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20 ILLUSTRATED VOLUME 25, ISSUE 2 f mons said. "This group wants to be more together, more about winning as a team and losing as a team." His instinct, he says, is to lead that team, however against his nature some components of leadership might sometimes be. Hammons' impulse is to lead now, the product of his ascension to the upperclassman ranks on a bottom-heavy roster, but also of a firm understanding of how much he's to be counted on. "Fear" wouldn't be the right word. But there seems to be a certain anxiousness about Hammons to not disappoint. No one really wants to use the word "carry," as in, "Hammons has to carry Purdue this season." To do so would be to diminish the value of the other dozen-plus players on the roster. But everything the Boilermakers do this season will revolve around the 7-footer, at both ends of floor, whether it be offensive emphasis — "We have to play inside-out," Matt Painter says — or the implementation of zone de- fense primarily to help keep Hammons out of compro- mising positions, whether they be ball-screen defense on the perimeter or foul worries at the rim. He's truly Purdue's centerpiece in more ways than one, a position he seems comfortable with, but only to a point. "Trying to carry a team, it's kind of scary," Hammons said. "You don't know if you're going to let your team down night in and night out. I'm pretty critical of my- self, so that's why I'd say I wouldn't want the pressure, because I know that if I fail and let my team down, I'm going to be harder on myself than anyone else would be." This is nothing new, though, really. Much has been asked of Hammons from his first day on Purdue's campus. It's just that even more will be asked now and even more built around him. Purdue's past two seasons have been failures for a myriad of reasons, one of them being poor chemistry, plain as day to see quite often. The figurative basketball conflict between Hammons and a supporting cast that often resisted involving him or grew impatient with some of his inconsistencies held Purdue back. These are issues Hammons himself has assumed ac- countability, pinning blame on his own effort in many cases and displaying a keen sense of self-awareness in doing so. Consider it a lesson learned, he thinks. As for that supporting cast, this year's is entirely dif- ferent. Painter went so far this summer to speculate that had Hammons had this corps around him last season, he'd be in the NBA right now. That was sort of a bold claim, but as much a compli- ment to those who'll complement Hammons as anything else. Painter believes he'll surround Hammons this season with more shooters, better passers and more players nat- urally inclined to involve their team's best player by any means necessary. "You have a group of guys now who are excited about getting the ball inside," Painter said, "because they know the more A.J. Hammons touches the basketball, the more it helps them and the more it helps our perimeter guys, because he is an unselfish guy and he will kick it out and pass, sometimes to a fault. "If guys don't understand that …" That sentence was never finished, but rather seen last season and the year before, as Purdue was plagued by issues it never wants to experience again. Now, it believes it has an improved, though largely in- Tom Campbell Purdue coaches said they see no reason why the 7-foot Ham- mons shouldn't be a double-double player. Assistant coach Brandon Brantley set the bar high: 20 points,10 rebounds per game.