Busting Brackets
Fansided

Purdue Basketball: 2018-19 season preview for the Boilermakers

By Tristan Freeman

WEST LAFAYETTE, IN - JANUARY 09: A general view of the Iowa Hawkeyes playing offense in the second half against the Purdue Boilermakers at Mackey Arena on January 9, 2011 in West Lafayette, Indiana. (Photo by Chris Chambers/Getty Images)
WEST LAFAYETTE, IN - JANUARY 09: A general view of the Iowa Hawkeyes playing offense in the second half against the Purdue Boilermakers at Mackey Arena on January 9, 2011 in West Lafayette, Indiana. (Photo by Chris Chambers/Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
1 of 5
Next
BOSTON, MA – MARCH 23: Head coach Matt Painter of the Purdue Boilermakers looks on during the first half against the Texas Tech Red Raiders in the 2018 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament East Regional at TD Garden on March 23, 2018 in Boston, Massachusetts. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images)
BOSTON, MA – MARCH 23: Head coach Matt Painter of the Purdue Boilermakers looks on during the first half against the Texas Tech Red Raiders in the 2018 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament East Regional at TD Garden on March 23, 2018 in Boston, Massachusetts. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images) /

Purdue Basketball won a school-record 30 games last season. With four key players gone, what should the right expectations be for the Boilermakers in 2018-19?

Expectations were sky-high last season for Purdue Basketball due to the four quality starters they had leading the team. They were ranked in the preseason and were a Big Ten favorite right up there next to Michigan State. The Boilermakers proved it after a rough time in the Battle 4 Atlantis event, winning 19 straight games.

Purdue looked to make a Final Four run but things went horribly wrong after 7’2 center Isaac Haas went down with an arm injury in the first round. The Boilermakers ultimately fell to Texas Tech in the Sweet Sixteen. It was a bittersweet end for a program who won 30 games for the first time in school history and saw a sophomore become an All-American candidate right in front of their eyes.

That player was Carsen Edwards, the only returning starter of last year’s team. Vincent Edwards, Dakota Mathias, PJ Thompson, and the previously mentioned Haas have all graduated, meaning that a host of new players will have to step up to keep the team in contention for this upcoming campaign.

For the first time in a while, there will be plenty of questions for Purdue entering a season. The starting lineup isn’t a foregone conclusion and the overall rotation outside of Edwards leading the team is nowhere near set in stone.

So how will the Boilermakers look for the 2018-19 season? And who’ll they face in both the non-conference and the unbalanced Big Ten schedule? Find out now in this Purdue season preview.

Home/Purdue Boilermakers