Where were they when? Purdue edition - 2019 Elite Eight

I didn't mean to find out Purdue's 2019 Spring Break history, but it happened.

After Purdue's convincing 80-68 win over Gonzaga to advance to the Elite eight, I was left thinking about the last time Purdue made it to the Elite Eight.

The city was Louisville. The opposition was Virginia. The occasion was Carsen Edwards.

The moment was Virginia's.

While it's unfair that so much of Matt Painter's era and Purdue's program has come to that one night, it's the most memorable moment of Purdue basketball in the last two decades. Carsen Edwards had one of the single greatest performances in the history of the NCAA Tournament. Edwards went for 42 points against Virginia including going 10 of 19 from three.

But more than the volume of threes, it was the size and distance of the threes that captivated the sports watching world on March 30th, 2019. Despite Edwards best efforts, Purdue ended up falling to Virginia in overtime 80-75 after a miraculous tip to half-court led to a floater that hung up in the air long enough to give Purdue false hopes of breaking through to the Final Four.

The five year anniversary of that game is tomorrow. For Purdue's locker room, its players were mostly in high school, unaware that their destiny would be in some ways tied to that game just a few years later in Detroit when they would follow in the footsteps of that 2019 team and break into the Elite Eight.

A lot of them were also on Spring break that weekend.

Some Purdue players, two of its freshmen, already had deep Purdue ties in 2019. Myles Colvin's father had an impressive football career at Purdue. His sister would soon be joining the volleyball team.

The game was a household affair, "I was at home," Colvin told me.

For Camden Heide, the viewing party was in a much more exotic, warm environment.

"I believe I was in Mexico," Heide told me. "I was in the hotel lobby and everyone was just silent. Like there was a bunch of people watching... I remember watching that game and everybody was just shocked at what happened."

Caleb Furst was in Florida, also on spring break, and watching the game.

Ethan Morton was far away from the tropics and instead on the east coast.

"Yeah," Morton told me."I wanna say I was in New York. It was a weird weekend. I was in New York for an AAU practice and my whole family was there which was super weird because normally it's just me and my dad. But we were sitting there in our room just watching it. Obviously I was being recruited at that time still. So if you see a team that's recruiting you make a run, you start pulling for them a little bit."

It's a similar story for Trey Kaufman-Renn who was at an AAU tournament though the where escaped him.

"Carsen's year?" Kaufman-Renn asked when I asked him if he remembered watching the game. "Yeah... I remember I was at a basketball tournament. I remember Purdue - I believe Purdue and Virginia were recruiting me. I remember I was watching that game. That was one of the most incredible performances I've ever seen by Carsen Edwards. I've never seen something like that before. I remember staying up and watching that game. I had a game, an AAU game that next day."

Who can't relate to staying up a little later than they should to watch a game end?

Fletcher Loyer was also on Spring Break during the Carsen Edwards game, but he found himself in a lot more hot water with his family than missing bed time.

"I vividly remember watching Carsen Edwards in the Elite Eight," Loyer told me. "So this was funny. So my brother was playing against Duke in the Elite Eight but I was in Florida on Spring Break because I thought Michigan State was gonna lose. So I chose to go on Spring Break instead of watching them."

I asked him if that got him in some trouble with the family.

"Yeah," he said smiling. "My mom was very mad at me... My whole family was in Washington DC watching and I was at the beach watching Carsen Edwards."

Mason Gillis's recollection is as straight forward as his play.

"I was at the Virginia game," Gillis told me. "It was crazy... it's March. Things like that happen. But I think that the best thing to do is to prevent getting to those situations. Like today, we took care of the ball, we rebounded, that's when we're at our best."

Gillis would know. He's the longest tenured Boilermaker on the roster. He would redshirt the year after Carsen Edwards.

Now, he's helped lead Purdue back to the Elite Eight just one step away from the Final Four that Matt Painter hasn't touched.

I asked Gillis if he had ever envisioned this moment of being a game away from the Final Four.

"I don't know if I have envisioned this moment at all," Gillis told me. "I've envisioned winning the National Championship a lot."

This Purdue team will gets its chance to take the stage in the Elite Eight on Sunday just five years and a day after Purdue's last trip, and it doesn't plan on stopping there.