The Argument: Over the past few years, you would be hard-pressed to find a bigger Matt Painter detractor than yours truly. However, after tonight’s game, I’ve had the proverbial “change of heart.”

Frankly, I’ve never understood those people who think it’s impermissible to change one’s mind. A “Supermax” has nothing on the prison of binary thinking because people simply won’t allow themselves to escape it. The fact is knowledge is a dynamic animal; it shouldn’t be hard to grasp the concept of new knowledge leading to new conclusions.

A few days ago, I had the rare opportunity to turn an old adversary into a new friend. That happened because I was willing to entertain the idea of the inaccuracy of previously-held conclusions bolstered by the presence of new data points.

The same thing happened tonight. Despite what I’ve said in the past, Matt Painter has either figured out how to manage time-outs and the game clock…or he’s put somebody on his staff who does. That showed all throughout this team’s run to the Final Four.

Another thing that sets this year’s Painter apart from those in the past is the ability to understand the in-game adjustment. The best example came in the Round of 32 game against Utah State. That was the first time in this tournament the Boilers faced a team which could have proved dangerous given the chance to hang around in the game. The Aggies were sticking in the “danger zone” score-wise at the half, but Painter clearly made an adjustment; his team threw a flurry of knock-out punches and sent Utah State lugging a 40-ish point loss back to Logan.

Now, before you start thinking maybe Matt Painter and I are going to start taking moonlit strolls on the beach and picking out a China pattern together, let me make one thing clear. This bit of giving credit where it is due should not be mistaken for a blanket amnesty. There’s still plenty of times where Painter looks completely clueless in game situations. There’s still plenty of times where he does things which simply defy rational explanation. And despite the fact Painter’s recent history list plenty of tournament failure, he just took this team to a place it hasn’t been since Jimmy Carter was in the White House.

At the beginning of this season, I was on record as saying Painter had to get this team to the Final Four…no ifs, ands, or buts. There were a couple of reasons for that edict.

Purdue loves to call itself a “basketball school,” but that shit was wearing thin for a team that hadn’t played on the final weekend of the NCAA Tournament since the veritable “stone age” when Fotomats still existed. If that weren’t enough, the guy whose name is on the floor upon which Painter’s team plays…even the revered Gene Keady never got a Purdue team to the Final Four.

Then there’s the proverbial “turd in the punchbowl.” We all know Painter’s tournament track record. Coming into 2024, Purdue had every chance to to be the first #1 to lose to a #16 twice, and after a dominant regular-season…they knew that. This season was all about making us forget the first time.

They knew that too.

But as we find ourselves on the Sunday night of the Sweet Sixteen, the Purdue hoopsters find themselves with a spot in the biggest weekend this sport has to offer. Granted, you can chalk a lot of this success up to the Boilers’ big man in the middle. But, Painter had Zach Edey last year and managed to fuck that all up.

Here’s the bottom line. Purdue is in the Final Four for the first time in 44 years. Getting to the Final Four was my “victory” condition for this team for 2024. They made it, and Matt Painter deserves credit for that.

For the first time in this series, you can’t change my mind. I’ve already done it.

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