Purdue Boilermakers one win away Final Four vs. NC State - ESPN

GLENDALE, Arizona — Purdue's past seems so far away.

Following Saturday's 63-50 win over NC State in the Final Four, the upset loss to 16-seed Fairleigh Dickinson in last year's NCAA tournament is a footnote for the program. These Boilermakers find themselves a win away from the university's first men's basketball national title on Monday night.

NC State, a team that finished 2-7 in its last nine games of the regular season, seemed like a squad of destiny, nearly 41 years after Jim Valvano led the program on the most unlikely trip to a national championship. But 7-foot-4 Zach Edey, the reigning Wooden Award winner and favorite to win it again, and Purdue were just too much.

«You can talk all you want, but if you're not going to play on Monday, you don't have a chance,» Purdue coach Matt Painter said. «Obviously, we put ourselves in a position to win one. You've got to give our guys credit. They've been able to battle back. They've also been able to handle a lot of adversity.»

Over the course of the NCAA tournament's 85-year history, only one man could fully understand Painter. That man is Tony Bennett.

Five years before Purdue suffered the worst defeat in NCAA tournament history, Virginia lost to the UMBC Retrievers in 2018's first round. That unfathomable loss followed the Cavaliers like a shadow for an entire season. The following season, Virginia defeated Texas Tech in the national title game.

After Saturday, Painter and Purdue are close to pulling a Bennett and Virginia — and ultimately exorcizing the demons of last season's upset. The Boilermakers are almost there, and with the best college player in America and a team that shoots 3-pointers (40.6%) better than 99% of the country.

Although Virginia experienced a top