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Weekend Brunch: Trevion Williams’ return makes Purdue a trendy Final Four pick in 2022

A new offseason means a new weekly column!

Check out below for the first installment of “Weekend Brunch”, a new project that will be published each and every Friday on all the latest happenings in the world of college basketball.

Buon Appetit!

A La Carte

Could Purdue lose in the first round of the NCAA Tournament one year and reach the Final Four the next?

If you don’t think that massive turnarounds in college basketball are possible over a 12-month period then you must have been taking a nap a few years ago when Virginia went from purgatory to ecstasy.

Trevion Williams’ announcement on Thursday that he’s returning for his senior year at Purdue instantly means that Boilers will be a trendy pick next season to reach their first Final Four since 1980. He was previously an early entrant for the 2021 NBA Draft.

“The group we have this year is special,” the 6-10 Williams said in a statement. “Why wouldn’t I want to be a part of this? I can’t wait to get back on the court with my brothers and help take Purdue the next level.”

The next level for this program would be the Final Four, as the Boilers have been to the Elite Eight three times since their last Final Four appearance 31 years ago.

Gene Keady came close in 1994 when he ran into a Duke team led by Grant Hill and also came close in 2000 when Dick Bennett and Wisconsin narrowly beat Purdue in a classic Big Ten slugfest.

And Matt Painter?

He was inches away from college basketball’s most hallowed showcase in 2019, holding a three-point lead over Virginia with five seconds left in regulation before Ty Jerome made his first free throw, then missed his second which led to Kihei Clark tracking down an offensive rebound and finding Mamadi Diakite for a game-tying shot at the buzzer to send the game into overtime and ultimately propel the Cavaliers to the national title.

So why could next season be different for Purdue compared to those three seasons where it fell just short in a regional final?

Player retention.

In a day and age where rosters in college basketball are changing by the hour due to immediate eligibility, the Boilers are an outlier. Purdue is one of four power conference teams along with Villanova, UConn, and Stanford who have not taken a transfer this offseason. It also is in position to return its top eight scorers from last season’s team that finished 18-10 and lost to North Texas in the Round of 64 as a four seed.

In addition to the 6-10 Williams — who averaged 15.5 points and 9.1 rebounds last year as a junior — the Boilers will also return a pair of burgeoning sophomore guards Jaden Ivey (11.1 points) and Brandon Newman (8.0 points) along with several key role players like Sasha Stefanovic, Mason Gillis, Isaiah Thompson, Zach Edey, and Eric Hunter Jr. The 7-4 Edey averaged 8.7 points, 4.4 rebounds, and 1.1 blocks last season as a freshman in just 14.7 minutes.

6-10 freshman Caleb Furst is also expected to have a major impact and along with Ivey, will be a member of USA Basketball’s U19 team which will compete in the 2021 FIBA World Cup over the next few weeks in Latvia.

How important is player retention in college basketball?

23 of the 30 players who played in this past season’s Final Four were a part of their programs two years ago. The last three national champions — Baylor, Virginia, and Villanova — had a combined 21 players log double figure minutes in the last three national title games; only three were in their first season in one of those three respective programs.

Purdue’s returning nucleus has a similar type of makeup.

The Boilers are currently ranked SEVENTH in the ROTHSTEIN 45

Assorted Pastries

  • Kentucky’s non-conference schedule is again a bear. The Wildcats will play Duke in the Champions Classic at Madison Square Garden, visit Kansas as part of the Big 12/SEC Challenge, face Ohio State in the CBS Sports Classic, host Louisville, and also travel to play at both Michigan and Notre Dame. Wow!
  • Trey Murphy’s decision to stay in the 2021 NBA Draft means that Virginia will only return three players next season — Kihei Clark, Reece Beekman, and Francisco Caffaro — who played in last March’s NCAA Tournament loss to Ohio.
  • LSU will play Penn State and Oregon State will face Wake Forest in the first round of the 2021 Emerald Coast Classic, according to a source.
  • The official end of the NCAA’s early entry withdrawal deadline for the 2021 NBA Draft is July 7th at 11:59 PM ET, per an NCAA official.
  • Several deeply entrenched confidants raved about Louisiana Tech’s Kenneth Lofton Jr. during this week’s U19 tryouts for USA Basketball in Ft. Worth. The 6-7 Lofton averaged 20 points and 9.3 rebounds in four NIT games last March.

Leftovers