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Bracketology 2020: Buy or sell Big Ten Basketball bubble teams?

By Austin Walther

MADISON, WISCONSIN - FEBRUARY 23: Ron Harper Jr. #24 of the Rutgers Scarlet Knights dribbles the ball in the first half against the Wisconsin Badgers at the Kohl Center on February 23, 2020 in Madison, Wisconsin. (Photo by Dylan Buell/Getty Images)
MADISON, WISCONSIN - FEBRUARY 23: Ron Harper Jr. #24 of the Rutgers Scarlet Knights dribbles the ball in the first half against the Wisconsin Badgers at the Kohl Center on February 23, 2020 in Madison, Wisconsin. (Photo by Dylan Buell/Getty Images) /
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MADISON, WISCONSIN – FEBRUARY 18: Trevion Williams #50 of the Purdue Boilermakers (Photo by Dylan Buell/Getty Images)
MADISON, WISCONSIN – FEBRUARY 18: Trevion Williams #50 of the Purdue Boilermakers (Photo by Dylan Buell/Getty Images) /

Purdue Boilermakers – Sell

Has there ever been an at-large with 16 losses make the NCAA Tournament? Probably not. And Purdue certainly won’t be one of them. They have two very tough opponents left. There’s at Iowa and home against Rutgers. The Hawkeyes have one home loss all season and that was a fluke in November to DePaul. They haven’t lost in Carver-Hawkeye since. And then we just talked about how Rutgers needs a road win even just to stay in the bubble conversation. So they’ll be coming out full throttle.

Yet Purdue, unlike Minnesota and Indiana, hasn’t dipped passed 40 in the NET in quite some time. Their record is not good at all. They went ahead and took apart Wisconsin, Iowa and Michigan State at home, but then fail to crack 40 at Illinois. In fact, Purdue hasn’t cracked 60 five times on the road with four coming in Big Ten play. The Boilermakers do have three road wins. One came to rival Indiana on Bobby Knight Day, but the other two were at Northwestern and Ohio. The Bobcats. Not Buckeyes.

If they were to win out, Purdue would be looking at 14 losses going into the Big Ten Tournament. Assuming they don’t rattle off a ton in a row get the automatic bid, the Boilermakers will have 15 losses on Selection Sunday. The wins over Michigan State, Wisconsin, Iowa and Virginia, all at home, will not save them. Plus the loss to Nebraska sure doesn’t help matters.

I’m not going to put down anyone’s preseason rankings and projections because I know I’ve whiffed on quite a few this season, but I’m not sure what we all saw in Purdue this season. There’s only so much Matt Painter can do. The Boilermakers sure looks impressive at home. Shots fall like crazy at Mackey Arena. There were three winnable games against NCAA Tournament teams on the road. Wisconsin, Ohio State and Illinois. Not to mention just taking care of business at Nebraska. But the record is ugly and Purdue will not be dancing this season.

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