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FSU Basketball: A FSU Fan's Guide to The Final Four

FSU Basketball fans, come with me on an Odyssey of the NCAA Tournament's remaining contenders. We will look through the program's history, the team's performance this season, and the tournament's storylines as we create vested interests for ourselves to make these last six games all the more entertaining.

By Cole Maines

Zach Edey of the Purdue Boilermakers in action against the Tennessee Volunteers
Zach Edey of the Purdue Boilermakers in action against the Tennessee Volunteers / SOPA Images/GettyImages
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Purdue Men

The Purdue Boilermakers are one of the oldest basketball programs the nation. Based in Indiana, Purdue began competing in 1896.

All of that time they have spent in the Big Ten conference; winning the conference in the regular season 26 times but have on won the conference chapionship twice. Of their 35 trips to the NCAA March Madness tournament, they have only made it to the Final Four three times, including this year.

The last time they reached this point as a team was in 1980. They have always been a consistent presence in the end of season tournament and a frequent threat in the BIG Ten, but never could really get over the hump to win a national championship.

Then came in Zach Edey. The Boilermakers star center is one of the biggest big men in college at 7'4", 300 pounds, and is a bit of a throwback center. He operates very well in the post and doesn't really shoot three pointers.

Edey is the coal in the Boilermaker's engine and is pivotal to the programs hopes at a first national championship. They had a chance last year after a strong season which earned a them a high seed, and earned Edey significant national awards.

However, they were upset in the first round. This year, they somehow played even better. They currently have a 33-4 record, and the losses are more shocking than the wins. They played and beat seven Top 15 ranked teams, including the then number one ranked Arizona Wildcats but lost to unranked BIG Ten foes.

None more puzzling than losing to the Wisconsin Badgers, who they previously beat, in the Big Ten Tournament Semifinal. Since then Purdue won their other two rematches with Gonzaga and Tennesee after handidly beating Grambling and Utah State.

Rooting for Purdue could be fun for Seminoles fans; until you remember when they beat us last year. There is an underdog angle as you would be pulling for the program's first national title, but they are going to be favored since they have a 7'4" center who is the best player in college basketball. It also unfortunately means that you are rooting for a swan song on NC State's Cinderella story, which as mentioned before, is actually great.

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