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GOLDANDBLACK EXPRESS • VOLUME 25, EXPRESS 8 • 37 NCAA Tournament game. When you look at some of those factors, he jumps to the forefront. He just doesn't have experience in this system, doesn't have experience being around me and our guys. In time, I think it'll come out." Much at point guard will de- pend, too, Painter said, on the per- formances of fellow point guards P.J. Thompson and Bryson Scott. Painter said, too, that Octeus can play multiple positions, wheth- er in the backcourt or on the wing. ZONE BENEFITING HAMMONS Painter lauded center A.J. Hammons' rebounding efforts in practice when Purdue has been working on zone defense. The 7-footer has also im- pressed his coaches offensively when paired side-by-side with freshman backup Isaac Haas. In those zone alignments, Haas plays center and Hammons moves away from the basket to the "power" forward position. "Something we've found is that in a zone and in offense, A.J. Ham- mons is very capable of being that 4," Painter said. "That will not be an issue. He can cover that wing and offensively, he's been perfectly fine. He knows what's going on, he can shoot and he can move the ball." One drawback to playing the two centers together has been them not practicing against one another in those instances. "That (competition) has really helped our practices," Painter said. WISCONSIN THE CLEAR BIG TEN FAVORITE At the Big Ten's annual bas- ketball media day event in Chi- cago Thursday, Wisconsin, to the surprise of no one, was tabbed as the preseason team to beat in the conference. Fresh off a Final Four appearance, Bo Ryan's Badgers — generally regarded as a top-two or -three team nationally — return most of their key pieces from last season including center Frank Ka- minski and forward Sam Dekker, two of the league's best players, along with veteran point guard Josh Gasser and budding standout forward Nigel Hayes. Ohio State and Michigan were tabbed 2-3 in the Big Ten poll, for which only the top three picks are released. Kaminsky was selected as the Preseason Player-of-the-Year by the media and was joined on the first team by teammate Dekker, Indiana's Yogi Ferrell, Michigan's Cari LeVert and Nebraska's Terran Petteway. j Tom Campbell A.J. Hammons has been playing well when Purdue employs a zone defense, Matt Painter said.