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GOLD AND BLACK ILLUSTRATED VOLUME 28, ISSUE 2 36 the wing to free the power forward spot for Swanigan. In so doing, he handed over some particularly juicy matchup advantages, the ones he thrived against as a freshman, then tore up at Minnesota as a sophomore in the one game Swanigan didn't play in, coincidence or not. Edwards played the 4 most of last season, but not on a starting basis until he came back into the first five. It was then that Painter instead moved Haas to the bench to start Swanigan at center. Now, Edwards will be the Boilermaker's full-time 4 man, playing all the minutes he can handle, at that po- sition and possibly at that position only. After college, Edwards will probably move back to a small forward or wing sort of role when he takes the shot at the NBA he's now looked into twice and twice opted — wisely — to return to Purdue. Edwards' position, though, is far less important to his success than his approach. Purdue has a bunch of outstanding players on this season's team, reflected by the fact that the Boilermak- ers lost a Player-of-the-Year finalist and are still consid- ered a top-25 team and legitimate Big Ten contender. Edwards was named to the Big Ten's 10- man all-conference team, but was one of four Boilermakers voted for, the others be- ing Mathias, Haas and sophomore Carsen Edwards. But Vincent Edwards is different. He's 6-foot-8, 220-plus pounds, with guard skills enough to be a 40-plus-per- cent three-point shooter two years run- ning and a two-time team leader in assists as a forward, with more than 300 for his career now. Edwards is Purdue's best, craftiest scorer off the dribble and one of its best mid-range shooters. He's a clever post-up player capa- ble of getting high-percentage shots up over (or under) anyone and a savvy enough pass- er to make the right play, as Painter would say, when it's there for someone else. The offensive rebounding is value added. On that front, rebounding will be a question for Purdue this season minus the vortex that was Swanigan. "Vince will take that personally," Mathias said. Add that all up and it shows a player equipped well to move into the sort of alpha role he's not yet held at Pur- due, while future pros like A.J. Hammons and Swanigan commanded so much usage. Is he ready? He looked it at the World University Games, where Ed- wards might have been the best player at the event. He made 57 percent of his shots and scored 19.3 points per game, but it wasn't what he did that stood out, but how he did it. "I've seen a lot of growth in him and the confidence he's playing with right now," said classmate P.J. Thomp- son, also a co-captain. Edwards played in Taipei with a certain authority, the look of a player who wanted to be the difference between his team winning and his team losing, and good enough to be the reason it would be the former far more than the latter. In the semifinals against Israel, maybe the best team SPORTS FOOD TRIVIA LIVE MUSIC OPEN DAILY 11 AM - 3 AM CORNER OF SIXTH AND SALEM IN LAFAYETTE