If you listen regularly to the Eye On College Basketball Podcast, you might remember that at one point in the preseason, I acknowledged I felt like I probably had Purdue a little underrated. Twelve days into this season, I’m sure of it — especially after watching the Boilermakers score in the 90s for the fourth consecutive game Saturday, this time in a 93-84 victory over North Carolina.
“I don’t think we can average 90 points,” said Purdue coach Matt Painter, downplaying the way his team is overwhelming opponents offensively. “A lot of people across the country that have players, their offense is better than their defense right now. We’re one of those teams.”
Undeniably so.
Purdue currently ranks second in adjusted offensive efficiency and 23rd in adjusted defensive efficiency, according to KenPom. That underlines Painter’s point. But even if his Boilermakers don’t average 90 points this season, they’re clearly going to score a lot and likely prove over time that they are indeed legitimate candidates to win the 2022 NCAA Tournament.
They check every box.
Purdue has a great coach, multiple probable future NBA players, size, depth and shooting. The Boilermakers are bringing a consensus preseason All-American off the bench, for crying out loud. (His name is Trevion Williams; he scored 20 points in 13 minutes against UNC.) So I’ve decided to move Purdue up to No. 5 in Sunday morning’s updated CBS Sports Top 25 And 1 daily college basketball rankings, which caused Memphis, Duke, Texas, Baylor and Arkansas to drop one spot each, no fault of their own. And though I know the NFL will dominate Sunday because the NFL dominates every Sunday in November, Purdue vs. Villanova in the title game of the Hall of Fame Tip-off is worth your attention. It’s a matchup of the teams ranked fourth (Villanova) and fifth (Purdue) in the Top 25 And 1, a showdown between two programs that have the pieces in place to play in the last game of the season on the first Monday in April.
