Following a 2-point loss to Houston in the Sweet Sixteen round of last year’s men’s March Madness tournament, the Purdue Boilermakers are entering this season with a chip on their shoulder.
Matt Painter’s squad received ESPN’s top preseason projection at the beginning of July.
“They're entering the season as the preseason No. 1 team in the country, according to the Field of 68. At a minimum, a consensus top-three team in America,” Field of 68 analyst Rob Dauster said. “It's national title or bust for Purdue this year. This is the year they're going to go out there and have a chance to be able to win it.”
The Boilermakers are returning the vast majority of their offensive production from last year, including senior guards Braden Smith and Fletcher Loyer, senior forward Trey Kaufman-Renn and sophomore guards Gicarri Harris and CJ Cox. Purdue will also return a healed Daniel Jacobsen, after the 7-foot-4 center fractured his tibia in the second game of the season last year.
Maintaining those six athletes, plus the additions of transfers Oscar Cluff (South Dakota State) and Liam Murphy (North Florida), and 2025 prospects Antione West Jr and Omer Mayer, has put Purdue in a solid spot ahead of the season.
Dauster isn’t the only college basketball analyst to take this perspective. On July 8, CBS Sports college basketball insider Jon Rothstein called 2025 a “Final Four or bust” year for the Boilermakers.
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