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GOLD & BLACK ILLUSTRATED VOLUME 25, ISSUE 4 56 BY BRIAN NEUBERT BNeubert@GoldandBlack.com A.J. Hammons held a hard post seal-off, snared a textbook lob entry pass with his right hand, then threw down a sudden, violent dunk, all in the sin- gular motion. Then, he flexed and howled. That sequence in Purdue's land- mark win at Indiana encapsulat- ed beautifully the Boilermaker big man's striking development into both a presence and a personality for a team that has piled onto his back during the course of the past month or so. This is the player Purdue has badly needed its previously enig- matic centerpiece to become. This is what the Boilermakers figured to need from him this season to have a chance to do exactly what they're doing now: Winning and reversing the trajectory of a program that had gone sideways since the fall of 2012. You see, Hammons has always during his college career been about flashes, those five or six plays a game, those dozen or so games a season, where you couldn't help but look at the 7-footer and see both a blossoming college star and future professional. A flash, however, is fleeting by defi- nition and so have been Hammons'. His career arc through two-and-a- half seasons at Purdue was more a flicker, maybe twinkle if you want to put more of a half-glass-full face on it. Make no mistake: Hammons has been a productive player since his first day on campus, but productive and prolific are two very different things, and all parties involved have long wanted the latter over just the former. Again, there were flashes. They came and went, came and went, came and went to a maddening extent, with all the steadiness and consistency of a blown turn-signal bulb. Hammons' talent and massive physical gifts have been his ally, but also his foe, because they set the standard for him, the level of expec- tation he's struggled to get the better of. He has admitted before to not al- ways handling stress particularly well and expectations have been a strain at times, especially now on a team for which he's responsible for so much. Burning Bright When Purdue needed him most, Hammons figured it out Jamie Owens/J.Scott Photography