Purdue report: WBB portal opens, how men's basketball advanced to Sweet 16 and more
Will the Boilermakers see more players jump into the portal? Matt Painter has his program back in the second weekend. Did we see the future of the NCAA men's basketball tournament?
Items of interest on this Monday:
• The portal for women’s basketball players opens Tuesday. The portal opened on Monday for men’s basketball players. Let the fun begin.
As a refresher, Mila and Amiyah Reynolds will submit their names. They have already announced their intentions to leave the program. The same is true for Kira Reynolds, who opted out of joining the program after her sisters decided to depart.
Could more current players make the move? Sure. Don’t be surprised. It’s a fluid situation. Just because it doesn’t happen when the portal opens doesn’t mean it won’t. The program has eight players, including the two incoming freshmen. The portal window is open for 30 days. Stay tuned.
• As we reported last week, Katie Gearlds is looking to complete her staff since assistant Alex Guyton is no longer part of the program. With the portal opening, transfers will be taking campus visits, and Gearlds would like to have everyone in place. Purdue could be shifting duties and adding personnel to stay up-to-date with the changing landscape of college athletics. Most football/men’s basketball programs have general managers who oversee NIL, revenue-sharing, and fundraising components. Women’s basketball is likely headed in that direction.
• Northwestern coach Joe McKeown announced Monday that he’ll retire after the 2025-26 season. It will be McKeown’s 40th season as a head coach. McKeown's overall record is 779–438 (.640), guiding teams to 17 NCAA tournament appearances.
• How did Matt Painter’s men’s basketball team advance to the Sweet 16? The Boilermakers were better than High Point and McNeese State. Purdue was more physical than both teams. The Boilermakers are starting to play better on the defensive end now that they’re out of the Big Ten. It doesn’t hurt to have Trey Kaufman-Renn, who totaled 43 points and 23 rebounds in the last two games, and the bench produced a combined 38 points and 35 rebounds.
It added up to a pair of solid wins after losing six of nine, but the competition ramps up in the Sweet 16 against top-seed Houston, which has won 28 of its last 29 and lost once since November. Turnovers weren’t a big issue last weekend until the second half against McNeese when Purdue had 13. That won’t work against the Cougars.
Purdue outrebounded opponents 86-48 and made 21 more free throws. Teams shredded the Boilermakers from inside the 3-point line before the NCAA tournament. Even though High Point and McNeese shot over 50% from 2-point range, they kept it under control. Purdue has allowed 17 straight opponents to shoot at least 50% from 2-point range. The Boilermakers are 10-7 in those games. Opponents are shooting 56.2% from inside the arc this season, ranking near the bottom of Division I.
• Interesting scheduling dynamics. The Boilermakers kicked off the Round of 32 on Saturday against McNeese at 12:10 p.m. (ET). They’ll finish the Sweet 16 matchups on Friday night against Houston at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis at 10:09 p.m., assuming the regional semifinal starts on time, but the NCAA tournament is far from punctual.
If coach Matt Painter’s team wanted extra rest, they’re in luck. They’ll have about 153 hours from the end of the second-round game in Providence until tipoff against the Cougars and won’t have to take a plane to the next location. Indianapolis is about an hour away from campus.
• Did we see the future of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament on display? Of the 16 remaining teams, 11 are from two conferences. No mid-majors in the regional semifinals. Only one double-digit seed. No. 12 seed Colorado State was close but was beaten at the buzzer.
Is Arkansas considered Cinderella as a No. 10 seed?
The Big Ten. The SEC. The Big 12. One ACC school, Duke, which is the favorite to win it all.
Conference realignment and the power leagues using their NIL muscle to secure the best players from mid-major programs could drain the tournament of what’s made it great. Or maybe the selection committee is better at seeding teams. Or, perhaps this is a one-year outlier, and we’ll return to normal in 2026.
It doesn’t mean there can’t be drama. And there was on Sunday.
Derick Queen gave us the first buzzer-beater - in the 49th game of the tournament - and advanced Maryland past Colorado State to a matchup against No. 1 seed Florida in San Francisco. Why doesn’t the freshman and soon-to-be NBA lottery pick have an NIL deal with Dairy Queen? How about the buzzer-beater blizzard?
The guess here is the Terrapins stayed on the West Coast after playing in Seattle before heading south. They’ll treat it like a Big Ten regular-season trip.
The Gators were the ones who drove a stake through UConn’s heart, thwarting its bid for a third-straight national title and ending its NCAA tournament winning streak at 13. But UConn and coach Dan Hurley made Florida earn it. Walter Clayton Jr., led the way by scoring 13 of his 23 points in the final eight minutes, including a pair of dagger 3-pointers that will keep Hurley stewing through the offseason.
Sunday’s last game, a rekindling of old Pac-12 rivals Arizona and Oregon, provided enough excitement to compensate for the double-digit margins and lack of late-game overall drama. The Wildcats trailed by 15 points five minutes into the game, and the Ducks’ win probability was 76.6%. The probability finally shifted to Arizona, which outscored Oregon en route to the Sweet 16, and a trip to Newark, N.J. The Wildcats will have enough miles to apply for platinum membership in the Big Ten.
The lack of mid-majors does lead to brand-name matchups through the Final Four.
Three Big Ten-SEC battles that are typically reserved for bowl season. Arizona-Duke rekindle their 2001 national championship game. An All-SEC encounter between Kentucky and Tennessee and both schools are within driving distance. BYU and Alabama: Who reaches 100 points first? Matt Painter and Kelvin Sampson square off in the state of Indiana. Where have we seen that before? Try 2008 in Assembly Hall, Sampson’s last game with the Hoosiers.
The prospect of an All-SEC Final Four remains alive, but the most the Big Ten can send is three.
• Why are the Midwest Regional semifinals and finals at Lucas Oil instead of the more intimate setting at Gainbridge Fieldhouse? The IHSAA boys basketball state finals take place Saturday at the home of the Indiana Pacers/Fever, which are corporate sponsors of the event. Add the Los Angeles Lakers at the Pacers on Wednesday night, and you have eight games in five days inside a state passionate about hoops. It can only happen in Indiana.