Latest ESPN Bracketology Places Purdue in Regional With Familiar Foes
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After a pair of wins over Washington and Penn State last week, Purdue is holding firm as a No. 2 seed in Joe Lunardi's latest Bracketology from ESPN. The Boilermakers, though, find themselves in a region that features multiple familiar foes.
With the wins over the Huskies and Nittany Lions last week, Purdue improved to 15-1 and 5-0 in Big Ten play. The lone loss for Matt Painter's team came on Dec. 6, an 81-58 defeat at the hands of Iowa State, currently a No. 1 seed in Lunardi's Bracketology.
As it turns out, Lunardi actually has Iowa State as the No. 1 seed in the South Region, the same region where Purdue is the No. 2 seed. That would set up a potential rematch in the Elite Eight, with a trip to the Final Four hanging in the balance.
But that's not the only familiar foe for Purdue in that bracket. Alabama is listed as the No. 4 seed, Iowa was the No. 8 seed, Kentucky is at the No. 10 spot, and Ohio State is included as a play-in team with the No. 11 seed. The Boilermakers will have played all of those teams by season's end, although the contest against Kentucky was an exhibition.
Lunardi has Purdue playing its first two games in St. Louis, a short trip for the Boilermakers. The South Region will be played in Houston. Here's the complete look at Lunardi's South Region bracket for the 2026 NCAA Tournament, with Purdue's "familiar foes" highlighted in bold.
South Region (Houston)
St. Louis
- #1 Iowa State vs. #16 Prairie View/Maryland-Eastern Shore
- #8 Iowa vs. #9 North Carolina State
Tampa
- #5 Virginia vs. #12 Murray State
- #4 Alabama vs. #13 East Tennessee State
Portland
- #6 Villanova vs. #11 Texas A&M/Ohio State
- #3 BYU vs. #14 North Dakota State
St. Louis
- #7 SMU vs. #10 Kentucky
- #2 Purdue vs. #15 Portland State
Is a No. 2 seed too high? Too low?
Yes, I understand it's only January, and it's still a little early to be talking about seed lines for the NCAA Tournament, but is Purdue's spot as a No. 2 seed a fair placement right now?
The Boilermakers are 15-1 with wins over two teams currently ranked in the top 25: No. 15 Texas Tech and No. 18 Alabama. Their lone loss came to No. 2 Iowa State.
Purdue is currently ranked No. 5 in the Associated Press poll, despite Michigan suffering a home loss to Wisconsin over the weekend. Despite that loss, the Wolverines are at No. 4 in the AP poll and still have a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament, per Lunardi's latest Bracketology. The other top seeds are Arizona and UConn.
Should the Boilermakers pass Michigan for that fourth No. 1 seed in March Madness? Or is the No. 2 seed fair, given a 23-point home loss to the Cyclones in early December?
Purdue will have a chance to prove it deserves a No. 1 seed throughout the Big Ten season, especially with games against No. 8 Nebraska, No. 4 Michigan, No. 12 Michigan State, and No. 13 Illinois still ahead.
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Dustin Schutte is the publisher of Purdue Boilermakers on SI and has spent more than a decade working in sports journalism. His career began in 2013, when he covered Big Ten football. He remained in that role for eight years before working at On SI to cover the Boilermakers. Dustin graduated from Manchester University in Indiana in 2010, where he played for the men's tennis team.
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