NCAA Tournament March Madness
#8 Purdue
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Projected seed: 3
Purdue’s projection holds because the team combines a high-powered offense with a collection of signature wins and enough success away from home to satisfy a committee, with dominant neutral-site victories over Texas Tech and Memphis and impressive road wins at Alabama, USC and Nebraska standing out. Those resume-enhancing moments are counterbalanced by damaging losses to Illinois, Michigan, Michigan State and Ohio State and a rough home defeat to Wisconsin that expose defensive lapses and prevent a higher slot. The Boilermakers have shown they can win tough settings and pile up eye-catching offensive performances, yet inconsistency on the other end keeps the profile from being bulletproof. Strong showings in the league’s final games and the conference tournament present clear opportunities to erase the blemishes and solidify a top-tier placement.
| Date | Opponent | Ranking | Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|
| 11/4 | Evansville | 308 | W82-51 |
| 11/7 | Oakland | 169 | W87-77 |
| 11/13 | @Alabama | 15 | W87-80 |
| 11/16 | Akron | 64 | W97-79 |
| 11/20 | (N)Memphis | 136 | W80-71 |
| 11/21 | (N)Texas Tech | 20 | W86-56 |
| 11/28 | E Illinois | 323 | W109-62 |
| 12/2 | @Rutgers | 124 | W81-65 |
| 12/6 | Iowa St | 7 | L81-58 |
| 12/10 | Minnesota | 77 | W85-57 |
| 12/13 | Marquette | 85 | W79-59 |
| 12/20 | (N)Auburn | 39 | W88-60 |
| 12/29 | Kent | 150 | W101-60 |
| 1/3 | @Wisconsin | 24 | W89-73 |
| 1/7 | Washington | 53 | W81-73 |
| 1/10 | Penn St | 137 | W93-85 |
| 1/14 | Iowa | 25 | W79-72 |
| 1/17 | @USC | 78 | W69-64 |
| 1/20 | @UCLA | 29 | L69-67 |
| 1/24 | Illinois | 5 | L88-82 |
| 1/27 | @Indiana | 44 | L72-67 |
| 2/1 | @Maryland | 120 | W93-63 |
| 2/7 | Oregon | 100 | W68-64 |
| 2/10 | @Nebraska | 12 | W80-77 |
| 2/14 | @Iowa | 25 | W78-57 |
| 2/17 | Michigan | 2 | L91-80 |
| 2/20 | Indiana | 44 | W93-64 |
| 2/26 | Michigan St | 9 | L76-74 |
| 3/1 | @Ohio St | 26 | L82-74 |
| 3/4 | @Northwestern | 59 | W70-66 |
| 3/7 | Wisconsin | 24 | L97-93 |
| 3/12 | Northwestern | 59 | W81-68 |