Purdue Basketball: Why Boilermakers will be Final Four threat in 2021-22

With the 2020-21 season officially in the books, it’s time to look ahead to the 2021-22 college basketball campaign. Many of the same teams like Gonzaga and Baylor should be threats again, but Purdue Basketball should make the leap into becoming a Final Four threat.

Purdue was quietly a very strong team last season, making it to the NCAA Tournament as a No. 4 seed. From there, however, the wheels fell off, as the team was upset by North Texas in the First Round, ending the Boilermakers‘ season.

That kind of early defeat is destined to leave players and staff alike smarting throughout the summer. It could form a chip on the shoulder of a veteran team that is expected to return most of its core.

The biggest expected returnee is Trevion Williams, who averaged 15.5 points and 9.1 rebounds per game last season. He could very well find himself on the Preseason All-American roster. There’s also a decent chance the forward takes a step towards Big Ten Player of the Year status. The Boilermakers will run through him again.

But Williams shouldn’t have to carry the offensive burden alone. Big things will be expected of Jaden Ivey, who averaged 11.1 points per game as a freshman. He seemingly got better as the year went on, scoring 26 in the NCAA Tournament loss. Ivey will likely work on his shooting this summer, as he hit just 25.8 percent of his three-point attempts.

Sasha Stefanovic won’t have a similar problem. The guard hit 40 percent of his threes last season, the second time he’s hit that mark in three years. Consistency is more of an issue for Stefanovic to focus in on. He’s prone to disappear at times, such as the Big Ten Tournament quarterfinals, when he played 33 minutes without scoring a point in a loss to Ohio State.

Three more players who averaged at least 8.0 points per game are also set to return. Eric Hunter Jr. saw a slight drop from his sophomore to junior season, but still averaged 8.5 points and 1.1 steals per game. Brandon Newman averaged 8.0 points and showed promise as a shooter as a freshman, hitting 37.9 percent of his threes and 93.8 percent of his free throws. And 7-4 freshman Zach Edey averaged 8.7 points. 4.4 rebounds, and 1.1 blocks per game despite averaging less than 15 minutes a contest.

Purdue is losing Aaron Wheeler in the transfer portal, but his contributions were limited last season. Meanwhile, the team currently as the No. 36 class in the nation according to 247 Sports, which is shallow, but has two of the best recruits in recent school history: Four-star power forwards Trey Kaufman and Caleb Furst.

There was a veteran team this season that returned most of its core from the 2019-20 season and entered the season with the appropriate hype. That team, of course, was the now-reigning national champion Baylor Bears.

That’s not a perfect comparison. Purdue was a 4-seed in the NCAA Tournament, while Baylor probably would’ve been a 1- or 2-seed in the 2020 NCAA Tournament, had it been played. The ceilings of the teams and the caliber of the returnees are different.

But the pieces are in place for Purdue to be dangerous next year, barring no unexpected developments in the transfer portal, hardly a given this year. Matt Painter has never led his squad to the Final Four since taking over in 2005, but 2022 could finally be the year.