Purdue Boilermakers

The Purdue Boilermakers play in Mackey Arena, a black-and-gold pressure cooker in West Lafayette regarded as one of the toughest road environments in college basketball. Purdue holds more Big Ten regular-season titles than any other program in the conference, a testament to its sustained excellence under coaches from Gene Keady to Matt Painter. Behind stars like Rick Mount, Glenn Robinson, and Zach Edey, the Boilermakers have built a reputation as perennial national contenders.

Purdue reached the national championship game in 1969 under coach George King, led by All-American Rick Mount, losing to John Wooden's UCLA Bruins. The Boilermakers returned to the Final Four in 1980 and again in 2024, when Zach Edey's dominant senior season carried Purdue back to the title game, where it fell to UConn. Despite a record 26 Big Ten regular-season championships, Purdue has never won the NCAA title.