Indeed, Purdue Basketball returns with unfinished business in the Big Ten ranks. Especially after last year’s early exit in the NCAA Tournament. All but two players return for the Boilermakers. Including highly-coveted big man Zach Edey. And sharpshooter Fletcher Loyer is back from the 2023 squad. Edey should be an early Big Ten Player of the Year candidate. At the same time, the addition of Lance Jones (Southern Illinois) should make this Purdue squad even more lethal and deeper heading into a new College basketball betting season.
2023-24 Purdue Boilermakers Basketball Preview
| National Championship Odds: | +1400 |
|---|---|
| Betting Online Odds at SBG: | Click Here |
2023-24 Purdue Boilermakers Basketball Outlook
Last year, the Boilermakers finished the 2022-23 season as Big Ten regular season and Big Ten tournament champions. Purdue went 15-5 in conference action. Still, they were knocked out of the NCAA Tournament by 16-seeded Farleigh Dickinson as a No. 1 seed in the opening round. After finishing 29-6 and underachieving in March, look for this group to play with a chip on their shoulder all season long. Prude has one offshore betting goal: An NCAA Tournament championship.
Certainly, head coach Matt Painter felt the brunt of NCAABB betting criticism all offseason. Expectations for this group should run high once again. Especially when they’ll return all five starters from a season ago. Additionally, another veteran guard presence arrives in the backcourt with the addition of Lance Jones.
Depth shouldn’t be an issue for this squad. But one thing they’ll need to improve upon is their shooting on the perimeter. As a team, the Boilermakers shot 32.2 percent from 3-point land, ranking 291st across all of college basketball last season. Consider in their upset loss to Fairleigh Dickinson, they shot 19.2 percent (5-of-26) from behind the arc as a team.
Things will need to improve mightily on the perimeter shooting front as this Purdue squad looks to get over the hump. Correlate that Painter must make a run in this year’s NCAA Tournament.
Given the roster doesn’t have much turnover and is heavy on the forward position, expectations should be high for this squad to be very good in 2023-24. In turn, look for this team to compete once again for a Big Ten title. And potentially earn a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament once again with a new season on the horizon.
There is a myth regarding the Purdue Boilermakers college basketball program. Although a consistent Big Ten Conference title contender and a regular participant in the NCAA Tournament, the Boilers aren’t a true-blue blood. Purdue has never won a national championship and has just two Final Fours in its history. Further, the last time the Boilermakers made a Final Four was in 1980. Also, they have had just two Elite Eights since 1994. Purdue is more of a Sweet Sixteen type of program, with three consecutive runs at that benchmark in 2017, 2018, and 2019. But under the leadership of head coach Matt Painter, the Boilermakers may make another Final Four bid.
Under Matt Painter, the Boilermakers have six Sweet Sixteen appearances with one Elite Eight. Painter has won four Big Ten regular season titles with two Big Ten Tournament championships. Consider that Painter was named National Coach of the Year in 2019 and is a 4-time Big Ten Coach of the Year.
Painter is a perfect fit at this highly regarded engineering school. He was a guard for the Boilermakers from 1989 through 1993. Thus, Painter has an acute understanding of his institution that an outsider couldn’t grasp.