Winning a B1G title seemed like nothing more than a pipedream for Purdue coming into this college basketball season. Despite the return of preseason All-American Carsen Edwards, losing four senior starters from the roster was a hurdle too high to clear.

It appeared even less likely in mid-December, after the Boilermakers looked horrendous against Notre Dame in the annual Crossroads Classic in Indianapolis, suffering an 88-80 loss. Purdue dropped to 6-5 on the season and had suffered its third defeat in four games.

Something clicked after that game. Almost overnight it seemed, Purdue was the hottest team in the B1G, winning 11 of its next 12 games which included a six-game winning streak. After a .500 start to the season, the Boilermakers won 17 of their last 21 games.

Now, Purdue enters the NCAA Tournament as a No. 3 seed and will head to Connecticut to play Old Dominion in the Round of 64. It’s a position not even Matt Painter expected this team to be in considering the way the year started.

“Obviously, you’ll take a three [seed],” Painter told Big Ten Network. “Anytime you start your season 6-5 and for someone to say you’d say a three seed at the end of the year going to the tournament, I think obviously, you would take that.”

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Purdue is making its fifth-straight NCAA Tournament appearance, and the 11th visit in Painter’s 14 years as head coach. It’s also attempting to make a run to places it hasn’t been in decades.

The Boilermakers last reached the Elite Eight in 2000, nearly 20 years ago. Go back another 20 years and it’s the last time the program made a Final Four appearance (1980). In Painter’s 14 years in West Lafayette, this club would be the most unlikely to snap the dry spell.

Of course, that could’ve been said about the team’s B1G regular season title hopes, too.

Purdue’s run to close the season was unprecedented because of how poorly things started. But when you consider the lineup and the pieces in place, winning a conference title isn’t really all that surprising.

Edwards is the All-American guard capable of scoring at a high volume. He can drive to the basket and hit spot-up jumpers. Though he’s struggled with his shot over the last 10 games or so — likely due to a sore back — he’s nearly impossible to stop when he gets into a rhythm.

Surrounding the star are the components that built a B1G champion. Ryan Cline is the sharpshooter, knocking down triples at a 41.8 percent clip. Nojel Eastern is an All-B1G Defensive team guard and 7-foot-3 center Matt Haarms is one of the nation’s best rim protectors, averaging two blocks per game. Grady Eifert is the epitome of the do-it-all player that has defined Purdue basketball for 35 years.

Trevion Williams, Aaron Wheeler, Sasha Stefanovic and Eric Hunter Jr. give the Boilermakers solid minutes off the bench. Painter is one of the most underrated coaches in the sport.

Those are the perfect ingredients to build a B1G contender, even if it took some time to gel.

“I thought we earned a lot of what we got this year,” Painter said. “And that’s where we just gotta keep playing hard and I think doing the little things.”

All year, Purdue has done the little things with the right pieces. But is that a recipe built for a long tournament run, one capable of putting an end to four decades of heartbreak?

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Purdue has experienced plenty of disappointment in the NCAA Tournament over the last 14 years. There was Robbie Hummel’s ACL injury that potentially cost the Boilermakers a Final Four berth in 2009. In 2017, Purdue ran into a red-hot Kansas team and suffered a 32-point blowout loss after winning another B1G regular season title that year.

And then there was last year, when Isaac Haas shattered his elbow in a first-round game against Cal State Fullerton, sidelining him for the rest of the tournament. Purdue was a No. 2 seed and was knocked out by Texas Tech in the Sweet 16.

Don’t think Edwards’ looming back injury and struggles shooting the basketball lately isn’t giving the Boilermaker faithful some anxiety right now.

All of those teams were capable of making Final Four runs, and all three of those teams mentioned were better — at least from a player talent standpoint — than the 2018-19 edition of the Boilermakers. Of the 11 Purdue teams that have made a trip to the NCAA Tournament, this one might be the least likely to succeed.

This group has been hearing that all season, though. It’s already won a B1G title despite starting the year 6-5 and being considered a borderline NCAA Tournament squad.

Maybe Purdue’s best opportunity to make a deep tournament run and reach the Final Four will come from the team least-likely to do it.