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Gold and Black Illustrated, Vol 26, Digital 2

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VOLUME 26, ISSUE 2 27 understanding was, well, offensive. Davis forced his way onto the court that year, willing himself into a prominent role on a team where it was far too easy for supreme effort to stand out. A.J. Hammons was basically handed a prominent role, the freshman 7-footer being far too talented and far too big for Painter and his staff to not run out there and lean heavily on, whether he was ready, both physically and emo- tionally, or not. While Davis tried, Hammons looked so often like he wasn't. That may not have always been reality, but that was perception during a rocky season for the young big man. That was 2012 and Purdue was bound with that team to see the program's winning standard of the prior six seasons fall flat. Too much was put on young players too quickly. The Boilermakers ended that year in something called the College Basketball Invitational, which Painter only en- tered his freshman-heavy squad in thinking it would make it better the next season. That next season, the Boilermakers finished last in the Big Ten and the program had bottomed out, or so it ap- peared. A bunch of players transferred. But as Painter says, "I think some things have happened because of the guys who have stayed." Those guys: Davis and Hammons. Things are different now, night-and-day different, as Davis and Hammons, now seniors, prepare to lead a top-25 team. Only about a year-and-a-half after one of the lowest points in the modern history of Purdue's program, the out- look is about as bright as it's been during said era. Painter's coached some very good teams at Purdue. Great teams, you might even say. They were preceded in 2006-07 by the contributions of two seniors, David Teague and Carl Landry. Teague was a fiery guard who played as if his life de- pended on it, with an energy that seemed to seep from his pores. Landry was subdued, an ultra-talented player who al- ways came off as reluctant to accept how good he could be, and who didn't fully cash in on that awesome potential until late in his college career. It was those two players who are widely credited with establishing Purdue's winning foundation in the first place under Painter. Today, it's been two strikingly similar players who have helped restore it. As personalities, Davis and Teague are one in the same, just as Landry and Hammons were cut from that same cloth of being enigmatic and almost sheepish, but brilliantly tal- ented and physically gifted. As Teague and Landry did before them, Davis and Ham- mons have helped re-invent a winning culture. Not that it was gone very long, just those two seasons, plus the first half of last season. On their way to doing so, Davis and Hammons each re-invented themselves. Way back in 2009 — that's when Davis committed to the Boilermakers following his freshman season at Fort Wayne's South Side High School — the two future Purdue teammates were summer teammates, playing for the same Spiece AAU squad. Davis, then, was the consummate offensive-minded high school star, his game defined more by the superficial than the substance that's come to make him successful at Purdue. He shot the ball a lot and on defense, he barely tried. Hammons was overweight and as former summer team- mate turned Big Ten rival Yogi Ferrell puts it, "so lazy." Now, here's Davis, the Big Ten's reigning Defensive Player-of-the-Year and the face of Purdue's renewed iden- tity, and Hammons, his body totally transformed over time, giving him the look of one of the best big men in college basketball, which he should be this season, with a new- found consistency and urgency and increased self-aware- ness about him. They've been together a long time, come a long way side-by-side and have been through the hardest of times as competitors, only to experience, they hope, some of the best of times as seniors. Gold and Black Illustrated sat down with Purdue's two seniors for this roundtable conversation. Gold and Black: How did losing your first two years shape you? Davis: "It showed that not everything is going to be handed to you just because you go to a big school. It doesn't mean you make the (NCAA) Tournament, it doesn't mean you're guaranteed any wins, and it doesn't mean every- thing is easy. I think losing lets you know who you really

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