2013 Old Spice Classic: Purdue To Face Oklahoma State

We now know the draw for the Old Spice Classic in Orlando and it will be a tough one. Purdue will open with the Oklahoma St. Cowboys, featuring Marcus Smart as one of the top returning players in the country, on November 28 at Noon on ESPN2. Oklahoma State is a consensus preseason Top 25 team, mostly because of Smart, and they will be a great schedule boost.

In the second game Purdue will play either Butler or Washington State. If Purdue wins game 1 it will play the Washington State-Butler winner at 1:30pm on November 29. If Purdue loses it gets the Washington State-Butler loser at 11am on the 29th.

The final round would have Purdue facing Siena, Memphis, LSU, or St. Joseph's on December 1. Memphis would be the team favored to reach the final in that half of the draw.

For RPI purposes, Purdue facing Oklahoma State-Butler-Memphis is best. Since we're already playing Siena as a non-bracketed game in this event at home on November 24 (explained here) it is possible that Purdue can play two teams twice out of conference in Siena and Butler, yet Indiana only once in conference.

Playing Butler twice helps since they are now Big East and will still be a good team, but Siena was bad last year and two games against them does little to help. Ultimately I would like to see Purdue win two games down in Orlando, preferably one of them against Oklahoma State, Butler, or Memphis who will be the highest rated teams in terms of RPI. Playing LSU or Washington State would at least help with them being from a higher-level conference.