Hammer and Rails Reader Survey Results – Will Purdue Upset 1 Seed Houston?

Plus, who will win the Midwest region?

Survey results are ready and in addition to the three questions I asked you this week we’ve also got the comparison to a national question about the Midwest region. Should be an interesting comparison. Let’s do that one last to build the suspense!

First, this one was just for me personally, I wanted to know where you’d be watching the game. Purdue will play in Indianapolis tonight but it’s at Lucas Oil, a terrible place to watch a basketball game, and ticket prices are astronomically high for the view you’d get. Not exactly a ticket buyer’s paradise.

88% of our readers will be watching the game at home while just 8% say they will be there in person. I hope that’s not an indication of what the crowd will look like. Purdue will need a decidedly Purdue crowd in order to help pull off this upset of a 1 seed.

Next, a pretty straightforward one, can Purdue pull off the upset of Houston? No further explanation needed there.

Purdue fans are pretty optimistic about the team’s chances. I understand that 46% is of course less than 50%, but that’s a high percent who believe that Purdue can take down a 1 seed. This is especially true given the 0-6 history of Purdue under Matt Painter against 1 seeds.

Next, I wanted to compare the national results with the Hammer and Rails results on who will walk away the winner of the Midwest region. First, we will go with the national results.

Purdue comes in at a disappointing third place here with 17% of the vote. We are behind our old friends form Tennessee who have never been to the Final Four at 24%. Houston is the clear favorite with 48%.

Up next, the Hammer and Rails results for the same question.

You can see how the results flip here. Purdue moved from a 17% chance and 3rd place to a tie for first with 33% chance. Now, Houston remains tied for first so they are the clear favorite to win the region even by Purdue fan standards. What I find interesting is that 46% of respondents thought that Purdue could upset Houston, sending Purdue to the Elite 8, but only 33% think Purdue can make the Final Four. I guess those other 13% have Purdue losing in the Elite Eight?

Right now, on our friends at FanDuel, Purdue has the longest odds to win the Midwest region at +700. Kentucky has +650 so not that far off. Houston is of course the favorite with -120 odds. Obviously, Purdue has a lot of work to do to make the Final Four according to not just fans, but the oddsmakers as well. But guess what? The games are played for a reason, let’s go out and prove some people wrong!

Hammer and Rails is paid for discussing FanDuel odds in this post.