It happened. Zach Edey and Dalton Knecht traded haymakers, threes weren't falling, Tennessee was playing the physical style of game they thrive in, the game got tight - and, this time, Matt Painter and our Boilermakers came out on top.

The Final Four ceiling for Gene Keady's program has been broken, a potentially destructive FDU became a footnote in a longer story, and the catharsis felt by Purdue fans everywhere wasn't just felt in Detroit's Little Caesars Arena - it was felt by Boilermaker fans across the world, by those still here and lifelong diehards who have passed but are held closely in our memories this week.

Sports shouldn't mean this much. It's objectively stupid that they do. But moments like this make the "Purdue family" feel like something beyond just a marketing ploy that every school (and soulless company) preaches but doesn't practice. It feels real, because this is real - this is a family that extends beyond what's normally felt by fans rooting for the same laundry, and it's wonderful that something as meaningless as a basketball game can bring us together like this.

Whew. Come talk it out with us. We promise to (mostly) hold it together.

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