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10 ILLUSTRATED VOLUME 25, ISSUE 2 f BOILERMAKER BREAKDOWN OFFENSE So much depends on center A.J. Hammons, the focal point of Purdue's strategy to play inside-out. This is nothing new. It just has to work better now. Hammons seems better positioned to have his best season and needs to for the Boilermakers to be anything better than average on offense, it may seem. His supporting cast — Pur- due believes it has more shooting and more basketball sense around him — needs to make him better, but that goes both ways. Hammons' passing and decision-making down low can certainly improve. Kendall Stephens and Dakota Mathias give the Boiler- makers a pair of potentially potent shooting threats; Bryson Scott and Jon Octeus some slashers to complement them; and Vince Edwards a dimension of versatility and skill at the 4 that Painter's been looking for for years now. This doesn't seem to have the makings of much of an up-tempo team; it'll make its living in the halfcourt, where its decision-making will be put to the test, maybe the single most important area of improvement for this team. What'll be interesting to see is whether working against a zone in practice helps Purdue score against them in games. The pieces are in place for Purdue to be solid on offense but needs a previously inconsistent player, Hammons, to find consistency and a lot of young players to grow up real quick, so there's so much unknown. Purdue could stand to make life easier on itself by shooting free throws better and generating a healthy chunk of its scor- ing off the offensive glass and its efforts on defense. It has to force more turnovers. DEFENSE Don't expect Purdue to go from primarily man-to-man to primarily zone, but expect some diversity in what the Boiler- makers do. The question, obviously, is whether they can be good at it. Purdue's been lousy, by its past standards or almost any other, on defense the past two seasons. Any turnaround would have to start there. Zone might fit this team's personnel best, as it has a wealth of size and a dearth of perimeter quickness on the wing, though Octeus' addition might prove to be a game-changer there. This is where Scott can really impact this team, too. For- ward Basil Smotherman, also, if he embraces such a role. The interior should be well-covered with the Big Ten's best shot-blocker in Hammons and the Big Ten's biggest presence in Isaac Haas. REBOUNDING One thing Purdue did well last season was rebound. It should be no different this season. Hammons is the top returning rebounder in the Big Ten and a double-digit-capable player if he improves some and keeps out of foul trouble. As for Haas, when you're 7-foot-2, 300 pounds, rebounds tend to find you. Around the frontcourt, Edwards is a sneaky rebounder, though the game will get more physical than anything he's seen. Smotherman might be the guy who can take Purdue from good rebounding team to very good rebounding team if he uses his athleticism on the boards the way he did at times early last season. A concern with zone is generally what impact it has on re- bounding, but all indications early on during preseason prac- tice were that Hammons actually rebounded better in zone than he has in man. DEPTH There's just no telling, because numbers and depth are two entirely different things. Purdue is short on numbers with just 11 players recruited on scholarship; whether it's short on depth, too, remains to be seen, dependent on how the freshmen do. Previously seldom-used walk-ons Neal Beshears and Ste- phen Toyra, each of them now on scholarship, might get op- portunities this season. INTANGIBLES This is the area where Purdue has to improve above all others. Decision-making and attention to detail have held the Boil- ermakers back the past two seasons. The mix of personalities has been antagonistic and lead- ership poor. It's easy to say that after the fact, but it does ring true. Purdue thinks these issues have been remedied organical- ly with roster turnover, but time will tell. — Brian Neubert