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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowPurdue University landed the No. 1 seed in Midwestern Region of the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament and will play at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in downtown Indianapolis on Friday night.
The Boilermakers (29-4) will play a 7:25 p.m. contest against either Grambling State or Montana State, who will face each other Wednesday in the First Four play-in round in Dayton, Ohio.
Meanwhile, Indiana State University did not get a bid to the tournament despite a 28-6 record after losing to Drake 84-80 in the Missouri Valley Conference tournament title game.
Other games scheduled for Indianapolis in the Midwest Region will be No. 8 seed Utah State vs. No. 9 Texas Christian. In South Region games being played in Indianapolis, 7th seed Florida plays the winner of the Boise State-Colorado play-in game and No. 2 Marquette faces No. 15 Western Kentucky.
NCAA tournament bracket here and below.
Purdue is eager for a fresh postseason start after a painful loss in the first round of the NCAA tournament last year to No. 16 seed Farleigh Dickinson. The Boilermakers repeated as Big Ten Conference regular season champions after becoming just the second No. 1 seed to lose in the opening round of the NCAAs.
In the Big Ten Conference Tournament, Purdue advanced to the semifinal round before losing to Wisconsin 76-75 in overtime Saturday.
The inclusion of the Boilermakers in Indianapolis means there will be major demand for tickets. Purdue has been a hot draw this season, with tickets grabbing huge prices on the secondary market.
Grambling State (20-14) qualified for its first NCAA tournament by beating Texas Southern in the Southwest Athletic Conference tournament final. Montana State went 17-17 overall and made the tournament by upsetting Weber State in the Big Sky Conference title game.
Unexpected titles placed teams like Oregon, North Carolina State and even Duquense, none of whom were projected to make the field, into the field of 68 via the automatic bid that goes to conference champions. The teams they beat gobbled up a handful of the 34 at-large bids, thus shrinking the number of spots available to teams on the so-called bubble.
“It was one of the most difficult that I’ve been involved in,” said Charles McClelland, the chairman of the selection committee. “And I talked to some of the staff that’s been in that room for the last 20 years, and they said this is probably the most difficult selection process that they’ve been a part of.”
The last teams in included Colorado, Virginia and, surprisingly, Boise State, which wasn’t widely considered a bubble team. Those missing out included Oklahoma, St. John’s, Pittsburgh and Indiana State, all of whom were projected by many to make it as recently as Friday.
“Under normal circumstances, with those additional bids, they would’ve been in,” McClelland said of Indiana State.
Every game of the men’s tournament will be aired either on CBS, TBS, TNT or TruTV and their digital platforms, including Paramount+. TBS will handle the Final Four and national title game this year.
The NCAA is streaming games via its March Madness Live option.
The top three betting favorites heading into the final days of the regular season (in order) are UConn, Houston and Purdue, according to FanDuel Sportsbook.
The First Four is in Dayton, Ohio, and first- and second-round games March 21-24 stretch from New York City to Spokane, Washington.
Sweet 16 weekend will see games March 28-31 in Boston (East Regional), Dallas (South), Detroit (Midwest) and Los Angeles (West).
The Final Four is in Glendale, Arizona, on Saturday, April 6, with the championship game the night of Monday, April 8.
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