INDIANAPOLIS — The path to a Big Ten Tournament championship is an unfamiliar trek for Purdue basketball.

The Boilermakers earned the No. 6 seed and await the winner Rutgers and USC in an estimated 9 p.m. tipoff Thursday at Gainbridge Fieldhouse.

It marks the first time Purdue plays a Big Ten Tournament game on Thursday since 2014, when the conference was a 12-team league. Purdue was scheduled to play Ohio State in a second-round Thursday game in 2020 before the tournament was canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic.

ESPN Bracketology currently projects Purdue as a No. 4 seed in the NCAA Tournament. Can a run this week improve Purdue’s seeding for March Madness?

Here are our predictions for the Big Ten Tournament in Indianapolis this week:

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Purdue basketball predictions for Big Ten Tournament

Sam King: Is Purdue a team that has lost five of seven entering the postseason or the team that won 11 of 12 just prior to that late season skid? The truth is probably somewhere in between. The Boilers can make amends for some questionable setbacks if they can do damage in the Big Ten Tournament. Fully expect Purdue to be playing in Friday’s quarterfinals. It’s a better team than both Rutgers and USC, who’ll be entering on about 22 hours rest.

More: Big Ten men’s tournament schedule: Full bracket, games dates, how to watch

From there, it’s a crap shoot. Purdue outplayed Michigan twice (but came away with only series split), which would be the Friday opponent should the Boilermakers get through their first matchup. Should Purdue be in the semifinal, it will face a team for the second time this season, whether it be Iowa (unlikely), Ohio State, Illinois or Maryland. This is where not earning the double bye as a top four seed could be a hindrance. I like Purdue getting to the semifinals but the latter three teams all pose some mismatches that make it tough on the Boilermakers (evidenced by the regular season meetings). However, as was proven last year, a semifinal loss isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Purdue got to go home early, watch the selection show on Sunday and looked at its strongest once NCAA Tournament play began.

Nathan Baird: Other than needing to play an extra game, falling to the 6 seed did not hurt Purdue from a matchup standpoint. It won three games against USC and Rutgers by 18, 18 and 29 points. It routed Michigan at home and lost by two in Ann Arbor while facing a 26-8 free throw disparity. It benefited from home court in an 83-78 win over Maryland, just as the Terps benefited from a pair of fluke 3-pointers from Derik Queen (he went 0-19 the rest of the season).

I like the second-round and quarterfinal matchups for the Boilermakers. The Terrapins — assuming they beat Illinois, Iowa or Ohio State — are a tougher draw who have won 11 of 13 coming into the tournament. We can give Purdue’s recent improvements in defensive rebounding and turnovers some cautious creedence. Queen and Julian Reese have the rim protection advantage on both ends of the floor. The Boilermakers simply haven’t beaten a team this good away from Mackey Arena all season, and while it’s easy to see how they could do so, it’s another thing to predict it.

Big Ten Tournament winner prediction

King: Two years ago, Purdue was the best team in the league and doubled down with a conference tournament championship. It doesn’t often happen like that, but this season, not only was Michigan State the league’s best team, the Spartans enter the postseason hot.

The team that could pose as the biggest threat? Indiana, which already has a win at Michigan State and, after announcing Mike Woodson would be stepping down at season’s end, has finally started to show the promise the Hoosiers had coming into the season.

Baird: I’ve liked the Terrpains as a while as a dark horse to win this. Now they’re the 2 seed and by definition you can’t call that team a surprise winner anymore. I do think they’ll win this side of the bracket — though a semifinal against Purdue might be one of the best games in the field.

I think the winner comes from the other side of the bracket, though — and not the top-seeded Spartans. Wisconsin lost its season finale to Penn State at home, playing without third-leading scorer Max Klesmit for the third straight game. Assuming he returns this week, the Badgers are deep on shot-makers and are underrated defensively. I’ll take John Tonje to lead Wisconsin to its fourth conference tourney championship.

Big Ten Tournament bold predictions

King: Maybe this isn’t bold given how congested the Big Ten standings were. But I’m taking just one team with a double bye to reach the semifinals. Last season, the semifinals consisted of seed Nos. 1, 2, 3, 5. But just a year earlier, the Big Ten Tournament had the 10th and 13th seeds in the semifinals. When teams are playing for their NCAA Tournament lives (or in this case, likely trying to bump up a seed line), upsets happen, especially when others seemingly have nothing to gain or lose. It won’t surprise me to see No. 2 Maryland, No. 3 Michigan and No. 4 UCLA all lose in the quarterfinals.

Baird: I don’t know how “bold” this is but the former Pac-12 contingent will go 0-for-Indianapolis. Washington will watch from Seattle. I’ll take Rutgers’ star power over USC. As already predicted above I like Wisconsin to run the table, including a quarterfinal against 4 seed UCLA. Indiana’s only loss in its last five was a road setback at Oregon. With travel and home crowd advantages in their favor, though, I’ll take the back-from-the-dead Hoosiers in that second-round rematch.

Big Ten Tournament surprise teams

King: Are ya’ll ready for this one? Northwestern in the semifinals. The Wildcats have adapted to life after Brooks Barnhizer, who finally succumbed to a rash of injuries that ended his career. Nick Martinelli has risen to become a top 10 player in the Big Ten. Stars can carry you in the postseason. Northwestern’s path to the semifinal begins with Maryland on Wednesday with Wisconsin awaiting the winner. The Wildcats and Badgers went into a slugfest just one month ago. UCLA would be the quarterfinal opponent.

While Northwestern is just 16-15 and needed tiebreaker help to even get into the conference tournament, 10 of those losses are by six points or less.

Baird: Sam and I are in direct first-round conflict here. Minnesota has secretly turned into a bit of a road warrior down the stretch. It had won four straight away from The Barn — beating Penn State, USC, UCLA and Nebraska — before losing in overtime to Rutgers at the RAC. Plus, Dawson Garcia might be the most underappreciated player in the league.

So if there’s any low seed comfortable with unpacking its bags in Indy and making some noise, maybe the Gophers are that team.