If the 2025-26 college basketball season plays out the way ESPN expects, Purdue will have a fortuitous path to a potential national championship.
This week, ESPN’s Joe Lunardi debuted his Bracketology for the 2026 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament. After a strong offseason in the transfer portal and on the recruiting front, Purdue is projected to be the No. 1 overall seed for March Madness.
Should that be the case at the end of next season, the Boilermakers would never have a trip more than four hours outside of West Lafayette throughout the duration of the tournament.
With the No. 1 overall seed, Lunardi projects that Purdue would travel to St. Louis for the first and second round of the NCAA Tournament. Should they advance to the Sweet 16, the Midwest Regional rounds would be played in Chicago. If Purdue is still standing after those two regional rounds, it would head to Indianapolis for the Final Four.
Not a bad path to a potential national championship, is it?
Purdue was also picked as the No. 1 team in ESPN’s way-too-early poll after the NCAA transfer portal window closed for college basketball. Painter and his staff did some big things in that stretch, landing South Dakota State center Oscar Cluff and North Florida wing Liam Murphy via the portal.
The Boilers also picked up four-star guard and international prospect Omer Mayer, one of the top-50 players in the 2025 recruiting class.
All that is in addition to the return of Braden Smith, Trey Kaufman-Renn, Fletcher Loyer, CJ Cox, Gicarri Harris and Raleigh Burgess. Center Daniel Jacobsen will return from injury, as well.
On paper, Purdue has also the pieces necessary to win another Big Ten title and make a push for a national championship. If the Boilers put themselves in a good position by the end of the regular season, they’ll have a favorable path to Indianapolis.
EDEY RESPONDS TO CRITICS: Zach Edey had a lot of doubters coming out of Purdue. After a full NBA season under his belt, he had a message for those critics. CLICK HERE
EDEY SUCCESSFUL AS NBA ROOKIE: Zach Edey had plenty of doubters when he was selected No. 9 overall in the 2025 NBA Draft by the Memphis Grizzlies. But the former Purdue star quieted those critics with an impressive first season in the league. CLICK HERE
MAYER A TOP-50 PROSPECT: After re-ranking the top-50 prospects in the 2025 class, On3 tabbed Purdue basketball commit Omer Mayer as one of the best players in the cycle. CLICK HERE
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