Indiana fans have had plenty of Purdue players to grumble about over the years, but a few names rise above the rest when it comes to pure annoyance. In a rivalry that already runs hot, these Boilermakers gave Hoosier fans extra reasons to hold a grudge.
Braden Smith fits that bill right away. The Westfield native was Indiana Mr.
Basketball at Westfield High School in 2022, then committed to Purdue early in his recruitment when the Boilermakers were his only high-major offer. That alone made him a tough sell in Bloomington.
Add in the fact that he stayed in West Lafayette for four years - a rarity in today’s college game - and the irritation had time to build. Smith’s style, the long sleeves, and his on-court flare all seemed to rub Indiana fans the wrong way, and by the end of his Purdue run, Hoosier fans were more than ready to see him gone.
Matt Haarms is another name that still gets under the skin of Indiana supporters. The 7-foot-3 center played at Purdue from 2017 to 2020 and built a reputation for complaining and flopping. His hair became part of the conversation too, to the point that the NCAA March Madness account posted, “America finally gets the #HaarmsHair mix it deserves.
🔊🆙 #MarchMadness pic.twitter.com/XiqecezHMZ
- NCAA March Madness (@MarchMadnessMBB) March 18, 2018”
Haarms also had the misfortune of being front and center during Purdue’s Elite 8 run in 2019, which only made him more irritating in the eyes of Indiana fans, especially with the Hoosiers stuck in a major rut at the time. For plenty of people in Indiana, he was the kind of player you loved to hate every time he stepped on the floor.
Then came Zach Edey, and the frustration only kept rolling. The 7-foot-4, 305-pound big man was Purdue’s answer after Haarms, and he went on to win National College Player of the Year twice, in 2023 and 2024.
Indiana fans, though, were never interested in celebrating any of it. Edey’s size made him a polarizing figure nationally, but for Hoosier fans the issue was even more specific: he was slow, didn’t move all that well, and seemed to benefit from favorable officiating.
He lived at the free throw line, and those trips often came at Indiana’s expense.
By the time his Purdue career was over, Edey had become the perfect villain for Hoosier fans - a dominant Boilermaker big man whose physical style, postseason success, and whistle-friendly reputation all landed in a stretch when Indiana couldn’t keep up.
In Other News...
Indiana Is Suddenly Chasing A Very Intriguing 2028 Frontcourt Target
Indianas recruiting board for the 2028 class already has an early name worth watching in Hudson Hatch, a 6-foot-10 center from Christ School in North Carolina. The Hoosiers recently joined the chase with a scholarship offer, and for a player who is still unranked, that alone says plenty about the kind of upside Indiana sees in him.
Hatch has drawn attention because his game doesnt look like the usual young big mans package. He can stretch the floor with his jumper, score in the post and is willing to move the ball when defenses collapse, which gives him a versatile foundation to build on. The bigger question now is how much his body and athletic tools can grow over the next two high school seasons, because that will go a long way toward determining just how high his ceiling really is. [Read more 🡒]
Curt Cignetti Just Pulled Off Another Recruiting Stunner For Indiana
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For a program that has spent years fighting for attention in the Midwest talent market, the back-to-back wins matter as much for perception as for the roster. Beating Notre Dame for blue-chip talent is the sort of development that can reshape how recruits view Indiana, and it has given Cignetti a level of momentum the Hoosiers rarely get to enjoy this early in a cycle. [Read more 🡒]
Curt Cignetti Has Indiana In Position To Shape Three Big Ten Jobs
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Northwestern is first, coming to Memorial Stadium for the Big Ten opener on Friday, Sept. 25, and the Hoosiers already handled the Wildcats 41-24 a year ago. Rutgers follows in Indianas first road game on Oct. 3, while USC visits on Nov. 14 in a game that could carry College Football Playoff implications as well as coaching fallout. For Greg Schiano, Lincoln Riley and David Braun, the margin for error is thin, and Indiana now has a say in how thin it gets. [Read more 🡒]