NCAA Tournament Midwest Region Preview: #1 Purdue vs. #8 Utah State

Both teams exorcised some demons in the first round of the Midwest region.

Purdue had to deal with the baggage of losing to a #16 seed last year for the entire season.

Utah State hadn't won an NCAA Tournament game in 23 years.

Both moved on in the Midwest Round of 64 and now meet up on Sunday afternoon in Indianapolis, Indiana for the Round of 32.

For Purdue, the expected home crowd showed up in its first game. It should only get more intense as it looks to return to the Sweet 16 after last year's early exit.

Utah State found Indianapolis plenty hospitable, as it shot nearly 50% from three in its first game, a dominating win over TCU.

The winner will get the benefit of knowing who it'll face after Gonzaga dominated Kansas at the other end of the bracket.

Utah State's seven footer, Isaac Johnson, got his NCAA Tournament started by knocking down two three-pointers on four attempts against TCU. He's shot just 33% from three on the season, but he's a willing shooter, attempting more than two a game despite limited minutes.

Johnson is 7-0, but he gives up nearly 70 pounds on Zach Edey. With his ability to stretch the floor, expect Purdue to try to keep Edey off him whenever possible.

Instead, two of the best foul drawers in the country should be matched up when Purdue is on defense.

Great Osobor is an interesting player, a 6-8 bowling ball that Matt Painter compared to his former big Trevion Williams. What makes Osobor unique is his ability to dribble and make plays for others while driving to the hoop.

It's not a chess move that Utah State won't see coming, and perhaps will even welcome. Edey might be the best player in the country at drawing fouls, but Osobor isn't terribly far behind. He draws 6.9 fouls per forty minutes, and he plays a lot of minutes for Utah State.

Osobor isn't a three-point threat, he's shot just 10 on the season and made just 2. But he could put Edey in uncomfortable places, forcing him to defend in space, and keeping him chasing the ball instead of staying at the rim.

It's possible Purdue zags when it usually zigs and leaves Edey to try and give Johnson just enough attention outside. Utah State likes to play five out and leaves a lot of room in the middle for its bigger guards to attack when it's not playing inside out from the post.

Freshamn Mason Falslev is another potential hiding spot. Falslev is a strong wing, but is just 22 of 76 from three on the season. He didn't attempt a three against TCU. Edey has had limited success against wings and guards that rely on getting to the hoop to score like Ty Rodgers of Illinois.

Painter's been more flexible this season with defensive schemes than we've seen in the past. It's possible that he'll show even more creativity against a Utah State team that does offer Purdue some tough questions.

While Matt Painter is proud to be one of the programs with the least amount of portal activity, this Utah State roster has been built entirely from different parts around the country after the acquisition of head coach Danny Sprinkle.

13 new players are on Utah State's roster this season. None of its scorers returned. This is a team that's filled with unknowns, former players of Sprinkle at his previous stop, and foreign players.

To have them in the tournament at all and playing this well, is a testament to Sprinkle's job as a coach according to Purdue's Matt Painter.

"Danny Sprinkle is as good of a young coach or any coach at any age as there is in the country," Painter said Saturday. "Very few people can do what Danny Sprinkle just did. Very few, all right. You just, he has nobody that played for him last year. Like, you go watch us run stuff and do stuff, I mean, I got a bunch of guys that played for us. Everybody is on the same page, we get it. Like, we get it. How the hell do they get it? And they have been working since June like that. It's because they got a great coach."

There is a familiar name to Painter on the roster. Ian Martinez transferred to Utah State this year after two years at Maryland. He led Utah State in scoring in the game against TCU as his role has expanded with the Aggies this season.

There's also a familiar face on Utah State's coaching staff. Johnny Hill has followed sprinkle to Utah State. Hill played for Matt Painter his senior season as a transfer in the 2016 season.

"He was a grad transfer. He didn't start for us," Painter said of Hill. "I think he started three games for us. He backed up PJ Thompson. He practiced hard every single day. Every single day he practiced hard, he had a great attitude, it was infectious... he was great."

Utah State isn't backing down. When asked about potential chinks in Purdue's armor, a confident Darius Brown II explained his team's demeanor going into the game.

"We shall be aggressive," Brown II said. "We'll just go with that. Don't want to have them looking at this. We'll just say we'll just be aggressive and do what we have done all year, and that's nobody has to be anything special, just be the team that we've been and everybody do their job and we'll be fine."

The coaches have a more complimentary look at each other. So much so, that Sprinkle credits Painter for part of his playbook.

"A lot of the offensive sets, like, we steal a lot of sets from Painter and his staff," Sprinkle said Saturday. "We did at Montana State, too."

The familiarity between the two offenses should make for an interesting view as both teams like to play with space and get into pace when available. But the familiarity doesn't end on the court.

While Sprinkle has had to build his roster in the opposite way to Painter, even in the portal, he looked for the same kind of stuff in his players that Painter does. This might as well be a stolen script from Painter's program building guide.

"I think recruiting high-character guys that bought into what we were trying to teach," Sprinkle said. "If you have two or three guys in the locker room that aren't completely all in, it doesn't work. We've been very fortunate and we got lucky."

The two styles might mesh on paper, but they'll clash in the tournament as both teams try to reach the Sweet 16.