NCAA Basketball: Ranking all 24 teams in 2020 “The Basketball Tournament”
By Max Marmitt
24. The Basketball Tournament power rankings – Men of Mackey
Actual Ranking: #19 – Round of 24 Matchup: #14 HEARTFIRE on July 5th
If fans were allowed to attend the TBT this year, Purdue would gain a huge advantage in their first-round matchup, just ask anybody who’s played in Mackey Arena, one of the best home-court advantages in all of college basketball. 7’2″ giant Isaac Haas has a year of TBT experience with Armored Athlete and is a force to be reckoned with in the post. In addition to 643 career rebounds, he is Purdue’s 21st all-time leading scorer (and was signed briefly by the Utah Jazz before this NBA season) with 1,555 career points.
PJ Thompson is a true point guard that can create for others without turning over the ball but also is a reliable 3 point shooter as he shot above 40 percent from three from his sophomore to senior year. Ryan Cline is another reliable three-point shooter who really broke out for Purdue his senior year in 2019, averaging double figures in points and had a very rememberable NCAA Sweet 16 performance when he drained seven three-pointers, dropping 27 points to significantly help the Boilermakers advance past Tennessee to the Elite 8.
However, this is a team that would be much stronger in the earliest years of TBT, as it’s not built to make a deep run in the tournament in 2020. As Seth Greenberg said during the TBT selection show, this team does not enough matchup nightmares and could struggle on both ends of the floor. There are not enough playmakers on this roster with a very limited amount of versatility, depth, and star power. Even if no additions are added to the current roster this year, Purdue certainly has the alumni to build a solid team in the future, even more so if they recruit in-state talent, considering Indiana is one of the premier basketball states in the nation.