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in the NCAA Tournament," leading scorer Terone Johnson said. "That's something everybody's ready for." We'll see. The light has seemingly come on for the Boilermakers on multiple times through the course of this season but has never yet stayed on for more than a handful of contests. If Purdue is going to turn things around next season with a roster of key players that'll return almost entirely intact next season, now would be a good time to start. "We should play as hard (now) as we'll need to next year," said Johnson, who'll be a senior in 2013-14, "just to get that momen- The following are our thoughts now, in the third week of March. Kyle Charters: "Purdue maxed out on its seeding, getting a No. 4 in the Oklahoma City Regional. But avoiding an opponent on its home floor in the second round was extremely unlikely, no matter how highly the Boilers got seeded." Stacy Clardie: "Darrell Hazell is trying to keep the excitement around the football program high, inviting fans to watch 13 of the team's 15 spring practices. It surely should be an entertaining several weeks. There's much work to be done, installing new schemes, continuing to instill discipline and accountability and finding personnel that will fit." Alan Karpick: "Springboard may be the word of the week around these parts as the women hope to use its Big Ten Tournament title to leap past a couple of teams in the NCAA and the men just hope to get some bounce in 2013-14 from enduring the CBI this year." Brian Neubert: "Judging simply by the tone of his voice, the Nebraska loss might have been one of the most disappointing Matt Painter has suffered at Purdue, as he'd very obviously thought his team had finally figured things out for good. The CBI isn't sexy in any way, shape or form, but at the very least it's a chance to recapture whatever it found, then lost. And we'll find out pretty quickly which of these players really care and which don't so much." tum going into next season. "These games should set the tone for next year, not just for us coming back but for our seniors, too." CBI games — Purdue would have to win three games to get to the best-of-three championship finale — may give a glimpse as to where the Boilermakers' mentality is following a turbulent season. Really, these games won't matter all that much in the grand scheme of things, though Painter says he'll coach to win. Purdue will be playing mostly mid- and low-major opponents — the only other name-brand school in the event is Texas — without much fanfare, probably in front of far-less-than-capacity crowds without big-time TV exposure. "You find out the character of your players and who they are, if they enjoy playing the game, especially for older guys," Painter said. "You want to see the program left on a positive note, then for the young guys, you want to build some experience to help the 13 20 ril 13, Ap register online cause for the future. "We're trying to send that message to our players with those other teams (who've been in the CBI) with the success they've had the next two or three years." Most notably VCU, which won the event a year before going to the Final Four. j k n/wal 5K ru E THE C LLENG HA tm support cancer research at Purdue www.thepurduechallenge.com TWEET OF THE WEEK #SelectionSunday.... Kinda disappointed that Purdue and Tennessee didn't make it. Good Luck Wisconsin!!!!" Golden State Warriors forward and former Boilermaker Carl Landry (@CarlLandry) Sunday evening All proceeds beneet the Purdue University Center for Cancer Research GoldanDBlack express • volume 23, express 26 • 2