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20 GOLD AND BLACK ILLUSTRATE VOLUME 26, ISSUE 3 and foul shooting and ceased turning the ball over so much, all key compo- nents to Purdue's success this season. Thompson looks like twice the player now that he was 12 months ago, help- ing answer (thus far) Purdue's big- gest, maybe only, personnel question in advance of this season. That "culture" that seemingly turned on a dime has propagated it- self. "What you see is guys always want- ing to do more and finding other ways and opportunities to work on their game or work on their body or to go up and watch film with coaches," said the program's sports performance coach, Josh Bonhotal, the point man for off-season training, among many other things. "Then they're talking about it with each other and pulling each other in. It's not about one guy coming in on his own. It's about that player getting two or three guys to come with him, whether it's shooting, lifting or whatever it may be. You have that dynamic where people are being great teammates and getting people to come put in work with them." That environment has loomed every bit as large in Purdue's turnaround as any other factor. FIFTH-YEAR SUCCESS Last season, Purdue got back on sol- id footing by experiencing some suc- cess, laying the groundwork for this year's success so far, and the projected success to come. Would last year's success — the foundation for Purdue's current stand- ing — have been possible without Jon Octeus? Maybe. Maybe not. Octeus came to Purdue as a fifth- year transfer, a graduated player free under NCAA rules to transfer to an- other school (provided it has a grad- uate program unavailable at his prior school) immediately eligible to play his final season of college basketball. He was an important player for Pur- due at an important position. But he was also an important pres- ence, bringing a maturity and profes- sional approach to a young team that benefited considerably from his influ- ence. "I look at him as like an older broth- er now," Thompson said. "He was huge for Purdue." Purdue hit the fifth-year market again in the spring for another point guard, Johnny Hill, who has platooned with Thompson at the point and thus far been everything the Boilermakers have needed him to be. Painter figures the fifth-year trans- fer loophole will one day be changed to address the de facto free agency that's been created by a rule implemented for academic, not athletic, purposes. If it does change, Hill might be dis- appointed, because he feels the flex- ibility it affords graduated players is worthwhile in the cases of those who simply want to experience new things, as he's gotten to do at Purdue. But whether the rule stays, goes or changes, it will have played a key role in the Boilermaker program getting back on its feet following its two-year slide. RECRUITING 'MISSES' Haas was committed to Wake For- est for months before blindsiding ev- eryone — Purdue included, maybe — by signing with the Boilermakers. Swanigan waited until the spring, then backed off a short-lived commit- ment to Michigan State before ink- ing with Purdue. Thompson and Hill signed with Purdue as spring recruits, too. Octeus enrolled in October. Few have benefited more from 11th- hour scholarship space than Purdue. That space might not have been there had other recruits claimed it first. Coaches sometimes say that the recruits they don't get can be just as important as the ones they do. All due respect to Seth Dugan, but if the Michigan big man hadn't stiffed Purdue for closer-to-home West- ern Michigan last fall, Purdue likely doesn't get either Swanigan or Hill in the spring and Dugan is almost cer- tainly redshirting behind Haas and Hammons in West Lafayette as we speak. All due respect to Jabari Craig, who signed with USC but went to junior college and now, coincidentally, might again get recruited by Purdue, but if the Boilermakers had landed him, then they never get Haas. Then there's former Louisville big man transfer Zach Price. Purdue wanted him. It didn't get him, then put that scholarship to good use as Price fizzled out spectacularly at Missouri. Had Purdue gotten Virginia Tech center transfer Trevor Thompson two springs ago, it would have three cen- ters on its roster and one fewer schol- arship, maybe the one Swanigan took. Things have had a funny way of working out. Owens wants no part of anything that can be construed as him speaking ill of other teams' players. But when presented with various hypotheticals that could have unfold- ed, he smiles. "We're happy with the guys we have," he says. j