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GOLDANDBLACK EXPRESS • VOLUME 25, EXPRESS 28 • 13 training camp in Dayton, Ohio. The 10-member team departs for China May 28 and is scheduled to play six or seven games before returning June 9. "This is a really big opportunity for me to get better as a leader on and off the court and to gain great experience while seeing a different part of the world," Thompson said in a release. "This will only help me get ready and prepare for the upcoming season." Right now, Thompson is the only true point guard on Purdue's roster after the transfer of Bryson Scott and departure of Octeus. Thompson played in 30 games as a freshman, averaging 13.6 minutes. He averaged 2.4 points and 1.1 assists and had a 1.74 assist-to-turnover ratio. "I think he did a great job for us last year being ready to play," Painter said. "It's hard to be comfortable as a player when your minutes aren't consistent. But that's the role when you get in that eight, nine, 10 dangerous spots. I've played in those spots. I know exactly what he goes through, what he feels. He needs to get in games and stay in games to show his true value, but he's got to get himself in that position. "Playing in competition, no matter what it is, I think will really help him." PURDUE ADDS LEGACY AS A WALK-ON Grady Eifert, a 6-6 forward from Fort Wayne and the son of former Boilermaker player Greg Eifert, will walk on at Purdue next season. "I just think it's a great option for me, because I'm comfortable with Purdue," he said. "My dad went there and my sister goes there now. I just saw an opportunity when Coach Painter offered me. We waited it out some to see if anything else would happen, but I kept feeling more and more comfortable with that decision and ended up thinking that was the best way to go." Eifert graduated from Bishop Dwenger in Fort Wayne, then spent a post-graduate year at Don Bosco Prep in Crown Point. He elected to join Purdue as a non-scholarship player instead of accepting one of the Division II offers that came his way. Purdue has actively looked for walk-ons this recruiting year to round out the roster following the graduation of Neal Beshears and departure in-season of Anfernee Brown, who decided to concentrate fully on school. NOTEBOOK S Newly committed freshman big man Caleb Swanigan has signed his scholarship paperwork with Purdue and plans to enroll for summer school, but could have a conflict that might pull him away from West Lafayette for a portion of the summer. Swanigan will try out for the same USA Basketball 19-and- Under World Championships team, as will current Boilermaker sophomore Vince Edwards. "If he makes that — or when he makes that — he'll be gone playing on the U.S. national team until after the Fourth of July," Swanigan's adopted father, Roosevelt Barnes, said. Training camp runs from June 12-26 in Colorado Springs. If Swanigan, or Edwards, makes the team, the event runs from June 27 through July 5 in Crete, Greece. The first summer school session at Purdue begins June 15. The second session begins June 29. S Keady Court is in the process of being refinished, a project expected to be completed in June. Designs will not be shared publicly prior to completion, but no major alterations to the court's design are in the works. j SCHEDULE UPDATE What we know about Purdue's nearly complete 2015-16 schedule: • Home: Games against Vanderbilt, New Mexico, Incarnate Word and Lehigh, along with Hall of Fame Tipoff Classic campus-site games against Vermont (Nov. 15) and North Carolina A&T (Nov. 13). • Road: Purdue will visit Pittsburgh, an NIT team last season smarting from a few lost transfers, on Dec. 1 as part of the Big Ten/ ACC Challenge. • Neutral: Games against Old Dominion (Nov. 21) and either Florida or St. Joseph's (Nov. 22) in the Hall of Fame Tip-Off Classic in Connecticut and Butler in the Crossroads Classic in Indianapolis (Dec. 19). • Big Ten single-play opponents: Of those teams Purdue will play just once in the conference next season, it'll get Michigan State, Ohio State, Northwestern and Penn State at home and Indiana, Illinois, Minnesota and Rutgers on the road. — Brian Neubert Download... An updated GoldandBlack.com mobile App For the Android and iPhone at Google Play and the App Store