Purdue Among 2022 PK85 Tournament Participants

HUGE Early Season Tourney For The Boilers!

It appears that Purdue will be among an absolutely stacked field during the PK85 event in November of 2022. CBS Sports college basketball insider Jon Rothstein was the first to break the news via Twitter.

PK85 is the annual college basketball event held in honor of Nike chairman and co-founder Phil Knight, the tournament is held in Portland, Oregon, and played at both the Moda Center and Memorial Coliseum. The field of 16 is split up into two tournaments comprised of 8 teams.

Below is a list of the expected participants for one of the biggest regular-season events in all of college athletics.

• Duke
• North Carolina
• Villanova
• UConn
• Xavier
• West Virginia
• Iowa State
• Purdue
• Michigan State
• Alabama
• Florida
• Gonzaga
• Oregon
• Oregon State
• Portland
• Portland State

That is some serious firepower with the majority of teams likely to be ranked by the time this takes place. Purdue fans should love this news as it gives Matt Painter an idea of how the team stacks up against the top of the college hoops world, an amazing platform for exposure, and the opportunity to significantly boost their resume for March.

At this time, no matchups or dates have been given but you should expect to see something in the coming months. We do know that teams will not play within their conference, and if you noticed there are two teams per each conference represented in the field. (Aside from UConn in the AAC and Portland State in the Big Sky).

Therefore, these teams will be in opposite tournaments: (This was pointed out to me by the fearless leader of Hammer and Rails, T-Mill.)

Purdue and Michigan State (Big Ten); Duke and North Carolina (ACC); Villanova and Xavier (Big East); Alabama and Florida (SEC); West Virginia and Iowa State (Big 12); Gonzaga and Portland (WCC).

Fans will have to wait and see how the field shakes out before any potential Purdue opponents are revealed for a fact, but the Matt Painter-led Boilermakers will have an opportunity to shine early on in the 2022 season!