Purdue Boilermakers

The Purdue Boilermakers basketball team is a basketball team representing the Purdue University in Indiana, US. The team is a part of the Big Ten Conference and holds the record of the most wins at the Conference. The team has successfully posted wins against every other school of the Big Ten program. The team is an arch rival of the Indiana Hoosiers with the Boilermakers leading the series with 109 to 84. The team’s home ground is located at Machey Arena, Indiana. The players wear black and old gold colored uniforms.

The team started writing their history back in 1896 recording their first game against the Lafayette YMCA (Young Men’s Christian Association). Their first coach, C. I. Freeman, led the team to a 8-0 undefeated record. The Boilermakers started taking part at the Big Ten Conference 3 years later with the team dominating the program under head coach Ward Lambert who joined the team in 1917. Before that the team had already won their first title in 1911. Lambert took the team a stunning win percentage of 0.709 with a record of 317-152. Lambert retired after serving the team for 14 long years in 1946 and was succeeded by Mel Taube. Paul Hoffman, a center for the team and Ed Ehlers became the first members of the team to get picked up at NBA drafts with Hoffman being named the first BAA’s (Basketball Association of America) first Rookie of the Year in 1948.