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GOLDANDBLACK EXPRESS • VOLUME 25, EXPRESS 23 • 12 ing him for both. Still, Davis clearly has risen to the challenge when given those big-time as- signments, playing major roles in slow- ing some of the league's best players this season (Michigan's Caris LeVert, Nebraska's Terran Petteway, Dekker and Maryland's Melo Trimble, among others). He's had success because of his prepa- ration — "I know what's coming," he said — in film study and because of his physical abilities. "Just being versatile and being able to be so physical has really helped me a lot," he said. "I think getting physical guys on the perimeter and also guys knowing how I can guard pretty much 1-4, so littler guys, they know how physical I can be and big- ger guys know how quick I can be on the block or physical as well (helps). "I always talked in the summertime with Coach (Brandon) Brantley about hav- ing defensive success and he would always ask me, 'Who's going to be the defensive stopper on the team?' I always said, 'me.' So I guess I spoke it into existence." Maybe more than that. Painter said Davis "without question" should be an All-Defensive Team selection this season. The once "non-defensive player" wouldn't mind that either. "My freshman year, I didn't even know defense coming into the season. But it's a goal for me now. It's a goal for the rest of my career," he said. "I think I could be a good pick for it, but there's also a lot of guys in the Big Ten who play good defense." BRACKET BREAKDOWN A Monday bracketology check showed Purdue still in the field for CBSsports.com's Jerry Palm and ESPN.com's Joe Lunardi. Despite the loss Sunday at Ohio State, Palm still had Purdue as a No. 10 seed, playing in Portland. He had the Boil- ermakers matched up with No. 7 St. John's with No. 2 Arizona awaiting the winner. Palm said Friday, be- fore Purdue's game with Ohio State, that the Boil- ermakers likely would need to win at least one of their final three regular-season games to feel good about the NCAA Tour- nament. "The thing that fans need to realize is what you do in the conference doesn't mean anything. It's only part of who you are. You're judged on the whole, not the BIG TEN PLUS-MINUS This graphic indicates whether Purdue led or trailed when specific players were on the floor during Big Ten play. MINN MICH @WIS MARY @PSU @ILL IOWA IU NW OSU @MINN @RUT NEB @IU RUT @OSU TOT Jon Octeus +15 +14 -5 -16 +9 -6 +1 +16 +17 +7 +14 +11 +13 +13 +6 -5 +104 Vince Edwards +12 +19 -4 -12 +4 -13 -13 +10 +19 +7 -1 -3 +12 0 DNP +12 +49 Kendall Stephens +8 +15 +1 +3 +5 +1 +6 +12 -8 -9 -8 +6 +9 0 0 +5 +46 Raphael Davis +4 +11 -5 -16 +7 -9 +4 +11 +12 +2 -7 +10 +15 +1 -2 -4 +44 A.J. Hammons -2 +11 -3 -9 -1 -10 0 +13 +17 +13 -2 +7 +8 +7 -3 -5 +41 Dakota Mathias -7 -2 -4 -3 +4 -7 +1 +2 +17 +13 +2 +2 +3 +4 +5 -9 +21 Isaac Haas +6 +2 -4 -1 +8 +1 +3 +8 -7 -11 -2 +3 +4 +2 +7 +1 +20 Basil Smotherman -8 -8 -7 +3 +1 +4 +15 +5 -13 -5 -3 +13 0 +1 +17 -16 -1 Jon McKeeman DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP -2 DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP -2 Neal Beshears DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP -2 DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP -2 Stephen Toyra DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP -2 DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP -2 P.J. Thompson -9 +3 -4 +6 -2 -3 +3 -8 DNP DNP -2 +1 -4 -4 +7 DNP -16 Bryson Scott +1 DNP DNP 0 0 -3 DNP +17 -14 -7 -11 DNP DNP -4 -2 +1 -22