IDS Column: Winning isn’t everything

Editor's Note: IDS columnist Avi Zaleon and Purdue Exponent columnist Anil Rao say just what they think about the other's basketball team in anticipation of the Saturday game.

A great man once said, “If you’re not first, you’re last.”

However, Ricky Bobby was soon corrected by his father, who originated the adage.

“Hell, Ricky, I was high when I said that,” Reese Bobby explained. “That makes no sense at all! ‘First or last.’ I mean, you could be second, third, fourth — hell, you could even be fifth!”

Phew. That’s good news for Purdue fans, whose school’s athletic teams have been first just four times in the last 106 years, dating back to the NCAA’s inception.

See? For 102 years, you’ve gotten to finish second, third, fourth — hell, you could have even been fifth!

But wait, according to the Purdue Athletics website, the first NCAA-sanctioned postseason tournament did not take place until 1939. Shoot. That means the men’s basketball championship Purdue won in 1932 doesn’t count toward the grand total of ... one moment, we can’t all be great astronauts ... three NCAA championships in the history of Boilermaker athletics.

Just 20 more and Purdue will be tied with its rivals in Bloomington. Keep chugging along, Boilermakers.

So you haven’t been so hot in the past. Let’s look at the present and, specifically, basketball in recent years.

IU’s wins against the No. 1 and No. 2-ranked teams in the country, particularly the former, represented the highest point for Indiana basketball during the past four seasons. The media exploded with love for the Hoosiers, and I’ll admit, it was nice to return to national relevance after three years of losing.

The zenith for Purdue basketball in that same span was probably either the 2008-09 or 2009-10 season. Both were talented squads, including players Chris Kramer, Robbie Hummel, JaJuan Johnson and E’Twuan Moore. What talent! Surely, they achieved great things.

Well, Purdue wasn’t able to capture a banner. No, not a banner for a national championship, a Final Four or an Elite Eight appearance. Do they make banners for Sweet Sixteen finishes? If so, you can hang a pair in Mackey Arena for those two years.

Sure, you could argue that a Sweet Sixteen appearance is better than a regular season victory (although in the case of the Kentucky win, it’s not), but that was the best Boilermakers team Coach Matt Painter is going to have in a long time and it amounted to hardly anything.

A conference regular season title and Big Ten Tournament crown? Congrats. Now name me the teams that won either of those feats 15, 10 or five years ago.

Regular season accolades come and go, but national champions live forever. They are the reasons for reunions, they earn banners, they’re what history remembers.

Indiana is on the cusp of its rise. If anything, this season has been one of overachievement. Nobody expected to ever step foot inside a top-10 ranking and even as IU’s success levels out in conference play, an NCAA Tournament berth would still surpass my preseason expectations.

So where does that put us?

Well Boilermaker fans, your rearview is as ugly as Gene Keady’s comb over. Your present is about as exciting as a Brian Cardinal fast break.

And your future ...

Well, let’s just say the only movement you’ll be a part of takes place in bathrooms.