After a heartbreaking 62-60 loss to Houston in the Sweet Sixteen of the NCAA Tournament last season, the Purdue Boilermakers are gearing up for a fresh year.
They’re projected to be the best in the Big Ten this season following last year’s 24-12 (13-7) finish, but that doesn’t mean they’ll go untested in conference play.
The Boilermakers are striving for a third Big Ten title in four years, so who poses the biggest threat?
“The biggest challenger to Purdue in the Big Ten next year is going to come out of Ann Arbor, and that is Dusty May and the Michigan Wolverines,” college basketball analyst Jon Rothstein said in a Monday episode of Inside College Basketball Now. “There is a little bit of a seesaw effect for Dusty May entering his second season in Ann Arbor, and that's because Michigan has really good retention, and Michigan also did yeoman's work in the transfer portal.”
The Wolverines did lose three notable talents: rising senior Tre Donaldson to Miami, Danny Wolf to the Brooklyn Nets with their No. 27 overall pick and Vlad Goldin to the Miami Heat on a two-way contract.
But as Rothstein said, Michigan was incredibly successful in the transfer portal. Plus, the Wolverines retained two major perimeter players, Roddy Gayle Jr. and Nimari Burnett, as well as Will Tschetter and LJ Cason.
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"Elliott Cadeau from North Carolina will replace Tre Donaldson at point guard,” Rothstein said. “We also have to like the influx of bigs for Michigan — Yaxel Lendeborg from UAB, Aday Mara from UCLA and Morez Johnson Jr. from Illinois.”
May poses the largest obstacle to Matt Painter and the Boilermakers, who graduated Caleb Furst and lost both forward Cam Heide (Texas) and guard Myles Colvin (Wake Forest) to the transfer portal.
But Painter shouldn’t be overly concerned — Purdue made a solid addition in South Dakota State transfer center Oscar Cluff. It also returns four major playmakers: All-American guard Braden Smith, first-team All-Big Ten forward Trey Kaufman-Renn, honorable mention All-Big Ten guard Fletcher Loyer and sophomore CJ Cox will all suit back up in black and gold.
The irony is that a top-five Big Ten finish and Sweet Sixteen appearance highlighted a down for Purdue. Between their four returners and the addition of Cluff, the Boilermakers are in a solid position for a season that has yet to start.