Teams play first regular-season game since 1966
Finally, Purdue and Notre Dame will play a regular-season men?s basketball game.
For most who follow the Boilermakers and Fighting Irish, today?s Crossroads Classic matchup at Bankers Life Fieldhouse is overdue. Long overdue.
Dave Schellhase, Henry Ebershoff and Denny Brady were Boilermaker starters on Jan. 4, 1966, the last time Purdue and Notre Dame played a regular-season game, a contest the Boilers won 109-92 in South Bend.
Notre Dame defeated Purdue 71-59 in a 2004 postseason National Invitation Tournament game in South Bend to tie the series 20-20, but regular-season dates are nowhere to be found during the past 46 years. It?s a fact that baffles current Boilermaker players, who are glad the drought is ending.
?They get to play in football every year,? Purdue junior guard and Indianapolis native Terone Johnson said. ?This is a big game not only for Purdue and Notre Dame, but for the whole state to see those two match up. There?s a lot to gain. They are a really good team. They?ve played well this year and also last year. It?s going to be a good game for both of us.?
Depending on who is telling the story, there are several versions of why the two Indiana schools haven?t played since Lyndon Johnson was president. Some Purdue fans claim that former Irish coach Digger Phelps refused to play the Boilermakers because ?there are no roads from South Bend to West Lafayette.?
Two years ago, Phelps said that?s not accurate. He said the only reason he didn?t want to renew a series with Purdue was because he wanted to play a national schedule for TV exposure. Former Purdue coach Gene Keady said he didn?t schedule Notre Dame because the Irish didn?t want to come to Mackey Arena.
Whatever the reason, almost a half century passed without a regular-season date.
?I think it?s a good idea to play Notre Dame,? Purdue freshman point guard Ronnie Johnson said. ?They?re from Indiana just like we are, so that?s always good competition. No doubt, this is a good event. All four of them recruited me. I think it?s a good thing that fans can see all the schools play.?
Indiana and Butler will play in today?s opener, followed by the 22nd-ranked Irish against struggling Purdue. The Boilermakers are the Big Ten?s only sub-.500 team (4-5) and have lost those five games by a collective 30 points.
It may be the wrong year for Purdue to renew this basketball rivalry.
?I think the losses have affected people,? Terone Johnson said. ?We have a bunch of younger guys that haven?t seen the (Purdue) culture as much. Those losses are unacceptable to us and our coaching staff. It has to affect us in a way that we want to get better and win the next game. We can?t continue to just get a win here and then a win there.?
Notre Dame coach Mike Brey, whose team is moving from the Big East Conference to the Atlantic Coast Conference, believes every other year in the Crossroads Classic is sufficient for the Irish and Purdue.
?We have to be careful about playing too many Big Ten schools,? Brey said. ?We don?t want to be too regionalized with our schedule. I certainly have no problem with playing Purdue every other year, and we?re going to be in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge.
?So, an IU, Purdue, Michigan and Michigan State rotation aren?t bad ones. Even though we are out here in Big Ten country, it?s convenient to say, ?Just play all these people in the state.? We want to keep going east. We may go back to UCLA or Kansas ... things like that.?
While Brey may not want to play the Boilermakers every year, he has admired what Keady and Matt Painter have done with the Purdue program.
?I have the utmost respect for Matt,? Brey said. ?Matt has done a heck of a job with his program. He is a good friend. When you coach in this state, you spend a lot of time together in the same gyms and on the same circuit.
?What is neat about this Crossroads Classic is that it gives some regularity to the Indiana and Purdue thing coming back to our schedule. I thought that was one of the strengths of this thing. With Purdue, they do what they do. They are going to guard you, and they are going to play really hard.?
Finally, Purdue and Notre Dame will play a regular-season men?s basketball game.
For most who follow the Boilermakers and Fighting Irish, today?s Crossroads Classic matchup at Bankers Life Fieldhouse is overdue. Long overdue.
Dave Schellhase, Henry Ebershoff and Denny Brady were Boilermaker starters on Jan. 4, 1966, the last time Purdue and Notre Dame played a regular-season game, a contest the Boilers won 109-92 in South Bend.
Notre Dame defeated Purdue 71-59 in a 2004 postseason National Invitation Tournament game in South Bend to tie the series 20-20, but regular-season dates are nowhere to be found during the past 46 years. It?s a fact that baffles current Boilermaker players, who are glad the drought is ending.
?They get to play in football every year,? Purdue junior guard and Indianapolis native Terone Johnson said. ?This is a big game not only for Purdue and Notre Dame, but for the whole state to see those two match up. There?s a lot to gain. They are a really good team. They?ve played well this year and also last year. It?s going to be a good game for both of us.?
Depending on who is telling the story, there are several versions of why the two Indiana schools haven?t played since Lyndon Johnson was president. Some Purdue fans claim that former Irish coach Digger Phelps refused to play the Boilermakers because ?there are no roads from South Bend to West Lafayette.?
Two years ago, Phelps said that?s not accurate. He said the only reason he didn?t want to renew a series with Purdue was because he wanted to play a national schedule for TV exposure. Former Purdue coach Gene Keady said he didn?t schedule Notre Dame because the Irish didn?t want to come to Mackey Arena.
Whatever the reason, almost a half century passed without a regular-season date.
?I think it?s a good idea to play Notre Dame,? Purdue freshman point guard Ronnie Johnson said. ?They?re from Indiana just like we are, so that?s always good competition. No doubt, this is a good event. All four of them recruited me. I think it?s a good thing that fans can see all the schools play.?
Indiana and Butler will play in today?s opener, followed by the 22nd-ranked Irish against struggling Purdue. The Boilermakers are the Big Ten?s only sub-.500 team (4-5) and have lost those five games by a collective 30 points.
It may be the wrong year for Purdue to renew this basketball rivalry.
?I think the losses have affected people,? Terone Johnson said. ?We have a bunch of younger guys that haven?t seen the (Purdue) culture as much. Those losses are unacceptable to us and our coaching staff. It has to affect us in a way that we want to get better and win the next game. We can?t continue to just get a win here and then a win there.?
Notre Dame coach Mike Brey, whose team is moving from the Big East Conference to the Atlantic Coast Conference, believes every other year in the Crossroads Classic is sufficient for the Irish and Purdue.
?We have to be careful about playing too many Big Ten schools,? Brey said. ?We don?t want to be too regionalized with our schedule. I certainly have no problem with playing Purdue every other year, and we?re going to be in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge.
?So, an IU, Purdue, Michigan and Michigan State rotation aren?t bad ones. Even though we are out here in Big Ten country, it?s convenient to say, ?Just play all these people in the state.? We want to keep going east. We may go back to UCLA or Kansas ... things like that.?
While Brey may not want to play the Boilermakers every year, he has admired what Keady and Matt Painter have done with the Purdue program.
?I have the utmost respect for Matt,? Brey said. ?Matt has done a heck of a job with his program. He is a good friend. When you coach in this state, you spend a lot of time together in the same gyms and on the same circuit.
?What is neat about this Crossroads Classic is that it gives some regularity to the Indiana and Purdue thing coming back to our schedule. I thought that was one of the strengths of this thing. With Purdue, they do what they do. They are going to guard you, and they are going to play really hard.?
