College basketball countdown: No. 7 Purdue

Jack Ebling, Sporting News Yearbooks Leading into the college basketball season openers, Sporting News will preview each of the top 25, counting backward from our preseason power poll. For more great college basketball content, order your copy of our College Basketball 09-10 yearbook, or pick one up at a newsstand today. A 27-10 record would please the majority of college basketball fans, especially when their program hasn't reached the Final Four since 1980. But it wasn't entirely satisfying for the Boilermakers last season. Three losses in the last four league games left the team at 11-7, in a second-place tie with Illinois and four games behind Michigan State. After wins over Penn State, Illinois and Ohio State earned the Boilermakers the Big Ten tournament trophy, they struggled again. Escapes against Northern Iowa and Washington got the team to the Sweet 16, but Purdue's hopes were dashed in a 72-60 loss to Connecticut. Coach Matt Painter...