NCAA Tournament 2019: 5 top seeds that won’t win the national championship

Purdue Boilermakers

Another team that lost in their first conference tournament game, the Boilermakers not only belong on this list but I think are also likely to fall victim to an upset during the NCAA Tournament’s opening round.

Before I go any further, I want to make sure to mention that these new heightened expectations for Purdue are due to how much they overachieved this year. They finished at the top of the Big Ten standings despite losing four starters from a year ago and that needs to be celebrated.

But, now, Purdue’s relative lack of talent is showing itself when they’re away from West Lafayette. Ryan Cline is the only player other than Carsen Edwards who is averaging at least nine points per game, showing the lack of overall explosiveness they have.

Edwards is also playing nothing like the star the Boilermakers need him to be. He has shot below 25 percent from the field in four of Purdue’s last seven games and has a tendency to make bad decisions on a somewhat consistent basis, whether it be a turnover or poor shot selection.

There’s also the fact that Purdue has not been successful against NCAA Tournament-level teams. They are 2-4 on the season against teams who are currently ranked and haven’t played a game against a team in that tier since January 27th. Their record is somewhat inflated due to their schedule and I think we’ll see them come back to earth real fast.

Every top seed enters March Madness with national championship goals, but it’s not a realistic destination for all of them. The five teams on this list had excellent seasons, yet all are missing something that will keep them from winning it all.