Purdue Boilermaker Basketball: NCAA Tournament Profile

Team: Purdue Boilermakers

Record: 24-5 (13-3 in B1G play)

Games Left: @lllinois, Minnesota

Probable Big Ten Tournament (New York Style) Seed: 3

Probable NCAA Tournment Seed: 2, although the range puts the Boilers anywhere between 2 and 4.

Key Players: G Carsen Edwards, C Isaac Haas, F Vince Edwards

Diagnosis: Purdue’s done what they’ve needed to avoid any kind of bubble talk. Having a stretch of 19-straight wins will do that. At one point, they had six Q1 (this won’t be confusing at all) wins and their only Q3 loss came on Frank Kaminsky Night in Madison. Carsen Edwards has emerged as the playmaker of the group. Isaac “Drago” Haas is the grinder. Dakota Mathias seems to be rediscovering his range. If Purdue gets back to playing the way they did during the streak, look out.

Look, everyone knows Purdue’s going to dance. Outside of two borderline disastrous stretches early in the season and last week, Purdue’s been damn near invincible. Yes, uber-talented squads will likely let Haas get his while denying the long range bombers, but few teams can do that night in and night out. Purdue isn’t going to be an easy out, especially if Vince Edwards recovers from his ankle injury in time for the NCAAs and can contribute as he did prior to getting sick. I look forward to Purdue making a deep run. Especially since I miss the first weekend of the tourney due to work travel.