The Sweet Sixteen kicks off today following an opening weekend light on upsets and heavy on top seeds. Three of my Final Four picks are still intact, which is better than usual.
Things look good here in the South region, as I have a clean bracket heading into this weekend.
A few picked upsets that didn’t happen mar the bottom half of this region, but the top half, including my reginal champion, is clean.
The nation’s attention turns to the college hoops scene for the next few weeks as the NCAA tournament kicks off later today. I found myself joining a free pool at work this year, so while most of these selections have no ultimate bearing on my life, there is some personal pride on the line. Things are not looking good for me to attend any game should a certain school from West Lafayette manage to make another run this year. So, without further ado, let’s take a look at this year’s selections.
My selections here are mostly chalk, with a couple early upsets but with the top two seeds heading to the Sweet Sixteen. Michigan State is my pick to advance to the Final Four, though that may be some inherent bias towards the Big Ten.
Old friend Mason Gillis shows up with top seed Duke, who I have heading to San Antonio for the Final Four.
Fresh off of an appearance in the championship game of last year’s NCAA tournament, the Purdue men’s basketball team kicks off the 2024-2025 regular season tomorrow night. With Danny out of school and an expanded Big Ten limiting how often each team visits the other schools in the conference, it may be a while before I attend another regular season game. So, with the 128th season in school history about to get underway, let’s take a look at the results of the now 24 men’s college basketball games I have attended in my lifetime. You’d think it would be more, since I was a big fan and we had a great team while I was in school, but for some reason I only made it to two games while enrolled in college. The other 22 have been post-graduation, having added four games last year, two at Mackey and two in Detroit for the NCAA tournament. Anyway, without further ado, here are the standings for those 24 games.
All-Time Team Records – Men
| Team | Won | Loss | Winning Pctg |
|---|---|---|---|
| North Texas Mean Green | 1 | 0 | 1.000 |
| Indiana Hoosiers | 1 | 0 | 1.000 |
| Virginia Commonwealth Rams | 1 | 0 | 1.000 |
| Butler Bulldogs | 1 | 0 | 1.000 |
| Purdue Boilermakers | 16 | 7 | 0.696 |
| Northwestern Wildcats | 2 | 3 | 0.400 |
| Illinois Fighting Illini | 2 | 4 | 0.333 |
| Gonzaga Bulldogs | 0 | 1 | 0.000 |
| Houston Cougars | 0 | 1 | 0.000 |
| Iowa State Cyclones | 0 | 1 | 0.000 |
| Jacksonville Dolphins | 0 | 1 | 0.000 |
| Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders | 0 | 1 | 0.000 |
| Ohio State Buckeyes | 0 | 1 | 0.000 |
| Penn State Nittany Lions | 0 | 1 | 0.000 |
| Tennessee Volunteers | 0 | 1 | 0.000 |
| Vermont Catamounts | 0 | 1 | 0.000 |
| Long Beach State 49ers | 0 | 1 | 0.000 |
Purdue’s season of redemption came one win short, falling to UCONN last night in the national championship game. It was the best tournament showing by a Purdue team since 1969, their last appearance in the championship game. Thanks to my donations to the John Purdue Club, I was able to score tickets to two home games, my first visits to Mackey for men’s basketball since 2015. I then was able to attend the Sweet Sixteen and Elite Eight games in Detroit, adding Little Caesars Arena to my stadium collection.
2023-2024 Team Records – Men
| Team Name | Won | Loss | Winning Pctg |
|---|---|---|---|
| Purdue Boilermakers | 4 | 0 | 1.000 |
| Tennessee Volunteers | 0 | 1 | 0.000 |
| Jacksonville Dolphins | 0 | 1 | 0.000 |
| Illinois Fighting Illini | 0 | 1 | 0.000 |
| Gonzaga Bulldogs | 0 | 1 | 0.000 |
On the women’s side, I made it to two Big Ten battles, seeing Caitlin Clark in person for the first time while enjoying Danny’s performances with the band.
