Roller-Coaster Season for Purdue’s Boilermakers Continues Into NCAA

The roller-coaster ride taken by the Purdue men’s basketball team since the dawn of 2026 is once again on an upward trajectory.

Becoming the first No. 7 seed to win the Big Ten Tournament has renewed some faith in the eighth-ranked Boilermakers, who were viewed as a preseason national championship contender. Beating the Michigan all-star team while playing its fourth game in four days has regained some benefit of the doubt for a Purdue program that is best known for failure in the eyes of some national media members.

Keith Gill, the chairman of the NCAA Tournament Selection Committee, surprised many Big Ten observers with his statement that Purdue went from a No. 3 seed to the last No. 2 seed with its victory against the Wolverines. It has been believed by some that the tournament committee usually has its bracket finalized before the results of the Big Ten tournament, which typically concludes about 30 minutes before the bracket reveal on CBS.

Gill stated the tournament title game led to the committee’s biggest debate in the final minutes.

“We had Michigan (as the No. 2 overall seed) and then when … the Big Ten Tournament results came out, Arizona flipped to the 2 overall and Michigan to the 3 overall,” Gill said. “Then when you look at Purdue, they started at the 11 (overall) line and with that result they scrubbed up to the 8 (overall) line and got them a 2 seed.”

That jump allowed Purdue to go to St. Louis to start the tournament, likely bumping either Illinois or Michigan State from that slot behind West Regional No. 1 seed Arizona.

If someone had told me back in November that Purdue would have a better record away from Mackey Arena during the 2025-26 season, I’d have lost some money in my eagerness to place a friendly wager with that person.

But the facts are that the Boilermakers (27-8) went 8-3 on an opponent’s court and are 7-0 at a neutral site. This statistic perhaps influenced the predictions by CBS college basketball analysts Clark Kellogg and Jon Rothstein that Purdue will win the national championship.

“Purdue has found its rhythm and mojo,” Kellogg said during the CBS selection show. “They look like a team that can very well have a storybook ending getting to Indianapolis.

“I like Purdue and (reigning national champion) Florida to meet in Indianapolis. The storybook ending I’m talking about? The Purdue Boilermakers win the national championship 60 miles away from campus. They get it done.”

Rothstein compared Purdue’s momentum from winning an unexpected Big Ten Tournament championship to Connecticut’s national championship run in 2004 and Florida’s title surge in 2007.

“A large returning nucleus that truly knew that the season didn’t maybe truly start until Championship Week,” Rothstein first stated on his X (formerly Twitter) account.

“One of the hottest teams in the country right now,” fellow CBS analyst Isis “Ice” Young stated before picking Purdue to reach the Elite Eight.

“They’ve got a point guard who is one of the most decorated in the history of college basketball,” host Brent Stover stated, referring to Braden Smith, who needs two assists Friday night against Queens to break former Duke star Bobby Hurley’s NCAA career record.

Over at ESPN, where positive news about the Big Ten is rare since the network lost the conference TV package, Rece Davis stated that Arizona “has a pretty tough draw” in the West Regional.

Analysts Jay Bilas, Jay Williams and Seth Greenberg all have Purdue reaching the Elite Eight before losing to Arizona.

“I think Purdue has a pretty decent draw,” Bilas said. “The Miami-Missouri winner is not going to be an easy second round game.”

“Purdue made a statement today,” said Greenberg, who was impressed with the 80-72 victory against No. 2 Michigan. “People say how good is Purdue? They went through that stretch where they lost two or three in a row. But they got back to who they were. They grinded it out. They were physical. They were tough. They played through their interior. Braden Smith looked to score a little bit more.”

In a nightmare scenario, though, for Purdue Greenberg has Michigan and Michigan State reaching the national championship game. Greenberg joked about wanting to overhear the handshake line after picking the Wolverines.

Bilas and Williams have Arizona winning the national title. Bilas picked the Wildcats to beat Michigan State in the final.

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NOTEWORTHY: Winning the Most Outstanding Player of the Big Ten Tournament was a major consolation prize for Smith after not repeating as an Associated Press first-team All-American last week.

Smith was chosen a second-team All-American guard, more than likely the result of Purdue’s underachieving month of February when the Boilermakers went 6-4 with losses to Michigan, Michigan State and Wisconsin inside Mackey Arena.

Smith did receive first-team All-America honors from the National Association of Basketball Coaches and the United States Basketball Writers Association. Those honors make Smith the fourth two-time consensus first-team All-American in Purdue history, joining Terry Dischinger, Rick Mount and Zach Edey.

Whether Purdue’s disappointing regular season finish will impact Smith’s chance of being the first repeat winner of the Bob Cousy Award will be known in the next few weeks. Smith’s fellow finalists are Michigan State’s Jeremy Fears, Jaden Bradley of Arizona, Darius Acuff Jr. of Arkansas and Kingston Flemings of Houston.

Fears’ chances may depend on whether voters take into consideration his less than sportsmanlike play at times this season. Smith is the nation’s assists leader with a Purdue and Big Ten record 317, 23 more than runner-up Fears.

Smith is averaging 14 points, 9.1 assists and 3.6 rebounds a game entering the NCAA Tournament opener against Queens.

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PURDUE’S VICTORY against Michigan was the most watched conference championship game on any network in the last 30 years according to the Big Ten. In a statement, the Big Ten reported the broadcast peaked at 6.2 million viewers.

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TWO VICTORIES in the NCAA tournament would give Purdue coach Matt Painter 500 at Purdue. The 55-year-old Painter has an overall record of 523-228, including a 25-5 record in his lone season at Southern Illinois.

Painter is on track to pass Naismith Hall of Famer Gene Keady’s school record win total of 512 during the 2026-27 season.

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THIS COLUMN was submitted Wednesday night before the Big Ten began play in the NCAA Tournament. With that in mind, I’m taking the league to go 6-0 Thursday night. The most noteworthy game could be fourth-seeded Nebraska earning its first NCAA Tournament victory against Troy in Oklahoma City.

I like No. 8 seed Ohio State over No. 9 TCU in Greenville, S.C.; No. 5 Wisconsin over No. 12 High Point at Portland; No. 3 Michigan State over No. 14 North Dakota State at Buffalo; No. 1 Michigan over No. 16 Howard, also in Buffalo; and No. 3 Illinois over No. 14 Penn and former Iowa coach Fran McCaffery in Greenville.

In addition to Purdue over Queens, I’ll take No. 9 Iowa over No. 8 Clemson in Tampa, and No. 7 UCLA over No. 10 Central Florida in Philadelphia tonight.

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.