Matt Painter Can’t Hide Behind Virginia Anymore
A historic upset happened in the 2023 NCAA Tournament last week. No. 16 Fairleigh Dickinson did the improbable, taking out No. 1 Purdue in the Round of 64, 63-58. It was a brutal shooting night for Matt Painter’s group as they converted just 35.8% of their field goal attempts and 19.2% of their three-point looks.
For the third time in three years, and the fifth time in nine appearances under Matt Painter since 2011, Purdue Basketball has been upset in the NCAA Tournament by a double-digit seed. Last year, No. 3 Purdue fell in the Sweet 16 to Cinderella No. 15 Saint Peter’s. In the 2021 tournament, the Boilermakers fell to No. 13 North Texas in the Round of 64. Purdue also dropped games to double-digit seeds in the first weekend of the 2016 and 2011 tournaments.
Despite this track record of unexpected losses, Purdue Basketball has not gained the reputation of “choker” with the general public because there’s been another program shielding them: Virginia.
Virginia and Tony Bennett Have Shielded Purdue and Matt Painter
Heading into the 2023 NCAA Tournament, Virginia was one of the most popular picks to be upset in their first-round matchup against Furman. It’s no secret why. The Cavaliers became the first No. 1 seed to lose to a No. 16 seed with their infamous 2018 loss to UMBC. They lost to No. 13 Ohio in 2021 and missed the tournament entirely in 2022. When people see Virginia in their bracket, they associate them with an early exit.
However, much of the hate levied at Virginia Basketball feels like piling on. I think some of it is due to UVA’s “boring” style rubbing people the wrong way. Tony Bennett slows the pace down to a crawl, drawing out possessions to the end of the shot clock. Virginia’s games are often very low-scoring affairs. That style of basketball certainly leaves them relatively prone to upsets from efficient mid-majors, but it seems like the public really wants UVA to lose. No one wants that style of basketball to work because it isn’t fun. I say this because there are other programs with brutal track records that don’t get nearly the same type of hate. And by “other programs,” I specifically mean Purdue Basketball.
Matt Painter and Purdue shouldn’t be able to hide behind Virginia anymore. Tony Bennett won a national championship in 2019, beating the Boilermakers in the process. Painter has never reached a Final Four. Let that one sink in. A program and coach that won a national championship within the last five years gets hate for losing every other year while a program and coach with no national championship and a ton of questionable losses on their resume skate through with little comment.
Fairleigh Dickinson < UMBC
In fact, Purdue’s loss to Fairleigh Dickinson is probably worse than Virginia’s to UMBC. FDU was sub-300 on KenPom entering the tournament; UMBC was in the top 200. The Knights came out of the First Four; the Retrievers did not. Fairleigh Dickinson got into the NCAA Tournament on a technicality – NEC champs Merrimack were ineligible because of their transition to Division I. As someone who has watched multiple FDU games this year, I can tell you firsthand this team is not good. Credit to the Knights for their incredible win, but there are certain things about this team that make it historically bad for Purdue.
It was an all-time loss for Matt Painter and Purdue. Virginia can now drop the “only” that shielded Matt Painter for these last few years. That’s not to say Painter is a bad coach, because he isn’t. Not even close. He won the Big Ten regular season and tournament titles this season. Painter gets his teams to the NCAA Tournament year in and year out.
But if Tony Bennett is going to receive such vitriol and Virginia is going to be labeled “chokers” for their losses, everyone should probably keep that same energy with Purdue and Painter. There needs to be some accountability here.
On a related note, UMBC was pretty pleased to have another team join their exclusive club.
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