Old National Presents: The Three-Pete Primer
One of the legendary accomplishments in the history of Purdue men’s basketball will be celebrated during Saturday’s game with Nebraska. Coach Gene Keady and several former players who made it all happen 20 years ago will be honored in front of a capacity Mackey Arena crowd.
It seems like only yesterday the Boilermaker program pulled off something that puts it in rarified air in the history of Big Ten hoops: Three consecutive outright men’s basketball conference titles.
For fans who don’t know the story, or are in need of a quick refresher, here are five key things about Purdue’s Three-Pete Big Ten champions.
No. 1: The Boilermakers are one of two to do it
Purdue and Ohio State are the only two teams in Big Ten history to win three straight outright Big Ten championships. The Buckeyes accomplished the feat from 1960-62 under Coach Fred Taylor with a team that included all-time greats Jerry Lucas, John Havlicek and Larry Siegfried and even a reserve guard named Bob Knight. During the stretch, the Buckeyes won a national title when Lucas, Havlicek and Knight were sophomores and finished national runner-up the following two years. They were 40-2 in Big Ten play and 78-6 overall and are on a short list of the greatest teams of all time.
While the Boilermakers weren’t quite as accomplished on a national stage, Purdue’s record during its three straight undisputed titles from 1994-96 was nothing to sneeze at. It had an all-time great in Glenn Robinson, who was a Wooden Award winner as the nation’s top player in 1994, and had an 80-18 overall record and 44-10 mark in league play.
No. 2: Purdue came out of nowhere to win each year
Not surprisingly, Ohio State spent its three seasons being ranked in the top-five nationally for the majority of the time, while the Boilermakers were hard-pressed to a break into the top-five of the Big Ten’s preseason favorites. In 1993-94, five conference teams were tabbed in the preseason poll, but Purdue was the lowest ranked of the quintet as a preseason No. 21. Yet, Robinson and Co. rocketed to as high as No. 3 in the polls and became the school’s second-ever (1988) No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament.
With Robinson off as the NBA’s top pick, the ’95 squad wasn’t even ranked entering the season, but five conference teams were. The Boilermakers were expected to finish around seventh in the 11-team league. That and the fact that standout seniors Cuonzo Martin and Matt Waddell sustained knee injuries late in the offseason made Purdue’s run even more improbable.
In 1995-96, Keady’s crew was ranked preseason No. 24, almost an excuse-me selection for missing so badly the past two years. Still, three other league teams (Iowa, Michigan and Indiana) were tabbed ahead of Purdue before the season started.
No. 3: Purdue was a team of unheralded players
Sure Robinson was a star, but Martin was the only other Boilermaker during that span to be named first team All-Big Ten, something the hard-nosed guard accomplished in his senior year of 1995. Yes, Porter Roberts was Defensive Player-of-the-Year in 1996, and Roberts and Austin were second team all-league that season, but in terms of honors, it was slim pickings for Purdue.
The ’96 squad was one of the most balanced in school history with eight players averaging between 5.6 (Herb Dove) and 12.8 (Chad Austin) points per game.
No. 4: The Boilermakers had to overcome slow league starts
Robinson’s team started just 5-3 in league play before winning nine of 10 games from Feb. 2 to claim the crown. In ’95, the Boilermakers lost two of their first three league games before going on to win 14 of the last 15 in conference play. The following year, after a 4-0 start in Big Ten play, consecutive losses to Illinois and Penn State in January left fans wondering if a title was possible. That is, until the Boilermakers won 11 straight to leave little doubt on who was going to claim the league crown.
No. 5: Signature wins came on the road
It took monumental road victories in each season for Purdue to grab the crown.
Robinson’s game winner with seven seconds left at No. 3 Michigan finished one of the greatest last-minute comebacks in school history on March 3, 1994. Purdue trailed by seven points with 90 seconds left before scoring the game’s final eight points. For Martin and Waddell, the big win their senior year came at No. 7 Michigan State. The Boilermakers slowed Spartan star Shawn Respert just enough to post a surprisingly easy 78-69 win and spoiled Jud Heathcote’s presumed sentimental journey to a Big Ten title in his final year as coach for MSU.
In 1996, there were two wins away from Mackey that stood out. The Boilermakers showed they were for real by destroying No. 18 Michigan by 21 at Crisler Arena in one of the most dominating performances of the Keady Era. But, if you ask most Purdue fans of that time, the game that won’t be forgotten is the victory over Indiana as Austin delivered the game-winner in the closing seconds. Emotionally, however, the biggest road win of the season might have come on Jan. 22 at Minnesota with a grieving Keady, who within days had to deal with a near-fatal injury to his daughter Lisa and the death of his father. The victories galvanized the Boilermakers to make their title run.
I am uncertain who was the genius behind branding it "Three-Pete" to give it a unique Purdue flavor. No matter, it was a good way to get around famed NBA coach and GM Pat Riley's trademarked "Three-Peat" term that was en vogue at about the same time.
And to be certain, it was a special time in Boilermaker basketball annals that places the program where it truly is: One of the storied programs in the history of the Big Ten.
Visit Old National Bank
Copyright, Boilers, Inc. 2016. All Rights Reserved. Reproducing or using editorial or graphical content, in whole or in part, without permission, is strictly prohibited.