Purdue Players, Coaches go to Social Media to Say Goodbye
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Thursday was one of the strangest days in college sports history, and it was no different for the Purdue basketball team. It was a crazy day, one that started with practice in Indianapolis and hopes of playing their first game in the Big Ten tournament.
And then word came down that the Big Ten tournament was cancelled, which was hard. But the big haymaker came a few hours later when the NCAA announced that all sports were being shut down until the end of the school year.
Just like that, a season was over. And for three Purdue players — Evan Boudreaux, Jahaad Proctor and Tommy Luce — their college careers were also over, in an instant.
Players and coaches alike went to social media to put a bow on the season. The Purdue basketball official site summed it up best, that the suddenness of the ending might have been the most difficult thing to take. And yes, all we have now are memories from the 2020 season, without a happy ending.
"It ended way too suddenly, but hopefully we provided you all some unbelievable memories.'' the tweet said.
Here's the best of what your favorite Boilermakers had to say:
MATT PAINTER TWEET
SASHA STEFANOVIC TWEET
MATT PAINTER TWEET ON SENIORS
MICAH SHREWSBERRY TWEET
There are conspiracy theories, of course, and it starts with the fact that everything went wrong AFTER Purdue center Matt Haarms got a haircut that nearly broke the internet.
When we broke the story right here on Sports Illustrated Purdue — great hustle by our young gun Brett Douglas — we thought it would be a fun little thing. It turned out to be huge, the biggest story based on page views that we've ever had here.
How big? It was 331 percent bigger than the previous top-ranked story.
A haircut!!
EVAN BOUDREAUX TWEET
PURDUE ATHLETICS TWEET
PURDUE ATHLETICS TWEET
Related stories on Purdue basketball
- GENE KEADY, STILL THE BEST: Legendary Purdue basketball coach Gene Keady is loving his retirement, and is doing great at 83 years old. CLICK HERE
- MATT HAARMS GETS A HAIRCUT: The iconic locks that drove opposing Big Ten fans nuts are gone, as Purdue's center gets a buzzcut. CLICK HERE
- SPECIAL SENIOR DAY: Evan Boudreaux's long basketball journey is just about over, and he will enjoy Saturday with his parents and the Purdue faithful. CLICK HERE
- FIRST TRIP TO MACKEY: A Purdue senior who grew up in a basketball house in southern Indiana had never been to a game at Mackey Arena. So we fixed that. Here's her story. CLICK HERE
