Welcome to February, which means we're just 28 days away from the best months of the year. It was a fantastic January for Purdue. The Boilermakers went 8-1 in the month, but the one loss was a borderline bad loss since it came at home in Mackey Arena. Still, the overall profile is looking pretty good.

Purdue is projecting as a strong 3 seed in most brackets and maybe even a 2 seed if it can get a break or two. That can lead to a preferred placement in Milwaukee and Indianapolis in the tournament. That path would be quite nice, much like how last year's Indianapolis-Detroit path was very friendly.

As far as the Big Ten race goes, Purdue got a nice assist from USC today. The Trojans knocked off Michigan State to pull the Spartans back to the field. To win the conference Purdue probably needs to go at least 6-3 down the stretch, and it would need some help given that there is only one game with Michigan State.

The good news is that as we begin February Purdue is in a very familiar position near the top of the Big Ten with a projected high seed in March.