Is Purdue Basketball good enough to win it all in 2021-22 season?

Purdue Basketball looks to be deep enough and talented enough to put themselves in a position to finally break through and do it–to make it to the Final Four and to win the thing. This could be the year. Sure, they were good enough last year and they should have performed much better than they did in the NCAA Tournament. But that is all spilled milk now. It’s time to move on.

So that is exactly what we will do. Instead of talking about last season’s disappointing ending, let focus our attention on what lies ahead for the Boilermakers.

Matt Painter was able to do something that few coaches in the country were able to do, he managed to keep his roster intact. This means, as good as Purdue was last season, they not only returned everyone, they added a couple of really special freshmen in Caleb Furst and Trey Kaufman-Renn.

Furst was chosen Indiana’s 2021 Mr. Basketball, with Kaufman-Renn coming in second in voting for the award. That is pretty impressive. They also added what I believe is a very under-rated recruit in Brian Waddell. Brian is the son of former Boiler great Matt Waddell who played for Coach Keady from 1991-95.

You add that influx of talent onto a team that was already a top-tier team in the Big Ten last year, and what you have is something special.

Trevion Williams’s decision to stay at Purdue was huge for the Boilers. Williams in combination with Jaden Ivey is lethal. That is especially true when you start adding the other pieces Matt Painter has at his disposal around them.

Pieces like 7-4 Zach Edey who was a pleasant surprise last season, and sharpshooting, Sasha Stefanovic, who averaged just under double figures last season at 9.3 points per game, while shooting 40% from behind the arc.

And then there is Bradon Newman, who had a very good freshman campaign, and Eric Hunter Jr. who adds experience in the backcourt. Mason Gillis also showed some flashed last year, reaching double figures in scoring four times.

If each of these pieces come into the season improved, as you would hope they would, the Boilers are going to be hard to handle this season.

The player I am most excited to see is not a surprise, it is Caleb Furst. I can’t wait to see Furst in action. The 6-10 freshman was chosen Indiana’s Mr. Basketball in 2021, and he brings a ton of talent to the floor for the Boilermakers. As does the runner-up in the Mr. Basketball voting, Trey Kaufman-Renn. Both of these young men add tremendous size and skill to the Purdue frontcourt.

It’s easy to see that Coach Painter has one of his most talented teams in West Lafayette in a long time, and the Boilers seemed poised to be even better than last year’s 13-6 record in the Big Ten (18-10 overall). If the Boilers can improve on that record by even a couple of games, which they certainly seem capable of, they should find themselves right in the mix for their league-leading 25th Big Ten Championship.

That should be their focus, winning the Big Ten regular season. If they do that, in what appears to be another strong Big Ten in 2021-22, they will go into the NCAA Tournament good enough to compete with anyone. And with the experience they gained from last season’s disappointing tournament finish, combined with the uber-talented players they have added, there is no reason to think that Purdue can not make a deep run in the NCAA Tournament. I am not alone in this thought.

This could be Matt Painter and Purdue’s year to make it back to the Final Four for the first time since 1980. There is no doubt that all the right pieces are in place. The task before the Boilers right now is simply to put it all together. If they do, they are certainly capable of beating anyone.

Is Purdue good enough to make it to the Final Four? Are they capable of getting hot at the right time and winning it all?

My answer is yes.

(And for what it’s worth, this is not the opinion of a Purdue homer. In fact, quite the opposite is true. I am an Indiana guy though and through, but even I can recognize a special team when I see one.)