Head coach Matt Painter knows better than anybody that March Madness is full of surprising upsets. His Boilermakers have fallen victim to this phenomenon twice in the last few years, including an embarrassing loss to No. 16 seed Farleigh Dickison in 2023.
Purdue responded to this historic upset by making a run all the way to the national championship game last season, but the team fell short to the ultra-talented UConn Huskies in the final.
For the first time since 2022, the Boilermakers are not a No. 1 seed, which means they will have a less favorable matchup in the first round. While Seth Davis already put the team on upset watch in the first round for their matchup against No. 13 seed High Point University, the Midwest Region is filled with teams that could make life difficult for coach Painter and his team.
3 scary teams that could cause chaos in Purdue's March Madness region
Head coach Brad Brownell has Clemson playing their best basketball at the right time of year. After a surprising win against the Duke Blue Devils on February 8, the team rattled off nine straight victories before falling short against the Louisville Cardinals in the semifinals of the ACC Tournament.
The Tigers have won 15 of their last 17 games and are ranked 22nd in the NET Rankings. There might not be a hotter team in the country right now, the only problem is that they have a tough matchup in the first round against McNeese State. Still, Clemson should pull out a victory and could very well be the team that knocks out Purdue in the second round.
This may not be the kind of Gonzaga team that we are used to seeing, but you should never count out the Bulldogs in March. Their coach is as battled-tested as they come and this is a veteran group spearheaded by one of the best bigs in the country, Graham Ike. Gonzaga has one of the best point guards in the country with Ryan Nembhard and this duo can lead the team past anyone in the country.
They'll have a hard time getting past Houston, the No. 1 seed in the Midwest Region, but the Cougars struggled to get past the University of Colorado in the Big 12 tournament, so anything is possible. If the Bulldogs can scrape past Georgia in the first round, don't count them out as a team that could cause chaos in a wide-open region.
Will Wade knows how to coach in March. McNeese State competed with Gonzaga in the second half of the first round last year and Wade's VCU and LSU teams were always tough to beat in the tournament. Now, the regular season and conference tournament champions from the Southland Conference have the chance to knock off Clemson, one of the hottest teams in the country.
McNeese State is more battle-tested than they were last year, as they actually dropped one conference game this season (they went undefeated in 2023-24) and they suffered a narrow loss to Alabama back in November. They also took Mississippi State down to the wire in December, so this team can compete with the best that college basketball has to offer. Clemson is a tough draw, but if they can take down the Tigers in the opening round, there may not be a team to slow them down for a few games.