Former AHS, Purdue star Lewis sees greatness in current Boilers

Apr. 4—Troy Lewis couldn't make the trip to Detroit to watch his beloved Purdue men's basketball team end its 44-year Final Four drought Sunday.

The former Boilermakers and Anderson High School star has been a bit busy of late, helping to lead Centerville High School to the Ohio state finals for the third time in the past four years as an assistant coach.

The Elks fell in the championship game, but Purdue helped lift Lewis' spirits with an Elite Eight victory against Tennessee to advance to the national semifinals for the first time since 1980.

Lewis was particularly moved watching former Boilermakers coach Gene Keady join the postgame celebration, including receiving a piece of the net from star center Zach Edey.

"It was almost like mixed emotion because he should have got up on a ladder back in '88 to get his own piece of net," Lewis said, referring to his senior season playing for Keady in West Lafayette. "But we didn't get him there. So, as touching as that was, it was kind of like, 'Man, we didn't get the job done.'"

Lewis led the 1987-88 Boilermakers with 17.9 points per game. He ranked second on the team with 5 assists per game and was fourth at 4.6 rebounds.

Purdue finished 29-4 overall and went 16-2 in the Big Ten to win the conference title. Three players from that roster — forward Todd Mitchell, guard Everette Stephens and center Steve Scheffler — went on to the play in the NBA.

Lewis had a 10-day contract offer from the Miami Heat but suffered a broken wrist playing minor-league ball in Dayton and never made it to the NBA.

His biggest regret, however, came at the Pontiac Silverdome to end his senior season.

The top-seeded Boilermakers opened the 1988 NCAA Tournament with a 94-79 victory against Fairleigh Dickinson and a 100-73 decision against Memphis State before running into fourth-seeded Kansas State in the Sweet 16.

Behind 27 points from future NBA star Mitch Richmond, the Wildcats upset Purdue 73-70 — taking away Lewis' final chance at making the Final Four.

"I always go back to that," Lewis said during a phone interview Thursday. "The opportunity we had, the team we had that was good enough to get to where this (Boilermaker) team is right now, it's never gonna go away from me.

"Till the day I die, I'm always gonna go like, 'Hey, we were good enough to win it all.' You never know about winning it all. Obviously, we didn't. But we felt like we were good enough."

Lewis' playing career didn't overlap with current Boilermakers coach Matt Painter — who was a freshman at Purdue in the 1989-90 season — but the two are familiar with one another.

Lewis texted Painter after the win against the Volunteers, and he's happy the program still is being run by a member of the family.

In fact, he sees some of the same hallmarks of Keady's program in Painter's teams.

"The toughness," Lewis began. "He gets after you (with) man-to-man (defense), demands a lot from his guys. You gotta run the offense, play the right way. So, yeah, in that regard, I see a lot of Coach (Keady) in Matt. But Matt also — it's different from back then than it is now, so he's got his own twist to it.

"Matt, he's a savant when it comes to basketball. You gotta put your personality into it as a coach. You take bits and pieces of what you've learned from your coaches throughout the years, but then you've got to put your own personality into the team. And that's pretty much what Matt has done."

When the Boilermakers open the national semifinals Saturday night against North Carolina State, Lewis will be glued to the screen and cheering as loudly as any other fan.

He said Edey has earned a place in program history alongside his own boyhood hero — Joe Barry Carroll, the star of Purdue's last Final Four team in 1980 — and other luminaries like Rick Mount and Glenn "Big Dog" Robinson.

When Lewis filled out his bracket for the office pool, he picked the Boilers to take home the national championship.

Nothing that's happened in the last two weeks has altered that opinion — not even the dominant performance of reigning national champion Connecticut, who will face Alabama in Saturday's second semifinal.

"When you're in this position and you have the two-time (national) player of the year on your team — yeah, yeah, I can envision us winning this all," Lewis said. "I picked them for a reason before the tournament even started. I mean, I really believe that we can win the national championship. And I know how good Connecticut is.

"That hasn't changed. Two weeks ago when I did my pool, I knew Connecticut was good. But I still think if we play well and Edey plays well that we can get it done. Now, don't get me wrong. I'm not delusional about Connecticut. They're a great team — well coached, they've got guard play, t00. They've got guys that can get up and down the floor, make plays more. But any given night, things can happen."