Ranked No. 5 in the MAC preseason poll, the Minutemen are regarded as a tough team across the conference. UMass looks to embrace the competition of a typical one-bid conference, trying to secure one of the top eight seeds to play in the MAC conference tournament at Rocket Arena in Cleveland, Ohio.

Purdue basketball fell short of its Big Ten championship expectations last season but still made a Sweet Sixteen run behind its stars. Braden Smith and Trey Kaufman-Renn return and were picked by the USA TODAY Network to be first team all-Big Ten.