Purdue knows all about being on the wrong side of an upset. They’re one of the two teams to ever lose to a No. 16 seed in the NCAA Tournament. Well, they avoided one upset a lot of people anticipated in taking out No. 13 seed High Point.
But what’s destined for them in the second round? Well it’s looking like they could be staring at another potential upset if things uphold. McNeese is thumping Clemson 31-13 at halftime. As a No. 12 seed, the Cowboys could pull off the first 12-5 upset of the tournament.
If McNeese advances past the first round, they could be on the hunt for another upset against Purdue on Saturday. However, Clemson could go on a crazy run in the second half and avoid the upset.
Is Purdue still on upset alert after avoiding a first round exit to High Point?
If I’m Purdue, I’m not celebrating too much at all right now. They have a potential game against McNeese and if the Cowboys can run through Clemson, they are a dangerous team to face.
The good thing about Purdue is they didn’t look bad at all against High Point. They ended up with a double-digit win, but had to fight. And not because of their own mistakes, but because High Point was just that good.
The Boilermakers are still on upset alert. Whoever comes out of that game is going to be a tough battle and technically, Clemson as a No. 5 seed would be an upset over No. 4 seed Purdue.
That said, if Purdue can make it out of the first weekend of the NCAA Tournament, they might just go on a tournament run. Let’s not forget, before they went on a losing streak, the Boilermakers were a top 10 team in the country.
It was a loss to Michigan that started a four-game losing streak, that dropped them out of contention for the No. 1 seed in the Big Ten Tournament. They were bounced out of the tournament early to Michigan who ended up winning it all.
Despite that, the selection committee felt the Boilermakers were still one of the top 20 teams in the country. By that, they should have no problem getting out of the first weekend of the NCAA Tournament.
Purdue understands more than anybody else, though, what you do during the regular season means nothing when it comes game day. Right now, Purdue is playing like the better teams in their matchup.
The question becomes, can they truly keep it up to make it out of the first two games of the NCAA Tournament.