Purdue's up-and-down regular season concluded with disappointment Saturday afternoon, as Rutgers' 71-68 overtime win marred senior day and mortally wounded the Boilermakers' hopes for an at-large NCAA Tournament bid.

Purdue had a chance to put the ball in the NCAA selection committee's court and make it deny a .500 team from the No. 1 conference, with maybe the toughest schedule in the land.

Had Purdue won today and won one game in Indy, the Boilermakers might have been an interesting case study on exactly what NCAA Tournament selection means these days, because its metrics and such would have belied its record.

It's a moot point now, because, surprisingly, Purdue did not take care of business at home, and not just on Saturday afternoon.