Rothstein: Marquette To Host Purdue In 2017 Gavitt Tipoff Games

Jon Rothstein of CBS Sports & FanRag Sports tossed a rock into the still waters of the college basketball offseason when he reported the 2017 Gavitt Tipoff Games match-ups on Saturday. YOUR Marquette Golden Eagles will take part in the Big East/Big Ten event after a year away, hosting Purdue on Tuesday, November 14th.

Purdue went 27-8 last season with a 14-4 record in the Big Ten, which earned them the regular season title by two full games in the standings. They reached the NCAA tournament for the third consecutive season and ninth time in 12 seasons under Matt Painter, advancing to the Sweet 16 before falling to Kansas.

The question for the 2017-18 edition of the Boilermakers is whether or not Caleb Swanigan returns to school. The 6’9”, 250 lb. junior forward averaged 18.5 points, 12.5 rebounds, and 3.1 assists for Purdue last season and was a national Player of the Year candidate. He’s an inside/outside terror, shooting 45% from long range as well. Swanigan declared for the NBA Draft, but did not hire an agent. He has not committed to staying in the draft, nor has he withdrawn, however the deadline to withdraw is coming up on May 24th.

If Swanigan stays in the draft, Purdue will be a pretty good team that can compete for the Big Ten title. If Swanigan returns to West Lafayette for his senior season, the Boilermakers will be a national title contender and he will be the consensus preseason national Player of the Year. For what it’s worth, Draft Express slots him at #40 in their most recent mock draft, which was updated on May 16th.

So we’ll have to put a pin into this one for a few days, I guess.

Marquette is 0-8 all time against Purdue. They have not played the Boilermakers since 1969, though, where Al McGuire’s team lost in overtime in the Elite Eight.

As for the rest of the Gavitt Games schedule according to Rothstein, it lacks a marquee game. This is largely because Michigan State is missing the event for the third consecutive season. Each Big Ten team is supposed to participate four times, so the Spartans will have to make all four of their appearances in the final five years of the arrangement.

Here’s the schedule:

November 13: Minnesota at Providence

November 14: Purdue at Marquette

November 15: Butler at Maryland; Creighton at Northwestern; Indiana at Seton Hall

November 16: Xavier at Wisconsin; Nebraska at St. John’s

November 17: DePaul at Illinois

The home game against Purude will most likely be Marquette’s second game of the season, and will likely be their last game before the Maui Invitational starts on November 20th. For more on Marquette’s non-conference schedule, please click here.