The tip-off of the 2023-24 college basketball season will start on Monday and one of the best teams in the Big Ten will be in action when the 3^rd-ranked Purdue Boilermakers play at home in West Lafayette, Indiana and will be hosting the Samford Bulldogs at the Mackey Arena with the game scheduled to start at 6:30 PM ET and will air on the Big Ten Network.

The Samford Bulldogs play in the Southern Conference and are coming off a season in which they were regular season Co-Champions of the Conference along with the Furman Paladins, however, they didn’t receive an NCAA bid as they lost in the quarterfinals of the Southern Conference Tournament against the Chattanooga Mocs. The Bulldogs didn’t receive a bid to any postseason tournament even though Samford finished with a regular season record of 21-11 and a 15-3 Southern Conference record. 

Bucky McMillan will be entering his 4^th season as the head coach for the Bulldogs and will be looking to build upon last year’s strong season and will hope to make a postseason run after not being invited to any tournament last season.

Purdue is ranked 3^rd in the AP Poll and 2^nd in the Coaches Poll and with good reason as they had a phenomenal season last year finishing with a record of 29-6 and were the Big Ten regular season champions as well as the Big Ten Tournament Champions while also winning the 2022 Phil Knight Legacy Tournament. However, they were quickly eliminated in the NCAA tournament in the 1^st round against the Fairleigh Dickinson Knights and became only the 2^nd 1 seed to be eliminated in the 1^st round by a 16 seed. 

The Boilermakers are projected to be one of the best teams in college basketball this season as they enter the season as the favorite to win the Big Ten regular season as they are +216 to win the conference and have the 4^th best odds of winning the Men’s College Basketball National Championship as they are +1400 to accomplish that feat. 

BookMaker has the Purdue Boilermakers listed as 19.5-point favorites at home against the Samford Bulldogs on Monday evening. The teams have met twice before this matchup with the last meeting occurring in 2014 in which the Purdue Boilermakers won at home by a score of 80-40 while covering the 23.5 point spread as a home favorite. The Boilermakers lead the series 2-0, however, both teams are 1-1 ATS all-time in those matchups.

Usually, the smart play is to take the points early on in the college basketball season, however, Purdue is projected to be one of the best teams in college basketball and the top team in arguably one of the best college basketball conferences while Samford has a solid team I don’t expect them to match up well in this game on the road which is why I am buying the .5 point and taking the Purdue Boilermakers -19 when they host the Samford Bulldogs in their season opener on Monday evening.