Issue link: http://read.uberflip.com/i/515571
GOLDANDBLACK EXPRESS • VOLUME 25, EXPRESS 28 • 6 he was ultimately named to the second team — for the bulk of the Big Ten season and presumably barely missing out on Big Ten Defensive Player-of-the-Year honors to Davis. Defense loomed large in the Boilermakers' sudden turnaround. Purdue was porous on D during the non-conference season, particularly during a three-game losing streak that sent it limping into conference play with a lackluster 8-5 record. In Big Ten play, however, as Painter shortened his rotation and more or less scrapped zone, Purdue suddenly morphed into one of the top defensive teams in the league, leading it in field goal percentage defense. But the biggest piece of the puzzle was quite possibly the amazing story of Octeus, the one-year transfer point guard who showed up on campus just weeks prior to the season and not only stabilized the team's most questioned position, but gave it a legitimate standout. Purdue's resurgent season ended in crushing fashion, as it let slip a seven- point lead in the final 50 seconds against Cincinnati and was ousted from the NCAA Tournament in overtime. But the best may be yet to come. Purdue returns every key player — and that includes Hammons, who announced his decision to return for his senior season on April 18 — but Octeus. It also welcomes Swanigan and fifth-year point guard transfer Hill, making for one of the deepest, most talented — and experienced — teams Painter has had in West Lafayette. NO. 3: JOHNSON WINS TWO Steele Johnson wants to have fun. But his desire to win while doing so is equally as strong, if not more so. He showed that at the NCAA Championships in late March, when the freshman diver won the 1-meter and platform national titles. It's his love for the sport that allowed the Carmel native to put in the necessary training to become the country's best collegiate diver. "I have a lot of fun with it," he said. "I come to practice and I enjoy doing flips. Flips are fun to me. I love jumping off that springboard thing, I like jumping off that big tall platform. Most people, they see diving as a job, or 'I'm here, I'm going to do my dives and go home.' But I'm like 'Yeah, I get to do flips.' There's not a lot of people in this world that can do that, so I'm going to enjoy it while I can." Johnson tried to take that approach into the NCAAs, and it worked for him early. On the first day of the competition, he scored an upset win, taking home first place in the 1-meter, a discipline that hadn't been Tom Campbell Only a freshman, Steele Johnson already has two NCAA titles on his résumé. Next summer, he'll look toward Olympic success.