NCAA Basketball: 12 teams with most pressure to win in 2023-24 season

Mar 16, 2023; Columbus, Ohio, USA; Purdue Boilermakers head coach Matt Painter guides his teamâ€™s practice for the NCAA menâ€™s basketball tournament at Nationwide Arena. Mandatory Credit: Adam Cairns-The Columbus DispatchBasketball Ncaa Men S Basketball TournamentSyndication The Columbus Dispatch /

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Purdue Boilermakers center Zach Edey (15) and Purdue Boilermakers guard Ethan Morton Purdueiumbb022523 Am554 /

3. Purdue Boilermakers

Matt Painter may be one of the most debated head coaches in all of NCAA Basketball. He’s had some great Purdue teams, including being seconds away from making a Final Four in 2019. At the same time, he’s one loss as a 3 seed in the first round away from being the first-ever HC to lose to every single lower seed in the Big Dance.

Coming off losing to a 16-seed that was the shortest team in the entire field was an embarrassing moment for both Painter and Purdue. Especially when you remember that they had the National Player of the Year and 7’4 center, Zach Edey. The good news for the team is that he’s back for his senior season, along with just about the entire core as well from last season.

At bare minimum, the Boilermakers will be a preseason top-3 team to start out the 2023-24 campaign. And if sophomore guards Flecther Loyer and Braden Smith improve, they should be the team to beat in the 2024 NCAA Tournament. But with that comes a ton of pressure to at least make the Final Four when you have the best player in the country.

And unlike Duke, Kansas, and even Michigan State, Purdue can’t assume that they’ll get back to this kind of roster since they don’t land five-star talents. It might very well be the last true chance for Coach Painter to win it all and if he can’t, there will be questions as to whether he’s truly “elite” among the coaching ranks.

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