NCAA March Madness 2010: Purdue Boilermakers Avoid Siena Upset, Shocking?

Typically, a No. 4 seed is the heavy favorite to squash a No. 13 seed in the madness of March's college basketball tournament.

For the Purdue Boilermakers, enjoying those odds was something that they didn't have the luxury of doing this year.

After losing its star forward, Robbie Hummel, the Boilers looked like they would make an early exit out of the South bracket—well, that didn't exactly happen. JaJuan Johnson led the Boilers to a 72-64 win, and likely shocked just about everyone in the world of college basketball—including themselves.

Johnson's game-high 23 points allowed Painter's crew to live to fight another day. And fight they will have to—they'll face the winner of Utah State-Texas A&M, two teams that could potentially end the party that has undoubtedly erupted in West Lafayette, IN.

An ankle injury in the Big Ten tournament to E'Twaun Moore had Boiler fans holding their breath, but by all accounts, Moore's ankle is fine. He didn't appear to be 100 percent, but he did manage to score 12 points, dish out three assists and grab six boards.

Not losing in the first round of the tournament is what Purdue was up against. Siena was the sexy pick to knock the Big Ten's co-champs out, and send them back to campus to watch the rest of the tournament from their apartments.

Was it a shock that Purdue survived?

That depends on who you ask.

One thing is for sure, the Purdue win is a pat on the Big Ten's back, a timely one at that. Minnesota lost 65-54 to Xavier earlier today—Michigan State and Ohio State have yet to play—the conference needs its teams to emerge victorious for a few reasons.

One reason is that the Big East was proclaimed the top league in the land, but two of its top-tier squads are no longer dancing: Marquette and Georgetown (ouch).

Painter's men just scored one for the Big Ten, even if they weren't supposed to (and impacted brackets everywhere). The Big 11, err, Big 10, needed this to happen.