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Gold and Black Illustrated, Vol 28, Digital 2

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GOLD AND BLACK ILLUSTRATED VOLUME 28, ISSUE 2 29 destination sort of offensive option as often as not. There's no questioning the center's productivity over the years. For his career, Haas averages double-figures in scor- ing, right at 10 points per game. And he's done it in an average of just 16.1 minutes over 104 appearances. As a junior, Haas averaged better than 12.5 points per game in merely 19.5 minutes per game. In Big Ten play, his minutes dipped by about two-and-a-half, but he still averaged 11.4 points. Now comes the opportunity the 7-2, 300-pounder has waited years for, but one that will come with chal- lenges. For one thing, he'll inevitably have to play through foul trouble and frustration with officiating for the first time in his career. He didn't have to when Purdue could just turn right back to Hammons or Swanigan when things started going sideways for Haas. And, he'll have to show he can handle bigger min- utes physically, the natural trade-off that comes with his unnatural dimensions. It's not as much a matter of how many minutes Haas carries, it's what he does with them. "Conditioning and rebounding," Haas said when asked about keys to his success this season. "And obvious- ly I rebound well if I'm in good condi- tion, so it all comes down to condition- ing and that's what I've been working on every day. "You have to understand that when you're that guy, you have to be able to play more minutes and you have to be able to do everything your team needs you to do. I think I'm ready to do what- ever it takes to win." Purdue does not have the luxury of NBA players backing up NBA players at center any longer. It does have different elements, though. When it turns to its bench, Purdue will change on offense, as backups Jacquil Taylor and Matt Haarms are very different players than Haas. "I think Matt and Jacquil give us weapons because they are more of the face-up 5s," Painter said. "They're guys who can move and pass the basketball, but can also be good at diving and slip- ping off screens in order to get some layups. I think we'll play some of the same way, and I think we can be From Our Window World Family We Love the Boilermakers! www.WindowWorldOfLafayette.com Five Indiana Locations Lafayette • Indianapolis Terre Haute • Muncie • Columbus 765-588-9207 Brian Neubert Redshirt freshman Matt Haarms provides Purdue with a more athletic option at the 5.

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