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ter, other people are. If you're not getting better, it's hard to win football games." But the scheduling change could help Hazell get results on the field quicker. In 2013, the Boilermakers have perhaps the league's toughest slate, drawing Nebraska, Michigan State, Wisconsin and Ohio State consecutively in Big Ten play and playing Notre Dame and Northern Illinois in non-conference games, plus Cincinnati on the road. In 2014 with Maryland and Rutgers officially entering the league, the new divisions will take effect. Perhaps then Purdue really can surge. "Trying to handicap when this program is going to be good ... bottom line is, we've got to get better," Burke said. "The variability of our play the last few years has been our downfall. We've either been very good or very bad, and we've got to close that variability. Darrell understands that, and I don't care who we play." But the division alignment was the only tweak made by the league. Delany also announced that the Big Ten would move to playing nine conference games starting in 2016, forcing an imbalanced home-and-away schedule. And that could have serious implications on Purdue's rivalry with Notre Dame. Burke insists Purdue must have seven home games in a season to maintain its self-supporting athletic department, which means the Boilermakers can only play one road game every two seasons. Right now, that road game would be against the Irish. In principle at least — the two have dates agreed upon through 2021 but a contract in place only through 2014. "If there has to be a pause for a year or two in order to get the thing synced up for us, we'll do that," Burke said. "But we're certainly not going in with a defeatist attitude that we can't get it done. We'll just have to lay schedules side by side and see what we can do." — Stacy Clardie No. 3 Young Boilers Miss Out Purdue's men's basketball team felt the pain of rebuilding in 2012-13, as one of the finest streaks of success in program history came to a halt during a maddening 16-18 season that concluded with a loss in Mackey Arena in the College Basketball Invitational. Relying heavily on freshmen — Purdue finished the season with three of them starting — the Boilermakers were mistake-prone, wildly inconsistent and just plain bad at times, suffering a smattering of one-sided losses along the way, none worse than a historic 37-point loss to rival Indiana in Mackey, the worst loss Purdue has ever taken on West Lafayette soil. In the final analysis, it was a terribly disappointing season for the Boilermakers and Painter, who'd guided Purdue to 151 wins and six NCAA Tournament appearances the prior half dozen years. Tom Campbell Matt Painter has build a solid program at Purdue, but 201213 was a year to forget. With a young and inexperienced team, the Boilermakers won only 16 games. But not one that necessarily marks the beginning of a downward spiral, as there is very much reason to believe better days lie ahead. Ronnie Johnson had to play through his mistakes as a freshman point guard in the Big Ten, often to his team's detriment, but had enough bright moments to show himself as a star in the making. The same can be said for All-Big Ten Freshman Team selection A.J. Hammons, the center who never quite grasped consistency but was dominant when at his best. Fellow freshman Rapheal Davis had a very good season, all things considered, and Jay Simpson, who redshirted due to injury, has been tabbed multiple times by Painter as the team's most talented player. The incoming recruiting class of Basil Smotherman, Kendall Stephens and Bryson Scott is a highly regarded one and Terone Johnson, Purdue's presumed rock as a senior next season, is coming off an all-conference season. After the Boilermakers' first losing season since injury-riddled 2005-06, Purdue will not face the burden of external expectation in 2013-14, a familiar position for a program accustomed to surprising, with the talent seemingly in place to potentially do just that next season. — Brian Neubert No. 2 No More Hope Danny Hope thought he'd done enough. After making a long-awaited change at quarterback when his team sat at 3-5, the Boilermakers rallied to finish 6-6 and qualify for a bowl game for the second consecutive season. The late-season surge included road victories at Iowa and Illinois and in the home finale against rival Indiana. That final game ended with players hoisting Hope onto their shoulders, as he pumped his fists in the air. After the game, Hope said he wished GoldanDBlack express • volume 23, express 30 • 6