History Against Purdue After Boilers Went Unranked in AP Preseason Poll

NCAA playoff history was against opening-round-and-out Purdue reaching the Final Four, let alone capturing the national title. No school has won an NCAA crown upon earning a #1 regional seed after going unranked among Top 25 in AP's national preseason poll (Top 20 until 1989-90). The Boilermakers became the 14th straight team in this category failing to reach the Final Four. The only top-seeded squad unranked in PS to advance to the national semifinals was Larry Bird-led Indiana State in 1979 when seeding was first introduced.

Year	#1 Seed Unranked in PS Top 25 Poll	Coach	Regional/NCAA Tourney Mark
1979	Indiana State	Bill Hodges	Midwest/4-1 (lost to Michigan State)
1985	Michigan	Bill Frieder	Southeast/1-1 (Villanova)
1986	St. John's	Lou Carnesecca	West/1-1 (Auburn)
1990	Connecticut	Jim Calhoun	East/3-1 (Duke)
1990	Michigan State	Jud Heathcote	Southeast/2-1 (Georgia Tech)
1994	Missouri	Norm Stewart	West/3-1 (Arizona)
1999	Auburn	Cliff Ellis	South/2-1 (Ohio State)
2002	Cincinnati	Bob Huggins	West/1-1 (UCLA)
2010	Syracuse	Jim Boeheim	West/2-1 (Butler)
2012	Michigan State	Tom Izzo	West/2-1 (Louisville)
2016	Oregon	Dana Altman	West/3-1 (Oklahoma)
2018	Virginia	Tony Bennett	South/0-1 (Maryland-Baltimore County)
2021	Michigan	Juwan Howard	East/3-1 (UCLA)
2022	Arizona	Tommy Lloyd	South/2-1 (Houston)
2023	Purdue	Matt Painter	East/0-1 (Fairleigh Dickinson)

NOTE: Preseason polls were Top 20 through 1988-89.