Fans are idiots

 OK. So perhaps fairness dictates an amendment: Some fans are idiots.

Tip of the hat to an old colleague and superb journalist, Mark Montieth, who on social media yesterday made an astute observation in the wake of Purdue's historic crap-out against Fairleigh Dickinson. He noted that barely a week ago Purdue fans were saying this: "Matt Painter should have been the Big Ten Coach of the Year!"

Now, Montieth went on, some of the same fans are saying "Matt Painter should be fired!"

Fans are idiots. And no respecters of irony, clearly.

Look. I get it. Flaming out in Da Tournament three straight years against a 13-seed or higher is not what any coach wants on his resume. But it's on Painter's now, and the only way he can erase it is by taking Purdue to the Final Four or beyond.

What he did this season is build a basketball team around a 1970s model, and it's to his credit it worked for as long as it did. No one makes a low-post player his go-to option anymore -- that's as dead as Grover Cleveland -- but in Painter's defense, what else could he do? He had a 7-4 behemoth with skills, two freshman point guards and a bunch of fine complementary players. What, he's gonna run the offense through Mason Gillis? Or the two freshman guards? Or Ethan Morton or Brandon Newman or David Jenkins Jr.?

Nothing against those players, but none of them was his go-to guy from last year, Jayden Ivey. You make do with what you have, and what he had was Zach Edey. With whom Painter won 29 games.

Which ain't bad for an antique offense.

Yes, it's true his team looked scared and uninspired the other night almost from the tip. It's true, once Fairleigh Dickinson's hyper rug rats began scurrying past the Boilermakers, that Painter should have at least tried going zone. And, yes, he was too stuck in his ways to do that.

The plain-wood truth: He got outcoached, and his team got outplayed.

But you're gonna fire a guy who got you your first 1-seed in 27 years? Who took a team picked to finish sixth in the Big Ten and won it by three games? And who handled the most embarrassing loss in tournament history with complete and utter class?

The man sat up there in the postgame the other night and answered every question without ducking. And when he was done, and the moderator said he could go, he actually stayed and asked if anyone else had a question.

I don't know what you call that. I tend to call it character.

I also tend to say Painter's still one of the best coaches in the country, and no more nor less flawed than any other coach. But that's just me.