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GOLDANDBLACK EXPRESS • VOLUME 25, EXPRESS 25 • 4 L ast spring, after A.J. Hammons wisely elect- ed to return to Purdue for his junior season, he said of his goals for that sea- son, "I just want to go to the NCAA Tournament." Now, largely because of the 7-footer's excellent Big Ten season, he will have that opportunity. It was delicious news for Purdue to find out Sunday night it would be headed to Louisville's KFC Yum! Center to play gritty Cincinnati as the No. 9 seed in the Midwest Regional. It's Purdue's first NCAA trip since 2012, a significant accomplishment for a program that needed to do something positive this season, but couldn't have been foreseen pri - or to the season, or even midway through it, as a Tournament team. The Boilermakers are ahead of schedule to being "back," if you ask me, and just mak- ing the NCAA field is cause for celebration. These things mustn't be taken for granted. While NCAA Tournament bids are a standard of expectation for so many sto- ried programs, Purdue's among them, that shouldn't make them any less appreciated, any less savored. Many schools out there hang banners just for going. Programs like Purdue's expect to go, to the point it seems like crisis when they don't, as the painful past two seasons have reminded. This is a big, big deal for Purdue to get back. But this is also an opportunity for Ham- mons, the player Purdue now needs to lean on most in the highest-stakes games of the season. In sudden-death mode, you go as far as your best players can take you, and Hammons can be Purdue's decided advan- tage against most anyone. And this is a big stage for him. In a few weeks, Hammons will have to wrestle with that same decision he did a year earlier: Whether to stay or go. There's no easy answer. As a soon-to-be-23-year-old, he's geri- atric by draft-prospect standards and that is an obstacle for him, whether it be now or later. But the NCAA Tournament is the ulti- mate proving ground for potential pros, the greatest showcase and most effective multi- plier for one's draft stock. Hammons can really, really, really help himself by playing well on the biggest stage his sport affords him at the college level. If Purdue can win what is sure to be a back-alley fistfight against Cincinnati and share the floor with Kentucky — or Man- hattan or Hampton, but probably Kentucky (yes, I'm kidding) — then Hammons will have the ultimate showcase at his fingertips. Purdue can't win that game, in my opin- ion, but maybe it could make it a game the way it did against eventual champion Flor- ida and eventual runner-up Kansas in '07 and 2012, respectively. But we're getting ahead of ourselves. Cincinnati's up first and Purdue's run of 14 consecu- tive NCAA-opening wins is on the line. This might be ultimate fighting as much as basket- ball. First to three-dozen may win. For Hammons, it's a great test. It was just a couple weeks ago that Michigan State roughed him up — and officials allowed it to — and took Hammons out of the game. Maybe now there can be some benefit in such defeat. Hammons will have to bring it against the Bearcats the way he did not, or could not, against the Spartans. He has to fight back. And win. If he does, that will help Purdue so very much. And it might help Hammons even more. j Neubert can be contacted at BNeubert@GoldandBlack.com F R O M E D I T O R B R I A N N E U B E R T All Eyes On Hammons