WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — The weather was nice. The drive from home took about an hour. So of course Brian Cardinal made it to Mackey Arena on Wednesday night. And brought 12-year-old son Bryson with him.
At Purdue, the former Unity star is basketball royalty. Like Dee Brown at Illinois or Steve Alford at Indiana.
Not that he thinks of himself that way. Mary and Rod Cardial raised a humble, hard-working kid. Which helps to explain his popularity.
"He is still the face of that blue-collar mentality the program likes to boast," said Nathan Baird, the Purdue basketball beat writer for the Lafayette Journal & Courier.