IllustrateD volume 25, issue 1 63
f
m e n ' s b a s k e t b a l l u p d a t e
BY BRIAN NEUBERT
BNeubert@GoldandBlack.com
T
his summer, a very, very new Boilermaker
basketball team convened in West Lafayette
with a lot — a lot — of work to do.
The past few months have marked the begin-
ning of Purdue's efforts to reverse its fortunes of
late, to regain the levels of success it had enjoyed
before falling off the past two seasons.
If the Boilermakers are going to get back on
track, they'll have to do it with a bottom-heavy
roster.
Rapheal Davis and A.J. Hammons are Purdue's
only scholarship upperclassmen, needed to lead a
team that'll need significant contributions from
the five-man freshman class that arrived in June.
"The whole attitude of the team is better,"
Davis said. "I know we said that last year about
the summer before, but I think the five freshmen that
came in and how mature they are and how they fit in
with everything, it caught on and helped our whole
team chemistry. … They came ready to work. The three
sophomores came ready to work and the upperclassmen
came ready to work."
Some storylines from the summer:
FRESHMEN MAKE BIG
IMPRESSION
One thing that was crystal
clear coming out of Purdue's
summer workouts was that
Boilermaker coaches and
returnees alike believe the
team's freshmen — a group
that comprises half the
team's scholarship roster —
will help right away.
They'd better.
Considering the num-
bers alone, Purdue is going
to have to rely heavily on
rookies, with players such
as Vince Edwards, Dakota
Mathias and P.J. Thompson
Brian Neubert
Big man A.J. Hammons should be the centerpiece of Purdue's young
2014-15 team.
A STEP FORWARD
Boilermakers believe summer was productive
