Fun fact: Purdue University made it to the Elite Eight for the first time since the year 2000. 19 years, that’s a long time! So, of course, my family being the die-hard fans that we are HAD to go to the game! So let me walk you through this experience!

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Thursday Night

My mom was still in South Carolina at our house and we had just gotten back from our axe throwing outing. It was the end of the second half of the Purdue vs. Tennessee sweet sixteen game. It was such a close game, Mom and I were screaming at the tv and scaring the crap out of Banks and Ellie. To our excitement, Purdue pulls off the win!

Josh gets home from work and we all immediately start scheming on how to attend the next game! Then my dad facetimes in and says he is buying tickets and that’s final! We then spend the next couple hours coordinating with my whole family our plan to go to Lousiville! Hotels were reserved, tickets for the game were bought and plans were made for when everyone would be getting there! My family was coming from all over to attend the game, Northern Indiana, Purdue, Evansville, and South Carolina (obviously lol). We finally head to bed around 1 am.

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Friday

Mom leaves to head back to Indiana to get my dad! Josh and I head to work for a couple of hours. Of course, I had to rub it in all of my co-workers’ faces because they all laughed at me when I told them I had Purdue making it to the final four. We both rush home after work, throw some clothes in a bag and hit the road north! I drive the first part because it is mostly mountains and my tummy doesn’t do well in the passenger seat. But Josh powers through the end (while I was sound asleep). We get in around 11:30 pm and crash HARD!

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Saturday Morning

We get to take it easy since we were already in Louisville. We sleep in a little, go get some Dunkin’ and get ready for game day! Everyone is on their way at this point. Once everyone arrived we went to have lunch at King Fish right on the riverfront. It was good! We saw a ton of Purdue fans! After we ate we went to pick up the tickets from the StubHub hotel spot.

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Staurday Afternoon

If you are ever in Louisville you have to check out the Troll Pub! We spent like 6 hours there and it was so much fun! We basically ate, drank and hung out until game time! The bar was underground and under the bridge. Also, it was right across the street from the Yum Center! As everyone arrived we just added more chairs to the tables, it was a blast! The best part was that we were not in the downpour of rain outside at all!

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Game Time

The time was here. We made our way across the street and to our seats. Nerves were high and excitement was through the roof! The arena was FILLED with black and gold! The band was loud, everyone was on their feet and the ball was tipped! To say it was a great game would be an understatement. Both teams played very well! There were some bad calls, just like in any game, but overall it was good. Carsen Edwards drained shots left and right! He scored 42 points alone! But Virginia still managed to tie up the game in the final seconds!

MARCH MADNESS IS THE GREATEST THING IN THE WORLD pic.twitter.com/TUQchKqswO

— CBS Sports (@CBSSports) March 31, 2019

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Everyone was on edge! We had made it to overtime! It was a long 5 minutes that sadly did not end in our favor. I was mixed with feelings of pride that my team had made it this far and defeat that the run had ended for another year. We all said our goodbyes and went our separate ways. A few of us found the nearest pizza place to drown our sorrows.

On a positive note, I was able to get a picture with the legend himself, Coach Keady before the game started! We also saw a ton of people we knew! Boiler Nation traveled quite well for that game!

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Sunday

Before we all hit the road, we made one last stop at Waffle House to fill our tummies and spen a little more time together! Hopefully, we will be back for another Elite Eight game next year! Maybe even a Final Four?!