WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - The 1980 Purdue Boilermakers are immortalized in the Mackey Arena trophy case now, but their season started with all eyes in the state on that school to the south.
"Indiana had an awful lot of attention on it with Isaiah Thomas. It was Mike Woodson's final season," longtime sports writer Mike Lopresti said. "Purdue had Joe Barry Carroll back. They were expected to be one of the better teams in the Big Ten, but they weren't expected to win any conference title or that sort of thing."
Carroll was Boilers' head coach Lee Rose's starting center and a reigning All-American.
"He seemed to operate at one temperature looking from the outside looking in, but the fact is he was a very talented player and when the time came to play, he was a very productive player for Purdue," said Lopresti.
Drake Morris and Arnette Hallman were the starting forwards with Keith Edmonson and Lebanon's Brian Walker at guards.
"We were well disciplined. We had a great coach in Lee Rose," said Walker.
"We were good on defense," Edmonson said. "We persevered during the course of the year."
Persevered enough to win 17 games in the regular season and earn the sixth seed in the Mideast Regional. They beat La Salle in the first round, then upset Saint John's in the second. Setting-up a Sweet 16 matchup with those Hoosiers, who had ended their season in the NIT final in 1979.
"There was no doubt in my mind, I don't think anybody in our team, that we were going to let that happen again," recalled Walker. "Do not let this summer go the way it was last summer. You need to beat these guys. You need to play hard and we did."
Hard enough to win, 76 to 69. Both guards have great personal memories of the victory.
"I stole the ball from Isaish and went in and scored a lay-up," remembered Walker.
"Dunking on Mike Woodson," Edmonson said with a laugh.
That meeting is still the only one between the bitter rivals in the NCAA Tournament.
Duke knocked out top-seeded Kentucky, leaving a regional final nobody expected.
"When I walked into the arena for the semifinals, there was a guy outside selling tickets for 75 or 100 dollars," Lopresti said. "Two days later walking into Rupp Arena for the championship game, the same guy is selling tickets for five dollars."
The Boilermakers topped Duke to punch their ticket to Market Square Arena, the first of eight Final Fours the city of Indianapolis has hosted. Being so close campus may not have been an advantage.
"We would have been better off if we got to go further away and leave like on a Wednesday and enjoy the team togetherness," said Walker. "We just weren't there and have the same culture where we all hung out together and do things together like they do today. It was a lot different 44 years ago."
Purdue played UCLA in the national semifinal and fought hard behind a team-high 23 points from Edmonson, but their magical run ended.
"We were very disappointed playing so close to home that we weren't able to defeat UCLA. That really hurts to this day," said Edmonson.
"I wasn't disappointed when Market Square Arena got torn down and they replaced it," Walker joked.
Edmonson is a hall of fame high school basketball coach in San Antonio now. He plans on hosting a watch party at his home on Saturday.
Walker's a lawyer in the Lafayette-area and will be at the game in Glendale cheering on the current Boilers.
"Just seemed like the proverbial Cubs' fan forever that we just couldn't get over the hump, so when you finally get over that hump or that goal, it's just a release of pressure, of emotions," said Walker. "Watching them run out on the floor, I will certainly have tears in my eyes."
"We had all our glory, we just want to see them win one. I'd love to see it for Coach Painter. He's one of the best coaches in the country.
"If coach needs a few points over at that two guard, I'm ready to let a few jumpers go, man," Walker said with a laugh.
Purdue and North Carolina State meet in the first national semifinal on Saturday evening.