With both of the B1G’s banner basketball programs (from a traditional sense) down this season, someone else needs to step up this March Madness. This Purdue basketball team has the best chance of rising to that occasion.
Indiana, the league’s most storied program to Gen-Xers and everyone older, is way down this season, especially so by their very lofty standards.
Unless they pull off a miracle B1G Tournament run, they’re not dancing this year.
Michigan State, the B1G juggernaut to Millenials and younger, is substantially down from their usual high standard of quality. The Spartans are a bubble team, and not many really expect them to do a whole lot in the big dance next month, should they qualify.
There’s a reason many, if not most, Big Ten power rankings have the Boilermakers at #1.
Your 2016-17 Purdue basketball team currently has the highest RPI, Sagarin and KenPom of any B1G team. While Wisconsin is still ahead of them in the AP poll (Badgers are #11 while the Boilers are #16) that situation won’t likely be lasting very much longer.
Purdue has a much more impressive resume for the NCAA Tournament committee than the Badgers (or any other team in the league for that matter).
Wisconsin, with back-to-back losses suffered at the hands of Northwestern and Michigan, seems to be sliding a little. Maryland is very good, but not quite at the Boilers’ level. Purdue won in College Park, in the team’s only meeting this season. Northwestern is quite solid, but again not on the same footing with Purdue, and their lopsided first meeting (in West Lafayette) verifies this idea.
The next meeting, which will be in Evanston Saturday March 4th, could see this Purdue basketball team celebrating the B1G regular season title on the Welsh-Ryan Arena floor.
“They might be playing the most consistent basketball in not just the B1G, but also the country,” said Michigan State Coach Tom Izzo after his team was demolished 80-63 in West Lafayette today.
The Boilers are in first place for the time being, all by themselves, and that has them feeling very good right about now.
“We kept the confidence, we told the guys we’re right here, right where we want to be. For us to be in first place is huge,” said Purdue guard P.J. Thompson.
Purdue could not just win the regular season league title, but also be the side that makes the most noise come tourney time. Teams built around solid big men do potentially have an advantage over those overly reliant on jump shooters in the one-and-done scenarios.
In one game elimination format, teams who are more reliant on the perimeter game, than they are attacking inside, are more likely to fall victim to a low aberration shooting percentage game
“I would honestly say we had this confidence throughout the year,” proclaimed one of those stellar big men, Isaac Haas. “We just had to play Purdue basketball the way we knew how to play it.”
Having a front-runner national player of the year candidate in Caleb Swanigan, who’s a threat both inside and outside, helps a ton. A true versatile alpha dog can power you through those nights when your team’s shots are just off the mark.
“I think we’ve been winning some kind of grind-it-out kind of games and I think that’s a good thing for our team,” said Purdue basketball coach Matt Painter.
“If we take care of our own business, things will be fine,” Painter added.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net, partnered with FOX Sports Engage Network. and News Now. Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times and Bold, contributes regularly to the Chicago Tribune’s RedEye publication, CGTN America, WGN CLTV News and KOZN.
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