Despite Track Record, Purdue Gets Little Respect from Prognosticators

Here are some interesting numbers from Purdue’s NCAA Tournament run.

Six – That’s the number of Sweet 16 appearances over the last eight tournaments. Midwest Region top seed Houston, the Boilermakers’ opponent Friday night at Lucas Oil Stadium, also has six.

Seven – Numbers of turnovers against High Point, matching a school record for fewest in an NCAA Tournament game.

11 – Purdue’s national ranking in 3-point shooting percentage (38.3). Houston is ranked No. 1 at 39.8 percent.

12 – Purdue’s average margin of victory in the NCAA Tournament first- and second-round games in 2024 and 2025.

116 – The Purdue record for victories for a senior class, in this case former Indiana Mr. Basketball Caleb Furst.

298 – Braden Smith’s assists this season in 35 games, breaking the school and Big Ten record he set a year ago of 292 in 39 games.

On Tuesday, Smith was selected one of four finalists for the Naismith Trophy given to the nation’s best college basketball player. He is joined by co-favorites Cooper Flagg of Duke and Auburn’s Johni Broome, along with Walter Clayton Jr. of Florida.

Only Virginia and UCLA have had three consecutive winners in the Naismith Trophy’s 56-year history. But in each case, it was a single player honored (Ralph Sampson in 1981-83 and Bill Walton in 1972-74).

The Naismith Award will be presented April 2.

Sweet and low

Not surprisingly, the national media continues to have low expectations for Purdue in the Sweet 16. This is the same bunch who openly suggested the Boilermakers were going to lose to High Point and then McNeese State.

Myron Medcalf of ESPN.com has the Boilermakers 15^th in his rankings, just ahead of Arkansas.

“In the tournament so far, Matt Painter’s squad has demonstrated some of the defensive chops that led to early season wins over fellow Sweet 16 teams Alabama and Maryland,” Medcalf writes, omitting that Purdue also has victories against Mississippi and Michigan this season.

SI.com, the online home to the once-esteemed Sports Illustrated, ranks Purdue 14^th out of the remaining 16 teams.

“You have to wonder, even playing down the road from campus, if this is where the run ends though, especially if Houston can clamp down on Trey Kaufman-Renn and Braden Smith to force the rest of the squad to step their games up,” writes Bryan Fischer, who has Purdue rated ahead of Arizona and Arkansas.

Chip Patterson of cbssports.com also has Purdue 14^th, with Mississippi and Arkansas bringing up the rear.

“While most of the teams made it through to the second weekend with at least one tough challenge, either in terms of quality of opponent or the way a game played out, Purdue plowed through High Point and McNeese en route to the eighth Sweet 16 of the Matt Painter era,” Patterson writes.

Purdue ranks 13^th, ahead of BYU, Mississippi and Arkansas, in The Athletic’s rankings.

“Houston is extremely physical and frequently doubles the post,” The Athletic’s Jim Root writes. “The Boilermakers’ shooters will need to be at their best to pull off the upset.”

Coaching carousel

Darren DeVries may be the latest savior of Indiana University basketball but the better fit might be somewhere else in the Big Ten.

Ben McCollum’s coaching resume reminds me of Curt Cignetti’s before he took over the Indiana football program.

This season at Drake, he guided the Bulldogs to a school record 31 victories in his first Division I season. Before that, he won four national championships at NCAA Division II Northwest Missouri State. Amazingly, McCollum is just 43.

But instead of going to Bloomington, McCollum is moving just two hours from Drake to Iowa. This is going to be the best of the three Big Ten hires this offseason.

His chances of winning early increased Tuesday when guard Bennett Sturtz, the Missouri Valley Conference Player of the Year at Drake, announced he would follow McCollum to Iowa.

For far too long, Iowa has settled for mediocrity. The Hawkeyes have not won a Big Ten title since 1979 (shared with Purdue and Michigan State) and have been absent from the Final Four since 1980.

Ever since Lute Olson left Iowa for Arizona in 1983 with a 167-91 record, the Hawkeyes have been searching for a coach who could stand alongside legends like Bob Knight, Gene Keady and Matt Painter at Purdue, Jud Heathcote and Tom Izzo at Michigan State and Lou Henson at Illinois.

George Raveling lasted three seasons, never getting past the NCAA Tournament’s first round. Dr. Tom Davis brought the Hawkeyes their first No. 1 ranking, but his full court pressure defensive teams only reached the Elite Eight once before his firing in 1999.

The Pierre Pierce sexual abuse scandal eroded goodwill toward Steve Alford in Iowa City, and the former Indiana great left for New Mexico after the 2006-07 season. Todd Lickliter couldn’t bring his Butler success to Iowa and was gone after three losing seasons.

Fran McCaffery’s teams were never boring and neither was his temperamental demeanor. But after 15 seasons and the lowest average attendance in 60 years (9,161) in 2024-25, the winningest coach in school history (297-207) was let go.

If Indiana’s well-heeled boosters let the 49-year-old DeVries choose his players, there’s a chance he can be the school’s most successful coach since Kelvin Sampson was forced out in 2008. It is concerning, though, that DeVries never won an NCAA tournament game in six seasons at Drake and has just one season of major conference experience at West Virginia.

DeVries’ son, Tucker, was the two-time Missouri Valley Conference Player of the Year at Drake and took a medical redshirt at West Virginia to preserve his final season of eligibility. That’s a good start to rebuild a roster that won’t have Trey Galloway, Anthony Leal and Oumar Ballo next season. Malik Reneau, Mackenzie Mgbako,  Myles Rice, Kanaan Carlyle, Jakai Newton and Gabe Cupps are in the transfer portal.

Luke Goode is appealing to the NCAA for a fifth season of eligibility but the 10 games he played as a sophomore at Illinois may be an obstacle. The recruiting class consists of just former Indiana high school standout Trent Sisley after Bosnian forward Harun Zrno decommitted following Mike Woodson’s dismissal.

Finally, Colorado State coach Niko Medved, 51, is moving to Minnesota after guiding the Rams to three NCAA Tournament berths in the past four seasons. It’ll be a challenge to win with the Gophers having just one NCAA Tournament victory since 2013. Financial support for the program is lacking, and Williams Arena is approaching its 100^th birthday.

Kenny Thompson is the former sports editor for the Lafayette Journal & Courier and an award-winning journalist. He has covered Purdue athletics for many years.