Patio Pondering: The Narrative Said They Lost. They WON!

Last night I watched a battle between two top 15 basketball teams as Purdue trekked across the Midwest to play Nebraska. It was a rollercoaster ride as Purdue came steaming out of the gate and built a double-digit lead before Nebraska hit their first field goal. The first half and the start of the second half went Purdue's way, with a 22-point lead at one point. But I'm a Purdue fan, I knew Nebraska would not stop fighting and they did as I expected.

Purdue began to struggle with their jump shots and the Cornhuskers started hitting from just about everywhere on the court. The lead fell to single digits then back to double digits with less than three minutes left. Purdue's poor shooting and Nebraska's grittiness came together to force the game to overtime.

Overtime was a fight with Nebraska finally taking their first lead of the game but Purdue prevailed by three points in the end.

As I scrolled through X and Facebook to read reactions I was not surprised. The narrative wrote itself within minutes: Purdue almost chokes again. Typical Purdue with no killer instinct. Painter can't coach with a lead. And much more.

I started to feel the pull to pile on, talking about the choke, but I didn't. Side note, this is where my sobriety pays off — I resisted the urge to comment. I thought about the game I just watched and tried to remove myself from the emotional rollercoaster I had just endured.

I wrote this on X after sitting and absorbing what happened in Lincoln:

Nebraska is a top 10 team, they're good. Plus, they were playing at home. This isn't as much of an almost choke by Purdue as Nebraska just being a great team at home.

As I looked closer, I saw a few others that saw the forest for the trees. Here is one I shared:

It'll be easy for people to point to Purdue blowing a 21-point lead, and a 14-point lead with 2:45 to go, but don't forget that they WON…AT NEBRASKA!!! It got hairy at the end, but that's still an ELITE win. Never apologize for winning…especially against Top 10 teams. – Brandon Ramsey @BRamseyKSR

What so many people lost in their speed to criticize Purdue for their 22-point collapse is that Purdue had just won on the road in the Big Ten on a Tuesday in February against a top 10 team. Brian Neubert of GoldandBlack.com contends that the Big Ten Championship is won on Tuesdays.

This morning as I thought about the comments and reactions, I thought about how many times in our work lives we fail to see the forest for the trees by taking the easy path and repeating the easy narrative.

We've all heard them and even participated: That new guy won't make it. She only got promoted because of who she knows. That farm will never make it work with that system. They'll never hit those numbers. We don't do it that way here.

Convenient narratives formed from fragments instead of facts.

Just like last night's game, reality is usually more complicated. Wins rarely look perfect. Progress often feels messy. And context matters more than we care to admit.

Maybe the better question isn't "How did they almost blow it?" but rather "What did they actually accomplish?"

How often do we miss the win because we're fixated on how uncomfortable the ending felt?