose wanted.

Despite all of UCLA's quickness, it was a slender, plodding, forward named Kiki Vanderweghe who really hurt Purdue in the first half. His four breakaway dunks kept Purdue at bay. And his critical free throws in the game's closing minutes were the nail in the Boilermakers' coffin.

Still, Purdue had a couple of possessions in the last 90 seconds to take the lead, as Carroll had a short jump hook rim out that would have given the Boilermakers the advantage. But it just wasn't Purdue's day.

I do recall the rumors swirling about Rose's interest in the South Florida job, an opportunity he would take less than a week later. There are some who claim Rose wasn't fully engaged as the head coach during the Final Four. I dismiss that because Rose was about as competitive a guy as one could find. Yes, from his perspective, his situation in West Lafayette wasn't ideal, as he didn't see eye to eye with Purdue's athletic administration.

But I choose to believe four decades later that his focus was totally on his team and players. Through the lens of 2020, the loss to UCLA 40 years ago was simple.

I will say again: It wasn't Purdue's day.

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