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18 ILLUSTRATED VOLUME 25, ISSUE 2 f get right. Defense certainly stands tall among them. No one in the Big Ten allowed more points per game than the Boilermakers did last season as opponents av- eraged nearly 72, the most a Purdue has allowed since 1997-98, when it won 28 games but saw its numbers in- flated by tempo. The Boilermakers will not be a primarily zone team this season, but will deviate from their traditional man- to-man ways at times, to help Hammons stay out of compromising positions and to help cover up some lat- eral-quickness deficits on the wing among those needed on the floor for offensive reasons, Stephens and Mathias among them. Purdue forced its fewest turnovers (371) in a season in at least a generation, maybe ever. Statistical archives go back to only 1980. On offense, Purdue's average of 12.3 turnovers per game was better than only Indiana in Big Ten play, such issues being so much a part of the Boilermakers' undo- ing the past two years, not just the volume of turnovers, but their impact. So many have come in tight situations, generated offense for the opponent or worsened game-changing bursts the Boilermakers have been on the wrong end of. Purdue's been horrific at the foul line, worst in the Big Ten last season, though some of its prime culprits have departed. "We have to (make) the other Big Ten teams beat us," Painter said. "Purdue is continually beating Purdue." That, for a coach, is far more difficult to accept than sound beatings would be. There have been plenty of those, too, the past two sea- sons, but the Boilermakers themselves generally playing no small role in their root cause. Opponents have often defeated Purdue; Purdue has often blown Purdue out. It's been a rough past two seasons for a program that appeared to be rolling just a few seasons ago. So much of the reason for that fall has boiled down to "culture, attitude, pride," as Davis said. "It's more attitude and culture," Davis said. "Coach Painter's unbelievable. He puts us in the right positions to win games in practice. He sets it up right. When you do what he says, exactly how he says it, it works. But the last couple years, people shied away from doing what he's said, maybe them doing what they think is right works one time, so they wanted to stick with it the whole time and not follow the scouting report. They wanted to do their own thing, then when another guy sees you do- ing your own thing, they're going to do their own thing. It was domino effect." Now, Purdue is starting again from the bottom up, needing to get back to basics, so to speak, at the mer- cy of the development of a corps of young players that'll have to deliver immediately and the consistency of an immensely talented big man who's yet to put it all to- gether. No one knows what's going to happen and Davis, for one, knows that all the sunshine being spread around this offseason isn't all that different than what was said a year ago at this time. But one thing is for certain: Purdue's going into a season that should, at the very least, be compelling. "New year. New season. New team," Davis said. "This is the only year we're going to have with this exact team. We need to make it the best year possible." j For daily headlines on recruiting and other Purdue sports news, check out