It is noticeable how much literature we at Badgers Wire have devoted to the 2000 West Regional final between the Wisconsin Badgers and the Purdue Boilermakers.
We have looked at this game from all sorts of angles, and the ceremony honoring the 2000 Final Four team in the Kohl Center on February 9 gave us a good reason to say even more about the 2000 Purdue game which lifted the Badgers to their first Final Four in 59 years.
As we have reflected on classic Badger moments from past NCAA Tournaments this month, consider all the ways in which the 2000 win over Purdue in Albuquerque still resonates, 20 years later.
When you realize how long it took Bo Ryan to make the Final Four (13 years), one appreciates the value and meaning of the win over Purdue, which gave Dick Bennett his only Final Four after many years in coaching… and denied Gene Keady what would have been his first Final Four after two decades of coaching.
When you realize that one of Wisconsin’s less talented teams just won the 2020 Big Ten championship, the example of the 2000 team — which similarly had a lot of blue-collar workers and no superstars — becomes an enduring manifestation of the values and principles which have fueled Wisconsin’s rise and continued excellence under several head coaches.
When you realize that Virginia beating Purdue last year in the Elite Eight — which led to a national championship — will not be replaced by a new championship moment in 2020, it becomes apparent that college basketball will continue to reflect on a member of the Bennett family beating a member of Gene Keady’s coaching tree, Matt Painter. “Bennett over Purdue” won’t quickly recede into the history books. It will get another year to breathe, as Virginia remains defending champion and Tony Bennett gets a chance to reload.
Wisconsin and Dick Bennett beating Purdue and Gene Keady in the Elite Eight 20 years ago was a central part of the college basketball conversation last March because of the Virginia-Purdue Elite Eight game which called it to mind. After Wisconsin won an unlikely Big Ten title in 2020, and the 2000 Final Four team was honored, it is as though that win over Purdue in Albuquerque doesn’t want to fade away. For a game played 20 years ago, it owns a lot of prominence — certainly more than most.