NCAA Tournament Game Preview: #1 Purdue vs. #16 Grambling State

Stories define March. Cinderellas and high majors dance throughout the NCAA Tournament.

Which are we supposed to root for? David or Goliath? The mid-majors or blue bloods of college basketball?

March Madness has the voice of Sirens. It makes us fall for the myth of parity, but when the final buzzer sounds it is almost always the same choruses: Izzo, Krzyzewski, Boeheim, Williams, Donovan, Self.

The songs remain the same: UConn, Kansas, Villanova, Kentucky, Duke, North Carolina.

But every few years, someone breaks through. Jay Wright finally leads Villanova. Baylor and Scott Drew prevent Gonzaga from breaking all the way through. Things that are only surprises because they've never happened before.

But every now and again, magic and stories collide, and someone like Tony Bennett and Virginia goes from the first #1 seed to lose to a #16 to a National Championship in the span of a year.

But in the first round of the NCAA Tournament? Chaos, destiny, they dance from LeHigh to St. Peters, UMBC to the inevitable Fairleigh Dickinson.

We are left to choose. Would we root for Cinderella if she didn't have a terrible family? Or do we need the pain to appreciate the celebration?

Can the Prince be a hero, as he struggles, just a glass slipper to guide him, even though year after year it seems that the dance has been put together in his honor?

Grambling State has never been to the NCAA Tournament before this season.

Purdue, well you know that story.

That's the real problem with the NCAA Tournament. Every game, one team gets a fairy tale ending, and for the other, it just ends.

This isn't starting like most game previews because this isn't like most games.

#1 Purdue plays #16 Grambling State at 7:25 p.m. inside Gainbridge Fieldhouse, Indianapolis, Indiana on TBS.

It's hard to not like Grambling State's head coach, Donte' Jackson, as he sits at the podium, just a couple hours of sleep in him after last night's win in Dayton, Ohio, and here he is fielding questions from media that probably hadn't ever heard of him before this week.

You see, Grambling State is known for some sports things, but rarely basketball, in fact, this is the program's first trip to the NCAA Tournament. Shouldn't be surprising though, as Jackson who played his ball in Ohio and then coached around Milwaukee before taking over the Grambling State program has only ever known winning. He's won three Coach of the Year awards in the SWAC since he's been there, and frankly, winning is all he seems to do.

Grambling State is now winning with him, too, after losing in the conference championship last year, he had his team back in that spot and took them further this season by winning both the regular season and the conference tournament. It also now has an NCAA Tournament win under its belt after coming from behind in the second half to defeat Montana State in overtime on Wednesday night.

It didn't take long for Jackson to make an impression with a national audience. His first comment about Purdue was that his team was gonna have to get creative, and not just throw a kitchen appliance at the big man, but the whole room, the house, and backyard while they're at it.

But that chance to make any comment to a national spotlight is what makes the NCAA Tournament so special for Jackson and his program.

"To me, as I sit up here and kind of reflect, it meant everything," he told me when I asked about what the standalone nature of Wednesday nights game meant for his program. "It meant so much. The exposure that we're receiving as a program is national exposure, and we couldn't get this no other way. Just the exposure along for the institution, exposure for our band, exposure for our cheerleaders, and just being part of something that's the biggest thing in sports."

There will be plenty of eyes on them Friday night when Grambling State steps onto the court across from the #1 seed Purdue Boilermakers. Purdue lost this exact matchup last season, just the second #16 over #1 upset in tournament history.

"This has just been everything and then some, just being able to play in this tournament and just being able to - just being able to be a part of something that's a life-long legacy because these guys can make their moment at some point in time, and that moment lives on forever," Jackson finished.

It shouldn't be a surprise, Purdue hasn't ducked last March, but it's not obsessed with it either. One of its most repeated Painterisms of the season is that Purdue had to sit with that loss, but part of sitting with it has been learning to take every game one at a time.

Purdue will not change course in the NCAA Tournament. Its focus is the one game, not the legacy or implication that Purdue carries with it from last season's tournament disappointment.

Purdue is not preparing to take down a curse or avenge a game from last season. Instead, it's preparing for one game, against Grambling State, and for Purdue those focuses don't change a whole bunch week to week.

Painter wants his players to execute on defense which means sticking to its rules and staying connected.

"When you stay consistent with doing what the rules are for us defensively, you don't surprise anybody else out on the court. When you just kind of start doing your own thing, that's where you're playing guesswork. You're not understanding what's going on," Painter said on Thursday.

Offensively, Purdue is once again one of the best offenses in the country. However, its four losses this year, and most the losses last year, still come down to the same thing - turnovers.

"When we've taken care of the basketball, we've won. It doesn't mean that we can't play and have 10 turnovers and lose the game because we can, but we haven't done that," Painter said Thursday. "If we've had 13 turnovers or less, we're 23-0. So I always hang my hat on that."

While Purdue's loss last season might be easy fuel for a #16 seed to believe in itself, Grambling State's coach Donte' Jackson isn't exactly buying it as a blueprint.

"Honestly, I feel like that's old news," Jackson said at the podium Thursday. "That's last year. Right now we've got to figure out the best game plan for us. We're not Fairleigh Dickinson, we're Grambling. We've got to go out here and do what's best for us and try to devise a scheme to put our guys in the best situation and score the ball at a high level and defend at a high level."

While Purdue is a different team, its 7-4 problem inside remains the same, and improved.

Expect Grambling State to come at Edey with a bunch of different coverages to try and counter his size and dominance inside.

"We don't have anybody that size, obviously," Jourdan Smith said, a wing for Grambling State who had a great conference tournament run scoring 20 points in the championship game and then 18 points against Montana State on Wednesday night. "We're going to have to do a lot of different things, a lot of things he's never seen, a lot of things he can't get used to. So even in the first half we might do some things but he might get used to seeing that type of coverage, so we have to switch it up."

There's not much that Zach Edey hasn't seen at this stage in his career, but it's hard to refute that if a team does make it difficult on him or forces turnovers as Purdue tries to get Edey the ball, it's usually when Purdue struggles the most. Forcing turnovers has been one of the strengths of Grambling's game this season. It has forced the 61st highest turnover rate in the country.

But Purdue is banking on its improved shooting, something that wasn't there in the NCAA Tournament last year when it went 5 of 26 from three after shooting just 32.2% as a team from three. This year's squad is the second best three-point shooting team in the country, making more than 40% of its attempts.

"Obviously for us," Matt Painter said on how this team has improved from last year. "I think the biggest thing from an offensive standpoint is our ability to make shots as the second-best three-point shooting team in the country behind Kentucky. But I think going from a freshman to a sophomore, you see that's the biggest jump, especially for guys that play a lot as freshman. You think you're 100 percent ready, and you're just not."