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VOLUME 27, ISSUE 2 37 P.J. Thompson was fuming. It was only an open gym in the sum- mer, but his team had just lost. And it was partly because Isaac Haas wasn't being Isaac Haas. That simply wasn't acceptable to the Boilermakers' point guard. So the diminutive junior with the menacing scar underneath his right eye, upping his intimidation factor, tracked Haas down on the sideline. It wasn't quite a stare-down — Thompson gives up a good 16 inches to the massive Haas — but Thompson said his piece. In a very firm way. With a "little bit" of salty language even. The gist: "You're one of the best centers in the country. You're supposed to be our guy this year. Play like it." The main complaint stemmed from Haas not keeping up with the back-and-forth flow of the game, a cardio issue that quickly became apparent when Purdue first started working out post-A.J. Hammons and Haas was re- quired to be on the court for loads of consecutive minutes because no sub was available. When Haas got tired, his whole mind would go, losing focus, not listening well, not communicating well and all that led to making bad deci- sions. It was becoming a consistent issue: Fatigue would win. And Haas couldn't let it, not for Purdue's sake. Thompson knew it. So he couldn't keep quiet. "We need you to play a lot of minutes this year. You can't be really good for the first few minutes and dominate and then wear down," Thompson barked. "We need you to keep getting better and better." Haas listened. But, more importantly, he heard. "It just hit me," said Haas, the one who brought the confrontation to light. "I was like, 'You know what? Fine.' I'm going to get up every single morning. I'm going to work, and I'm going to be that guy for this team down low." That response may have changed the trajectory of Pur- due's season. Few programs have a physically imposing presence like the junior, a 7-foot-2, 295-pound ridiculously chiseled specimen that's as solid as The Boilermaker statue. He spent the summer gaining more muscle and cutting down fat, an ongoing project since he arrived at Purdue, and he's down to an unreal 7.8 percent. But Haas knew that looking like he was in peak condi- tion wasn't the same as being in it, and the open practice when Thompson called him out was a wake-up call. Haas said in September he hadn't thought much about being the man without Hammons, that he wanted the fo- cus to be on the team and not on him, but he also knows he could be destined for a special season if he is truly in the best condition he can be. A well-conditioned Haas — to go with a more athlet- ic and more aggressive one; teammates said there have been strides in those areas, too — is a scary proposition. "We really feel like he's one of the better back-to-the- basket centers in the country," Thompson said. "I think he's an all-conference type of guy. If he's all-conference, I think Purdue is in pretty good (position) to win the Big Ten. I think we have a decent amount of guys who can be on the (all-conference) teams. If everyone does their role and he does his role, which is dominate on the block and play defense, I don't see how we don't win the Big Ten." Those goals may only be possible because Haas re- sponded to Thompson with not only words about what he would do but with action. The practices allowed by the NCAA in preparation for the Spain trip in August first gave Haas an indicator his conditioning didn't meet the standard — that's when he logged a bunch of minutes because Jacquil Taylor was the only other true center sub, and he was usually going against Haas. But it was after the Spain trip when Thomp- son chirped at Haas and when true change came. First, Haas added extra conditioning to his schedule. After popping out of bed at 7, 7:30 and chowing on Rai- sin Bran, he headed over to the training room each morn- ing. There, athletic trainer Chad Young greeted him and asked how he was feeling. That answer usually affected Tom Campbell With A.J. Hammons gone, junior Isaac Haas finally will get a chance to become Purdue's focal point in the paint. Will he be able to handle it? "I think he's ready for it because he got to learn and see what it takes to be that guy. This is his opportunity to show that he's that guy," teammate Jacquil Taylor said.