2023-2024 Team Records – Women
| Team Name | Won | Loss | Winning Pctg |
|---|---|---|---|
| Iowa Hawkeyes | 1 | 0 | 1.000 |
| Indiana Hoosiers | 1 | 0 | 1.000 |
| Purdue Boilermakers | 0 | 2 | 0.000 |
For the first time since 1980, the Purdue Boilermakers are headed to the Final Four. This afternoon’s victory over Tennessee in the Elite Eight showdown at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit gives Purdue its first regional championship in the men’s NCAA tournament in 44 years. The team will battle NC State Saturday in Phoenix for their shot to advance to the championship game.
What a weekend in Detroit! Seeing a Sweet Sixteen victory against Gonzaga on Friday followed by today’s win against Tennessee, both teams that we had already defeated this year during non-conference play, was exhilarating and. to be honest, a little nerve racking. Here’s looking forward to an exciting weekend as the school looks for its first basketball championship since the women’s team won it all in 1999.
The Sweet Sixteen kicks off today following an opening weekend with upsets galore that played havoc with my bracket, although my entire Final Four is still intact, which is better than some.
Things look pretty decent here. Auburn’s loss to Yale knocked me for a bit of a loop, but, aside from that, things are fairly clean, with three of the four teams heading into this weekend still alive.
Things are slightly worse on this side of the bracket, with just two of the four teams I picked playing this weekend. While Nebraska did me dirty, I correctly picked that Wisconsin had peaked after beating Purdue in the Big Ten Tournament two weeks ago.
The nation’s attention turns to the college hoops scene for the next few weeks as the NCAA tournament kicks off later today. I’m not in any pools this year, so most of these selections have no ultimate bearing on my life, aside from personal pride. I do have the potential to purchase tickets for future rounds should a certain school from West Lafayette manage to get out of their own way and not embarrass themselves this weekend. So, without further ado, let’s take a look at this year’s selections.
My selections here are mostly chalk, with a couple early upsets but with the top four seeds heading to the Sweet Sixteen. Iowa State is my pick to advance to the Final Four.
Fun fact: the first men’s college basketball game I ever attended was Purdue versus Houston at Market Square Arena back in 1993. Both teams are once again top seeds in this tournament. I’m hoping Nebraska continues to pull off upsets against teams they have no business beating. In the end, though, I have Marquette going on to Phoenix.
For the third season in a row, and the third season in program history, Purdue is the #1 ranked men’s college basketball team in the country. Following their victories over #11 Gonzaga, # 7 Tennessee, and #4 Marquette while winning the Maui Invitational last week, the team moved up from #2 to take the top spot, becoming the first Big Ten program to do so in three consecutive seasons.
Their next big test will come in three weeks, when they battle Arizona, the current #2 ranked team, on a neutral court in the Indy Classic. Hopefully they will retain their #1 ranking when I head to Mackey on December 21st to see them battle Jacksonville.
The Sweet Sixteen kicks off today following an opening weekend with upsets galore, completely wrecking my bracket. Half of my Final Four was wiped out, including my champion. Ugh.
This region is a wreck, with only one team remaining in the Sweet Sixteen, and that team I had losing in this round, so this one was a dud.
Things look much better on this side of the bracket, as the only Sweet Sixteen team I had that didn’t make it is IU and, honestly, I’m ok with that.
The nation’s attention turns to the college hoops scene for the next few weeks as the NCAA tournament kicks off later today. I’m not in any pools this year, so most of these selections have no ultimate bearing on my life, aside from personal pride. I do happen to have a hotel room booked for Houston for Final Four weekend just in case, so fingers crossed. So, without further ado, let’s take a look at this year’s selections.
Alabama enters the tournament under a cloud of scandal, as their star player was recently involved in the murder of a young woman. Because of that, I have second seed Arizona going to the Final Four.
Fun fact: the first college basketball game I ever attended was Purdue versus Houston at Market Square Arena back in 1993. Both teams are top seeds in this tournament. It pains me to have Indiana going as far as I do, but they were a formidable opponent this year, so I see them giving the field a run for their money. In the end, though, I have Xavier going on to Houston.