The Weekly Word is GoldandBlack.com's weekly, obviously, column covering Purdue football, basketball and recruiting, as well as college sports issues, the true meaning of life, or whatever other topics might come to mind in a given week.

Purdue's way ahead of schedule this season, if you ask me, well on its way to the NCAA Tournament during a transitional year, having improved considerably over last season despite being one of the youngest teams out there.

And, it's been done absolutely no favors along the way, making success just a smidge more meaningful.

In an Alanis Morissette sort of irony, Purdue entered this season as everyone else did, hoping for the best but preparing for the worst, insofar as one can. It figured COVID would present a litany of issues during the season, but it's been mostly everything else that's been the issue.

COVID didn't affect the season until last weekend, when Sasha Stefanovic caught the bug, a big deal, but only one of numerous such disruptions for the Boilermakers this season, most of which had nothing to do with the ugly little gremlin that's haunted us all the past year or so.