Boilers' schedule nears
completion
By Paul Trembacki
Sports
Editor
Purdue, Arizona and John Wooden will be at the
same place for the second straight season.
The Boilers and national runner-up Wildcats will
play in the eighth annual John R. Wooden Classic Dec. 8 at Arrowhead
Pond. Wooden was a three-time All-American from 1930 to 1932 at Purdue
and went on to coach UCLA to 10 national championships.
"It's mostly for respect for Coach Wooden that
we play in these things," Keady said. "It also prepares you for the
Big Ten season and let's you know what you've got to do to beat good
teams in the NCAA tournament."
On Nov. 25, 2000, Purdue beat then-No. 1 Arizona
72-69 in the inaugural Wooden Tradition at Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.
Purdue will participate in the second annual Wooden Tradition this season
and play Stanford in Conseco in November.
In the second game of the classic, UCLA will play
Alabama, the team that eliminated Purdue from the National Invitation
Tournament in the third round on March 23 and eventually finished second
in the NIT.
UCLA coach Steve Lavin, a former Purdue assistant,
and Crimson Tide coach Mark Gottfried were assistants on UCLA's 1995
NCAA Championship team. This will be the first meeting between the friends.
On schedule
Purdue's schedule for the 2001-02 season has not
been released yet, but some games have been determined aside from the
Stanford and Arizona games.
Purdue is planning to play in a tournament that
starts with a home game and ends with three games in Las Vegas during
winter break.
Unless the Bruins and Boilers play each other in
that tournament or in the NCAA tournament, there will be no Purdue-UCLA
matchup next season.
"Playing Stanford and Arizona is kind of enough,"
Keady said.
The schools signed a two-year contract two years
ago to play one game in Los Angeles and one in Mackey Arena.
Keady wanted a four-year contract, and he Purdue
to play UCLA in Sacramento, Calif., where his sister lives. He also
figured that Purdue engineering alumni working in California's Silicon
Valley would attend the game.
Purdue had scheduled a nonconference game with
Denver University so that freshman recruit Matt Carroll, an Aurora,
Colo., native, could play near home. However, Denver hired a new coach
who wasn't keen on playing the Boilers.
Teams such as Arizona State and Miami (Ohio) have
expressed interest in playing Purdue next season.
Departures elsewhere
Keady does not approve of players leaving school
early to go to the NBA.
"I don't like it, but I guess they get guarantees
from their agents that they'll go high in the draft and have a chance
to make some big money," Keady said.
On Tuesday Michigan State sophomore Jason Richardson
and Notre Dame junior Troy Murphy, an All-American, held separate news
conferences to announce their plans to enter the NBA Draft.
Richardson's teammate Zach Randolph, a freshman
from Indianapolis, will hold a news conference today. He is likely turning
pro also.
After Arizona lost to Duke in the NCAA National
Championship game, Wildcat junior Richard Jefferson said he would stay
at school. He has since changed his mind and announced that he will
forego his senior year to go pro, joining junior teammate Michael Wright.
"You never know what's inside a young kid's head,"
Keady said.
What's going on with Keady's kids?
Keady's players are already training for next season,
working on fundamentals in Mackey Arena and lifting weights.
"We've got a good bunch of guys in here now," he
said.
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