By Rob Miech
SportsLine.com Staff Writer
March 25, 2000

Wisconsin keeps Boilers out of Final Four

For all his accomplishments at Purdue, for all his awards and wins, Gene Keady had never taken the Boilermakers to the Final Four. Saturday, thanks to tough Wisconsin defense, Keady and Purdue were again denied admission in a 64-60 setback in the West regional final in Albuquerque, N.M.

Purdue's last visit to the Final Four came in 1980 -- the season before Keady was lured from Western Kentucky to take over the program. Still, it marked the deepest run for a Keady team since the 1994 team also fell in the regional finals, 69-60 to Duke.

The game was the fourth of the year between the Big Ten rivals and was the third win for the Badgers, who are on their way to the Final Four for the first time they won the national championship in 1941.

Outside shooting, as it has often been for the Boilers, proved their downfall.

Jaraan Cornell, who had come out of a season-long slump to average 15.3 points in the first three games of the tournament, disappeared against the Badgers. The senior shooter hit just 1 of 9 shots on the day and 1 of 7 from 3-point range. Point guard Carson Cunningham also struggled, scoring seven of his 13 points in the first half while forcing up, and missing, long 3-pointers much of the second. On the night he was 4 of 12 from the floor and 3 of 8 from 3-point range, but was 2 of 10 after hitting two shots in the first 1:30 of the game.

While Cornell and Cunningham struggled in the second half, Brian Cardinal scored all of his 13 points in the final 20 minutes and refused to let the Badgers pull away. He hit a pair of 3-pointers midway through the second half to keep the game tight. The Boilermakers, however, did not hit their free throws down the stretch, missing three of four in the final five minutes to cost them any chance they had at moving on.

For Wisconsin, former walk-on Jon Bryant continued his hot shooting, connecting on 5 of 9 3-point shots for a game-high 19 points.

"Their team defense and his 3-pointers really cut our throats," Keady said.

Though disappointed by the loss, Keady wasn't disheartened.

"We just try to play great basketball, and if that gets you to the Final Four, great," Keady said. "You know how hard it is, and if that bothers a coach, he probably ought to get out of it."

How They Got There

Purdue is making its eighth consecutive NCAA appearance thanks to a solid Big Ten season.

No one expected the Boilermakers to be among the field of 64 this season after losing their Big Ten opener at home to Michigan. But thanks to a lineup of four seniors and a fourth-year junior, Purdue toughed out the conference schedule, upset two-time defending champion Michigan State at home, and went down to its final game at Indiana with a chance to share the title before falling short.

Starting Lineup

• PG Carson Cunningham (6-1, 170, Jr.) 10.8 ppg, 1.9 rpg, 4.2 apg
  Cunningham is the Boilermakers weak link, chiefly because he is playing out of position. He's less a point guard than a scoring guard, and sometimes he forgets that. Keady is always glowering over there on the sidelines to remind him, and has learned to live with some of Cunningham's shortcomings.
• SG Jaraan Cornell (6-3, 200, Sr.) 12.7 ppg, 4.3 rpg, 2.2 apg
  Cornell's final season was a disappointment given his 13-point average and 33-percent 3-point shooting. He was more successful earlier in his career. Maybe the expectation that he would carry the team's scoring load got to him. Maybe he just shot poorly. Whatever the reason, he wasn't the reliable perimeter threat Purdue expected. He has come on in the tournament and has hit some big shots for the Boilers, including three big late treys against Dayton.
• C Greg McQuay (6-7, 215, Sr.) 8.1 ppg, 5.3 rpg, 0.3 apg
  Lost his job late in the season to sophomore Rodney Smith, but his comeback down the stretch and his experience playing in the NCAAs last season has made him invaluable in the tourney. He only scored three points against Dayton, but his 16-point outing against Oklahoma made up for it.
• PF Brian Cardinal (6-8, 230, Sr.) 14.1 ppg, 6.4 rpg, 2.2 apg
  The joke is, Purdue will retire Cardinal's kneepads when his career concludes. He has led the league in floor burns every year, but there's a lot more to his game than that. He shoots nearly 80-percent from the line, averages 14 points and more than six rebounds and ended up among the Big Ten's career leaders in steals. He hasn't been brilliant in the tournament, but is averaging 13 points and won't be guarded by Eduardo Najera every night.
• SF Mike Robinson (6-6, 210, Sr.) 11.8 ppg, 6.5 rpg, 2.1 apg
  A McDonald's All-American in high school, Robinson never lived up to his billing as "Little Dog." Granted, comparing anyone to 1994 national player of the year Glenn "Big Dog" Robinson is unfair. He's become a solid contributor, primarily with rebounding and defense -- he is an outstanding defender, but Keady would like more out of him than the six points he's averaged thus far in the draw.

Keys To Success

Coach Gene Keady's teams have always won with defense and this one is no different. It held conference opponents to 66 points and 45 percent shooting per-game.

Purdue doesn't get the job done with quickness and athleticism, because it doesn't have an abundance of either. What it does is play tough at both ends and relentlessly attacks the offensive glass. Teams that can get the Boilermakers to play up-tempo usually have success against them. But luring Keady's experienced lineup into a pace it doesn't want to play is next to impossible.

The Coach

Gene Keady has been in the Big Ten for 20 seasons and has been its coach of the year seven times.

A certain guy down the road in Bloomington can't come close to that record. Now, does that mean Keady is a better coach than Bob Knight? Knight's three national championships would say, 'No.' But, Purdue has won as many Big Ten titles as IU since Keady took over, and let's not forget, Indiana was already established as a big-time program when Keady arrived.

He has built Purdue into a solid team that now more than holds its own for basketball supremacy in the state.

The Bench

Keady complained long and loud about his group until the midpoint in the season ... when it began contributing. Guard Chad Kerkhoff is no offensive threat, but he does settle the Boilermakers down when Cunningham gets out of control and can lock up opposing guards.

Sophomores Maynard Lewis and Rodney Smith are the best scorers off the bench, while John Allison and Adam Wetzel give Purdue 10 fouls to expend in the low post.

Offense

The experienced Boilermakers are generally successful at forcing opponents to play the halfcourt game that Purdue prefers.

In that halfcourt set, Cardinal is the primary scorer, and while he didn't rank among the Big Ten leaders in 3-pointers, but leaving him open from beyond the arc is a bad idea. Cornell led the team with 58 three-pointers.

Late in the game, Purdue prefers to have the ball in the hands of Cunningham or Cardinal. Both are in the neighborhood of 80 percent from the line.

Defense

Quick teams give Purdue trouble because the Boilers don't possess outstanding speed. That is most noticeable at the point, where Cunningham can be exposed at times as a defensive liability.

Cardinal had 59 steals, an amazing number for a power forward.

Keady felt Kerkhoff was worthy of being considered for defensive player-of-the-year in the conference.