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30 GOLD AND BLACK ILLUSTRATED high school where a lot of people just thought if you play basketball, you'll go to college and things like that. I have a foundation with my family. To come in here and especially win De- fensive Player-of-the-Year, it probably surprised a lot of people, but the work you put in will come out. I know a lot of people know I work hard, so in my eyes I still haven't achieved everything I wanted to achieve coming into Pur- due. That's what this season's for." Gold and Black: A.J., prior to midway through last season, did you feel like you'd underachieved? Hammons: "I always knew I was capable of more. I just never did it. Or I was kind of not allowed to do it. And I didn't work on it enough, so that al- ways went into it, too." Gold and Black: How satisfying was last season? Hammons: "It wasn't satisfying at all. We lost." (To Cincinnati in the NCAA Tourna- ment.) Gold and Black: You lost one game. Hammons: "That one game ended our season. I was mad about that." Gold and Black: Rapheal, when did winning become so important to you? Davis: "I've always been a guy that likes to win and I'd do anything to win. It was how I was brought up. It's how I am as a person. Coming in last place, that's embarrassing. It's still embar- rassing to this day. … Coming back for an alumni game 20 years from now, I'll be old but will still know we came in last place in 2013 and I was here for that. My freshman year we lost to Indiana by 30 points two differ- ent times. I was here for that. You look Celebrates Purdue's Student-Athletes www.MeetYouAtArnis.com LAFAYETTE • INDIANAPOLIS • GREENWOOD Visit one of our 18 Indiana locations World Famous Pizza, Salads, Sandwiches Meet You At Arni's TM Hayden Hamby Senior, Health Science Professional Hamby, a fourth-year guard from Trinity, Ala., on the women's basketball team, earned the Big Ten's Distinguished Scholar Award which encompasses only students with a minimum GPA of 3.7 or higher for the previous academic year, excluding summer school. To qualify for the Distinguished Scholar Award, recipients must be letterwinners in at least their second academic year at their institution. Purdue had 62 student-athletes earn the award, including nine that had a 4.0: Jamie Bissett, Mary Gooding, Grace Hernandez, Anji Li, Sharise Lund, Lizzy Lyon, Laura Maibuecher, Carly Marshall and Rhiannon Sheets. It's All On GoldandBlack.com The Best Purdue Sports Information On The Web • Real-time recruiting • Game stories, analysis and blogs • Premium message boards • Video, audio, live stream events and more • Exclusive access to premium information Part of the Rivals.com network Free trials available! Note: GoldandBlack.com is a separate subscription than your subscription to Gold & Black Illustrated/Gold and Black EXPRESS.