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GOLD AND BLACK ILLUSTRATED VOLUME 27, ISSUE 5 62 CERAMIC • ENGINEERED HARDWOOD LAMINATES • MARBLE CARPETING Specializing in • Homes • Businesses • Churches • Schools Where Contractors Buy Their Flooring Builders! Call our Contract Department and ask for our Contract Specialist 3437 South Street 765-447-9393 800-403-6889 FAX 765-448-9978 Across from the Post Office GO BOILERS Home of Boilermaker Hospitality earned him All-Big Ten this season; he settled for honorable mention and a spot on the All-Defense team. Thompson is steady and heady, back for his third year as Purdue's primary point guard. His assist-to-turnover numbers remained astronomical even as he was emboldened to make more plays as a ju- nior. And few players in college basketball made as many big shots as the smallest player on the floor did for Purdue. Cline improved considerably as a soph- omore and his role could expand if Swan- igan leaves and Vincent Edwards returns to operate full-time as Purdue's 4, freeing minutes at the 3 for Cline, among others. Purdue's newcomers will impact the backcourt and wing mix. Players like freshmen Nojel Eastern and Aaron Wheeler and junior college forward Eden Ewing — along with 7-foot-3 big man Matt Haarms up front — make the Boilermakers exponentially longer and more athletic than they were this season. How much that will matter next season remains to be seen, but it will represent less of a deficit than existed in 2016-17. Eastern, who's 6-6 and built more like a forward than a traditional college guard, is probably a safe bet to be Purdue's No. 2 point guard, with the size, length and ath- letic chops to play — and defend — more than one position. He probably stands as the newcomer best positioned to impact next season, but if Purdue's frontcourt takes some NBA gut-punches, then Ewing finds himself in the right place at the right time for big minutes. Wheeler is a big-time athlete with skill, height and length, but is known to be a bit unrefined, with physical development to be done. Chances are, Purdue will be in position to bring him along slowly if it needs to. Same for sharp-shooting freshman Sasha Stefanovic, a bit of a redundancy