In a new age of college basketball, Matt Painter and Purdue proves old school still works.

DETROIT — No one was quite certain how they'd react to a moment that for the past two weeks has seemed inevitable.

Purdue basketball, Final Four.

Some of the 18,577 inside Little Caesars Arena on Sunday night cheered. Some screamed. Some clapped.

Many cried.

Full-grown adults with uncontrollable tears streaming down their face seeing the final seconds tick off the clock.

More: 'All-time performance from an all-time player' Zach Edey gets Purdue basketball to Final 4

In 2019, this almost happened, but that game against Virginia in the Elite Eight taught Purdue fans to never assume anything.

When Tennessee's Zakai Ziegler took the ball and heaved it in frustration, it became real.

Forty-four years is a long time. Since that last Final Four season, Purdue has had two head coaches.

Gene Keady, who recruited Matt Painter, who eventually succeeded Keady as Purdue's head coach in 2005, was on hand when the Boilermakers finally broke down that Elite Eight barrier that kept the Boilermakers from achieving this feat in 1994, 2000 and 2019.

"It's such an advantage I felt we've had at Purdue because of him and the program and the blueprint that he had," Painter said.

Zach Edey, Purdue's center turned superstar, chopped some net in his trademark fashion, walking around the ladder rather than climbing it and snipping flat footed from the floor. He then paid homage to the man who paved the way for all of this, Gene Keady, by handing him a piece of the net.

"You've always got to pay respect to those that came first," Edey said. "He built this. It doesn't go over our heads. He helped set all this up. To be able to pay him back and give him a little piece of the net, it's the least I can do."

Keady built Purdue's program on hard work and strong academics, truthful almost to a fault.

Painter, retelling the recruiting pitches he received while a high school standout at Delta in Muncie, said it was Painter's father who said he needed to go to Purdue because coach Keady was the only one who told Painter the truth.

Today, if you ask anyone who has been recruited by Painter over the past two decades, they'll tell you a similar story about Purdue's current coach.

"I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for him," fifth-year senior Mason Gillis said of Painter. "A lot of other guys if it wasn't for him. We wouldn't be here if he wasn't the person he is."

In a day where Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) money and the transfer portal has muddied up college sports, Painter comes off like a dinosaur, still selling Purdue on hard work, academics and by telling the truth, even if he ends up losing some recruits along the way.

Sunday was proof that way still works.

Purdue won the Midwest Regional with a 7-4 center who was an afterthought to most college coaches who visited IMG Academy, where Edey played high school basketball.

With Braden Smith, the lightly recruited point guard turned all-time Purdue great in just two seasons.

With Fletcher Loyer, who told Purdue early in his high school career he'd come play there and never wavered.

With Trey Kaufman-Renn, who redshirted after being a highly rated recruit out of high school, then spent last season with sparse playing time.

With the ultimate blue-collar guy in Mason Gillis, a former starter turned best sixth man in the Big Ten.

With Ethan Morton, who sacrificed more than anyone. Morton, who started 29 games a year ago and didn't even get into the game Sunday, showed not the faintest hint of dissatisfaction at any point this season.

With Caleb Furst, another highly ranked recruit and former Indiana Mr. Basketball who also didn't play Sunday after being a starter last season.

With Lance Jones, the one player on the roster who didn't start his career at Purdue, but when he got his degree from Southern Illinois, told Painter he wanted to play for a winner, all while not mentioning a word about NIL money.

With walk-ons who could've gone somewhere else and played a bunch of minutes and scored a bunch of points.

And in the greatest moment of all their young lives, this wasn't about them.

It was about the fans who traveled from all over the country to witness a moment 44 years in the making, among them former Purdue players Robbie Hummel and Bobby Riddell (who each had to fulfill radio duties), Brandon Brantley, PJ Thompson and Sasha Stefanovic (on the coaching staff), Cuonzo Martin, Ryne Smith, Dakota Mathias, Jaden Ivey, Matt Waddell and the list goes on.

"It's really a family at Purdue. It sounds kind of cliché, but it's really true here," said Hummel, like many others with tears in his eyes.

All of them played for great teams and none of them ever got to the Final Four.

But now all of them feel like they have.

"It feels great, but it also feels great for all of our former players and our fans and everybody that has stuck by us," Painter said.

Sam King covers sports for the Journal & Courier. Email him at sking@jconline.com and follow him on Twitter and Instagram @samueltking.

This article originally appeared on Lafayette Journal & Courier: Purdue basketball works hard and is honest... and Final Four bound