College basketball rankings: Purdue’s path to No. 1 begins with tough game against Florida State

Purdue got a chance on Tuesday night to add a third signature win to its record as the home team Boiled State of Florida inside Mackey Arena. Of course, nothing is guaranteed. But the chances of Matt Painter’s program remaining undefeated increased on Monday when it was announced that FSU would not feature three alternate players, including a starting point guard. RayQuan Evans and start Tanor Ngom center.

Evans’ situation is the saddest.

He will attend the funeral of his 27-year-old brother, Tye Oldelk Lafrainier, who died of leukemia earlier this month and left behind a 6-year-old son.

“Our thoughts are with RayQuan as he goes through this grieving period with his family,” Florida State coach Leonard Hamilton said.

Evans is tipped to go back in time for Saturday’s ACC opener against Syracuse – but Seminoles probably won’t have Ngom for a little longer. The 7-foot-2-tall striker is dealing with a right knee injury that is expected to be sidelined for several weeks. So the State of Florida will not be whole for a while. That’s bad news. But the good news is that the Seminoles are so deep and balanced – 11 players are averaging double digits in minutes played per game, six players are averaging between 12.5 points and 7.2 points per game – that they will probably be fine once this game at Purdue is in the rearview mirror.

Purdue fans will be hard at work Tuesday night for both their team and Ohio State review the top-rated hosting Buckeyes Duke as part of the ACC/Big Ten Challenge. As I noted in the Top 25 and 1 of Monday morning, if Purdue takes on Florida State, and Duke loses at Ohio State, Purdue – 3rd in the Top 25 and 1 updated Tuesday morning — will jump both Duke and Gonzaga and rose to No. 1 in the Top 25 and 1 on Wednesday morning on a resume that would then include three wins over top 50 KenPom teams. If things go that way, then the team. of the team will only be a victory Iowa on Friday’s Big Ten opening, the school will move up to No. 1 for the first time in next week’s Associated Press Top 25 poll.

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