First, I feel like a bad fan, because in my excitement that Purdue beat Miami to make it to the Sweet 16, I missed a relatively major milestone.

Congratulations to Purdue’s coach Matt Painter, who on Sunday won his 500th game as the head coach of the Boilermakers. When asked about becoming only the 4th Big 10 coach behind Tom Izzo, Bob Knight and his mentor Gene Keady to win 500 wins at a Big 10 school, he responded with the same humility and honesty that he has throughout his time at Purdue – it was all about his players.

“The one thing that gets lost at Purdue, because we don’t sign McDonald’s All Americans, is that our players are really good,” he said according to a USA Today article. “These guys have put in — I know coaches talk about it — but they’ve put in so much in all areas to be the best that they can be. And that’s how you end up getting a lot of victories, because you have really good players that are committed.”

I remember that after Purdue lost to FDU as a 1 seed there was a lot of grumbling that he needed to be fired like UNC just did to Hubert Davis – I am so thankful that the Purdue administration was smarter than that. The Boilers certainly probably don’t keep Braden Smith, Trey Kaufman-Renn and Fletcher Loyer together for four years without the environment that Matt Painter has created.

The thing that amazes me the most is that you can see that the future remains bright. I remember being sad when Robbie Hummel hurt his knee because I thought they were so talented that might be the Boilers only chance at making the Final Four and with the injury, it was gone. Then, Carson Edwards almost shot us into the Final Four before Virginia’s amazing comeback. Then, there was Jaden Ivey. Of course, we can’t forget watching these seniors with Zach Edey making the championship game. Now Smith, Kaufman-Renn and Loyer are looking to make their own history as they seem to break any Purdue school record that exists. It would be easy to think this is the last chance. But then you look at some of the glimpses of success that CJ Cox, Gicarri Harris, Omer Mayer, Jack Benter and Daniel Jacobsen have had through the season, and you realize that the future is in good hands – and that is even before looking at the 2026 recruiting class.

And while Painter will rightfully give the players all the accolades for that success, the unspoken truth is that Purdue’s continued success is due to Matt Painter being an incredible coach. There will always be that group that will say he can’t be truly elite unless he wins a National Championship, but regardless of what happens this year or in the future, there is nothing Matt Painter needs to prove. Purdue is lucky that Matt Painter is their coach and hopefully he will get to continue to do that as long as he wants to coach.

So the Lunatic is sorry for missing this milestone. But he certainly wants to thank Matt Painter for all he does for Purdue.

On a different note, the Lunatic sadly has to mention another moment – because he is afraid of karma. After the Miami game, CBS interviewed Fletcher Loyer and he gave a very polished answer but then as he left the cameras showed him pointing to the crowd and giving the “U Down” signal likely to troll some Miami fans.

I totally missed it but my son noticed it right away. Then a friend and fellow Purdue alum sent me an email about it. I hoped it would go away but sure enough my Purdue feeds kept showing it.

So, I would feel like a hypocrite if I don’t point it out. I talk about all the things I like about the Purdue program that it would be wrong to ignore when they do something I don’t agree with. I care about sportsmanship and so it breaks my soul that a player I love to watch would troll a fan base after a win.

On one point, I agree with something – if Loyer hadn’t been interviewed, that moment probably never gets seen. These players are wrestling each other to the ground over loose balls and trash talking each other for 40 minutes while fans are screaming horrible things at them. It has to be hard to turn that competitiveness off once the game is over.

Charlie said that shows how tough a competitor Loyer is – he loves it. But I think this is my problem. You see a player like Steph Curry give the night-night sign after making a big three-pointer, and young kids think – that is so awesome, I am going to do it too. Loyer isn’t the first person to show the U Down sign to Miami fans and he certainly won’t be the last.

But while I know that I am probably in the minority, sportsmanship matters to me. And I can’t point out what others do if I don’t call my Boilers out when they do it. So, while I realize that all of this is now just part of the game, the Lunatic does wish it wasn’t. We can compete like champions on the court, and not have to kick the team when they are already down.

I will end with a non-Purdue story that ties in. At the end of the St. John’s vs Kansas game, as Dylan Darling hit the layup to send St. John’s to the Sweet 16 and break the hearts of Kansas fans, they showed a video of the St. John’s bench of everyone but one person jumping in celebration. That one person was Hall of Fame coach Rick Pitino, who looked stoic as the shot went in as he calmly started walking over to shake Bill Self’s hand.

There were certainly things that Pitino has done over his career, especially the recruiting violations that got him kicked out of Louisville, that the Lunatic didn’t agree with. But what Pitino did is how I was taught – you play hard, you win the game, and then win or lose, you shake your opponents hand out of sportsmanship and respect.

In the era of social media and how much trash talking has embraced sports, that might be leaving the sport as the old guard coaches will eventually retire. The Lunatic hopes that is not the case.