They were good last season too. Plus they've got a stacked good roster.
As of right now, Purdue has 9 players making over $30k & an average salary over $39k.
Last season just had horrible imbalance between conferences. The 8th place Great 8 team probably would have made the playoffs in the Big 8. Move that last Big 8 playoff team to the Great 8 & they would have relegated, no doubt.
But what's with Big 8 teams spending so much $? 3 Big 8 teams have payrolls over $470k... (you pay close to $200k less than the top team.)