The first NET rankings of the season are our and, as expected, Purdue is among the nation’s elite teams. The hot stretch for Michigan in Las Vegas has the Wolverines at No. 1, but Purdue is currently third with a chance to take over the top spot in the next few weeks. Saturday’s game alone looks big, as it is No. 2 vs. No. 4 according to KenPom and #3 vs. #7 according to NET. It is probably the biggest non-conference home game in terms of ranking since West Virginia and Purdue faced off in a top 10 matchup in 2010.
It is still early, but another No. 1 seed is Purdue’s to lose. The Warren Nolan profile has the Boilermakers as a favorite in every remaining game. It seems very unlikely that Purdue will steam into the Big Ten Tournament at 31-0, but given the overall strength of the non-conference schedule (and the advantage of getting Iowa State in Mackey) things are already off to a great start.
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Purdue Boilermakers Profile
Record: 7-0, 0-0 Big Ten
NET: 3
KenPom: 2
Bracket Matrix Consensus Seed: 1
Tier 1 Wins (KenPom) Home 1-30; Neutral 1-50; Away 1-75: 14 Alabama (Away), 28 Texas Tech (Neutral)
Tier 2 Wins (KenPom): Home 31-75 Neutral 51-100; Away 76-135: 56 Akron (Home), 70 Memphis (Neutral)
Tier 1 Wins (NET) Home 1-30; Neutral 1-50; Away 1-75: 12 Alabama (Away), 37 Texas Tech (Neutral)
Tier 2: Home 31-75 (NET) Neutral 51-100; Away 76-135: 40 Akron
Bad Losses (Sub-100 NET or KenPom): None
Evansville Purple Aces (3-5, 0-0 MVC) – NET 315, KenPom 302 – Evansville closed out the Paradise Jam with a 78-59 loss to Charleston in the third place game. They will host Ball State tomorrow night before going to Western Kentucky on the weekend.
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Oakland Golden Grizzlies (3-5, 0-0 Horizon) – NET 115, KenPom 144– Oakland survived the opening gauntlet of three teams (Michigan, Purdue, and Houston) that could all be playing in April. They bounced back by winning a four-team invitational at Montana over Lamar (83-68) and Montana (95-87). Tomorrow night htey begin conference play agaisnt Purdue-Fort Wayne.
Alabama Crimson Tide (5-2, 0-0 SEC) – NET 12, KenPom 14 – Alabama was one of several teams that took part in the nonsensical format that was the Playa’s Era Festival and they went 2-1 in Vegas. They dropped their opener to Gonzaga 95-85, but rebounded to beat UNLV 115-76 and Maryland 105-72. So far Purdue has held them to their season low in scoring of 80.
Akron Zips (6-2, 0-0 MAC – NET 40, KenPom 56) – The early computer numbers like Akron, and they would have liked them even more had they held on to win the Paradise Jam. They lost the chamnpionship to Yale 97-94 before beating Milwaukee 105-81. The climb uphill to at large consideration is steep for hte Zips, but htey could easily be hte MAC representative in the tournament.
Memphis Tigers (2-4, 0-0 American) – NET 156, KenPom 70 – Memphis broke a four-game losing streak with a 74-58 win over Southern Illinois last week and they should pick up an easy win tomorrow over New Orleans. Their next stretch of Baylor-at Louisville-Vanderbilt will likely decide their at large chances.
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Texas Tech Red Raiders (6-2, 0-0 Big 12) – NET 37, KenPom 28 – Texas Tech got an easy win over New Orleans (82-50) after getting blown out by Purdue, but were challenged by Wyoming before winning 76-72. They are now off until December 7th vs. LSU.
Eastern Illinois Panthers (2-5, 0-0 Ohio Valley) – NET 325, KenPom 331 – EIU lost both of its game in the past week, 81-60 at Central Arkansas and, of course, they were dismantled by Purdue on Friday afternoon. It is pretty telling that if Purdue had taken 46 points from its 47 point win across the street to Ross-Ade and given them to football it still would not have been enough.
Iowa State Cyclones (4-0, 0-0 Big 12) – Net 7, KenPom 4 – To give you an idea of how non-sensical the Playa’s Era thing in Vegas was, Iowa State went 3-0 with wins over St. John’s (83-82), Creighton (78-60), and Syracuse (95-64), but somehow didn’t “win” the event. They have a tune up tomorrow night agaisnt Alcorn State before coming to West Lafayette.
Marquette Golden Eagles (4-4, 0-0 Big East) – NET 168, KenPom 79 – Marquette is off to a slow start after being really good the last couple of seasons. They suffered a 75-74 loss in Chicago on November 28th and host Valparaiso tonight. So far they have lost to all four teams they have faced with a pulse.
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Auburn Tigers (6-2, 0-0 SEC) – NET 28, KenPom 22 – The Tigers are another team that played in the Playa’s Era thing in Vegas and they were 2-1 out there. They beat Oregon 84-73 and St. John’s 85-74, but lost by 30 to Michigan 102-72. They host a solid NC State team tomorrow night.
Kent State Golden Flashes (7-1, 0-0 MAC) – NET 165, KenPom 125 – The Golden Flashes are red hot with seven straight wins after their season opening loss to Troy. The latest was a non-DI win over something called Penn State-Shenango by a whopping 123-59 score. Given the overall weakness of their next few opponents they will likely be 10-1 when they come to Mackey.
Likely NCAA Teams: Alabama, Texas Tech, Iowa State, Auburn, Akron (Autobid)
Could play to the Bubble: Marquette, Memphis
