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GOLD AND BLACK ILLUSTRATED VOLUME 26, ISSUE 3 17 career and he will leave having played a leading role in turning Purdue back into a winner. But his presence also mattered in Purdue's assemblage of the country's most physically imposing frontcourt. Haas says he'd have chosen the Boilermakers with or without Ham- mons. He cited Painter's honesty in recruiting him as central to him pick- ing Purdue after he opted not to sign with Wake Forest. But it certainly didn't hurt the Boil- ermakers' cause that the expectation of an open starting position existed. Painter says that it can be a great challenge to recruit sometimes when a team has young players established for the long haul and when Haas' de- cision day came, Hammons had two more years of eligibility at Purdue remaining, but no guarantee he was going to use them. What followed was a rare occur- rence: Hammons stayed, then took Haas under his considerable wing, to the point it helped the then-freshman last season beat the upperclassman out for a starting position. Then, Hammons stayed again and even though he was terrific last Big Ten season, he again finds himself a backup, though in effect, a sixth start- er. Regardless of who starts, the combi- nation of the two has been dominant, combining for about 25 points,14-and- a-half rebounds and three-plus blocks per game, with much-improved effi- ciency and drastically reduced turn- over totals. With the lure of the professional ranks for any and all quality big men, any school with a preeminent center can be counted among the fortunate few. Purdue has two of them. That combination wouldn't have been possible had Hammons' career unfolded as was widely expected and he bolted the program early. And just as importantly, it was Ham- mons' return the second time around that laid the groundwork for the move Purdue made in the hotly contested recruitment of Swanigan, who chose the Boilermakers over Michigan State, Duke, Kentucky and pretty much ev- eryone else. Painter recruited him with a mod- el in mind of the massive front-liner playing power forward whereas most others likely would have played him at center. Hammons' return gave Purdue credibility in its ability to tell Swani- gan not only that it would not play him extensively at center but that, really, it could not. And the notion of playing alongside talented 7-footers mattered to Swani- gan from a basketball-fit perspective, that fit so far proving to be a smash- ing — literally, opposing frontcourts might say— success. "That was huge," Swanigan says of his decision. "Probably the main fac- tor was A.J. coming back." SHOOTING Not only does Purdue have an im- MAY 19, 2015 After originally committing to Michigan State in the spring, Swanigan switches his commit- ment to Purdue, giving the Boiler- maker program maybe the most significant recruiting win in its his- tory. The McDonald's All-American and two-time gold medal-winner finalizes the imposing frontcourt trio that made Purdue one of college basketball's best teams in the early stages of the 2015-16 season. APRIL 18, 2015 At halftime of Purdue football's spring game, Hammons announc- es he'll again be passing on a chance to move to the profession- al level and returning to school. This means the center, considered his whole career a likely early-en- try case, will see his eligibility through to the end. It also means that Purdue has another year of Hammons and Haas as a tandem. It also — and very importantly — lays the groundwork for Pur- due's recruitment of elite prospect Caleb Swanigan, who chose the Boilermakers in large part due to the opportunity to play forward instead of center. Timeline photos by Tom Campbell (Mathias, Haas, Cline, Hammons); Jamie Owens (Thompson); Colorado (Octeus); McDonald's (Swanigan)