Fans gathered into the Holloway out of the wind to see Purdue take on Fairfield in the first round of the NCAA tournament. Purdue has been here before; in fact, this is Dave Shondell’s 18th appearance in his 21 years as head coach at Purdue. But much like the basketball team they have yet to break through into the final four. They made back-to-back elite 8 appearances in 2020 and 2021 only to fall short to that final weekend. If Purdue wants to make a run this year, it all starts tonight in West Lafayette.
Purdue takes the court, and you can sense the urgency.