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12 ILLUSTRATED VOLUME 25, ISSUE 2 f into winning." Last season's failures were no one player's fault, no one class' fault, no one coach's fault, no one anyone's fault, but rather the proverbial total team effort, and it was taxing. That Purdue lost emerging leader Sterling Carter to an ACL injury and Jay Simpson to a lifelong heart condition, one on top of the other, only added to the toll. Purdue will not dwell on last season, beyond keeping a keen understanding of its current situation. "Coming in last place is embarrassing, but you have to direct it toward making you work harder," said Davis, one of this year's team's few returning upperclassmen. "We're still in last place until the first game of Big Ten season. "You have to wake up each day and put yourself in position to do whatever you can for the team to turn it around. It sticks with you. You don't want to forget it, but you have to be able to move past it." Davis knows and is quick to point out that Purdue said much of the same last season. And look what happened. Why will it be different? In part, the people involved are so different. Purdue adds six newcomers. Vince Edwards, P.J. Thompson, Dakota Mathias, Jac- quil Taylor and Isaac Haas comprise the largest fresh- man class, in numbers, Painter has brought in. Jon Octeus, an immediately eligible senior transfer who Purdue landed a month into the fall semester and a week into preseason practice, is a potentially key piece, also. All of them, when viewed in context, are considered right-fit-at-the-right-time additions. "They're well-rounded guys," Painter said. "They have a lot of substance, they like to play, they're excited to be here and they've been educated on some of the struggles we went through, and they want to help be part of that change." The early stages of that change — and understand that these are only the early stages — have been evident Tom Campbell Purdue could use a rotation at point guard, including fresh- man P.J. Thompson. Ziccarelli Builders, Inc. Construction Planners and Contractors Commercial & Industrial General Contractor LEED Certified Projects Augie Ziccarelli, CEM 1981 One Overlook Point, Lincolnshire, IL 60069 Phone: 847.913.1000 zicbuilders.com