I can't disagree. They really only have one March obstacle to overcome
Ouch!
Also, not exactly correct. While people like to lambast Painter for never getting past the Sweet 16, very few of his teams were truly expected to. Even the best team he's ever had prior to this year, the year when Hummel/Johnson/Moore were juniors and Kramer was a senior, the ACL tear Hummel had derailed the season.
Every year Purdue has made the sweet 16, they faced the 1 seed in that game. They never were the ones to get lucky enough to have the 8/9 winner knock off the 1. Up until last year, the other 1 seeds they faced were UConn (made it to the Final Four) and Duke (won the whole damn thing).
Last year, Purdue had a good team, but was still only a 4 seed. They faced Kansas in the Sweet 16, held the lead for much of the first half, and the game was within 2 points about 5 minutes into the 2nd half. And then Kansas just went crazy and couldn't miss.
And that team last year had a problem. They just weren't athletic enough. Swanigan was a beast, but he can't guard an athletic 4. Haas is a human mountain, but can't guard away from the basket. Carsen Edwards was athletic, but he was still a freshman playing too fast for himself.
This year's different. Carsen is letting the game flow to him but still can turn up the pace on command. Haarms is the athletic, tall stretch big that can help against more athletic 4's or 5's that give Haas trouble. Eastern is a frosh point guard who can play enough minutes and is a big, 6'6" guy who is athletic enough to give opponents fits when he defends. And that's who you have supporting the cast of 4 seniors who have all basically started together since their freshman years and know the game inside and out.
I'm not sure how Purdue is going to finish the season. But I honestly believe that this is Matt Painter's best team -- even better than the Hummel/Johnson/Moore/Kramer year before Hummel's injury. This team lost the Big Ten Player of the Year... And got better.
