Why (and why not) Purdue Basketball Will Return to the Final Four

Two years ago when I sat in Detroit to watch two basketball games, one against Gonzaga and one against Tennessee, I had little doubt that Purdue was going to head to the Final Four. Purdue had the best player in the country in Zach Edey and a supporting cast that made him better in every respect. It was an incredible team and it was unfortunate that they ran into a buzzsaw of a UConn team in the National Championship game. Purdue fans will always remember that team though for breaking through to the Final Four after a drought dating back to 1980. This year, Purdue was the preseason number 1 team, expectations were high, but they failed to meet their first goal of winning the Big Ten championship. The bottom fell out of fan expectations with a 6-7 slide to end the regular season. A lot of fans were simply ready for the season to end and were preparing themselves for heartbreak. Then, Chicago happened and everything reset. Now, Purdue sits just two games away from a return to the Final Four just two seasons after their breakthrough. Those expectations that fell through the floor? They’ve been built right back up to where they were with Purdue fans flocking to San Jose, California to watch the Boilermakers take on Texas, and hopefully, a second game against either Arizona or Arkansas. So here is why, and why not, Purdue will be heading back to Indianapolis after this weekend.

Why Purdue Will Not Make the Final Four

I’m an optimist, but I’m also able to look at things objectively. There’s always the chance that Purdue falls back into old habits and allows Texas, or whoever they face in a hypothetical Elite Eight matchup, to get hot from three while not communicating with one another, failing to attack their closeouts, and allow open look after open look to their opponent. I can’t tell you how many times we saw this this season from the Boilermakers. Maybe it’s true what they say about this team and that they just did not care as much about the regular season since…

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Publish date : 2026-03-24 01:14:00

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