The NCAA Tournament starts this week, and Indianapolis is one of the first-round sites. Purdue (29-4), the No. 1 seed in the Midwest Region, will begin pursuing the program’s first Final Four trip since 1980 on Friday at Gainbridge Fieldhouse.
Indianapolis Star sports columnist Gregg Doyel has strong opinions on that and more. We recently caught up with Doyel to discuss the Boilermakers, Indiana State, Indiana University women and men’s basketball, and other topics.
Note: This interview has been edited and condensed for length and clarity.
Awful Announcing: What are reasonable expectations for Purdue?
Gregg Doyel: “They got a good draw. Now, I think the trickiest game is (potentially) round two against Utah State. But reasonable? This team has the best roster in the country and the best player in the country. Reasonable is the Final Four.”
How are these Boilermakers different from previous years?
“This team is better. It has gotten incrementally better every year—even though last year you wouldn’t have known it. Last year, it was better than the previous ones because they had (an improved) Zach Edey but it had a freshman backcourt. This year it’s better because it still has Edey, and now its freshmen guards are sophomores. Braden Smith has become not just a good sophomore, but an all-Big Ten First-Team point guard. And they also have Lance Jones, a fifth-year senior from Southern Illinois. So this backcourt went from being very young to pretty old and really good. That is the biggest upgrade. In college basketball, guard play is pretty much everything.”
What are your thoughts on Indiana State being left out?
“It took four or five crazy bid-stealing teams. It was Joe Lunardi of ESPN who said, ‘We’ve never seen a bubble like this before, and we might never see one again.’ That’s what it took for a team with the best NET ranking to not make it. They got screwed by the fate and bad luck of bid-stealing teams just rising up as one and taking a lot of bids.”
Are you surprised by the draw for the Indiana women, especially with potentially facing No.1 overall seed South Carolina (32-0) in the Sweet 16?
“When you’re a No.4 seed, you don’t get a lot of favors. You get home games. Beyond that, I don’t think there’s anything really to complain about for IU. It’s interesting. Fairfield’s got to be the nastiest 13 seed in women’s tournament history. It’s hard to imagine there’s anybody better because Fairfield is 31-1. They’re ranked 25th in the country. How is that a 13 seed? I don’t understand that. You can argue Indiana got the short end of that stick, but they’re playing at home. It’s hard to feel too bad for them. It’s a tough draw for IU. It has been a tough season for IU. We all thought they’d be better than a No.4, which shows how far the expectations have risen. What a great job Teri Moren has done.”
Speaking of Indiana, what does the future look like for the men’s program?
“They’re probably going to lose their best player, Kel’el Ware, to the NBA draft. It sounds like their second-best player, Malik Reneau is leaving. Mackenzie Mgbako, he’ll have options. You just don’t know. Mike Woodson is very clearly on the hottest of seats. He’s coming back but probably only one more year. That’s going to influence some of these kids. ‘Do we want to be here for Woodson’s last year?’
“IU can recruit transfers. But if you’ve got options, why come here? It can happen. IU has a pretty good NIL war chest. From what I understand, it’s about to double. Some donors are stepping up. But again, if you’ve got options, why do you come to IU for this specific year coming up? I think they’re in trouble.”
If Indiana changes its mind about Woodson, who should they go after?
“It’s Dusty May. He’s at FAU. The only way it’s not Dusty May is if some big-money school comes after him this year, and he just can’t turn it down. I know he’s happy at FAU. I talked to him last year. He likes it down there. He loves the lifestyle. But Dusty May is a former Bob Knight manager, as is athletic director Scott Dolson. Dusty May has done the impossible at FAU. If they make another run this year, IU might face a tough choice of bringing back Woodson or maybe deciding, ‘Wait a minute, we’re going to lose Dusty May to Louisville?’—just to name a school with huge money.
“‘We can’t let that happen. Mike, we like you, but you’ve got to go. We got to get Dusty May.’ The list starts and ends with Dusty May.”
How do you feel, and how do Indiana fans feel, about former Indiana coach Kelvin Sampson possibly winning a championship at Houston?
“Three years ago when the whole tournament was held in Indiana during the COVID pandemic on the same day IU hired Mike Woodson, Kelvin got to the Final Four. I went nuts. How awful this is. Just how sad it is. He set them so far back and now he’s in the Final Four. No bad deed goes unrewarded, and IU is starting over.
“I remember IU fans complained to me about whining on Twitter. Does that mean IU fans in general? I’d like to think that the morality of any fan base is big enough, and the pride and the self-worth of any fan base is big enough to say, ‘This is disgusting that Kelvin Sampson is still winning. It’s just disgusting.’ But I can’t speak for them. I speak only for me, and I’ll tell you, this is disgusting that he’s good.'”
You also had some strong words for Pat McAfee regarding Aaron Rodgers. Why so?
“To be very clear, I like Pat very much. I hate that he gave Aaron Rodgers that platform, but in a vacuum, I understand why he did that. He has built something enormous. And having Aaron Rodgers, having the abominable snowman, that’s a big deal.
“Kelvin Sampson disgusts me. Pat McAfee doesn’t disgust me. Aaron Rodgers disgusts me. But Pat McAfee has to take ownership of you’ve helped this. You’ve given Aaron Rodgers a platform to spread his nonsense. And the problem with the world is dumb people believe nonsense. They do. And they believe Aaron Rodgers. He’s not dumb, but he’s just… Something’s wrong with him.”
You’ve also been critical of Dan Dakich. How do you feel about him being back on the air in Indianapolis?
“Is he really? That’s news to me. I don’t talk about him. There’s a thing about you only swing up. I’ll talk about Sampson. He’s a Hall of Fame coach. I’ll talk about McAfee and Aaron Rodgers. I’m not swinging down on him.”
