GOLD AND BLACK ILLUSTRATED VOLUME 28, ISSUE 3 57
saw E'Twaun Moore, JaJuan Johnson, etc., play.
"I just remember them being a really good team,"
Haarms says now. "The name 'Boilermaker' stuck with
me, because in sports it's always just a 'Bulldog' or 'Bob-
cat' or something like that. I asked my dad what a Boil-
ermaker was. It struck me as being interesting."
The brand resonated with Haarms when he moved to
the U.S. and with it eventually came an understanding
of Purdue's reputation for developing big men. Haarms
mentioned Hammons to Painter in that first meeting,
too.
He didn't quite recruit Purdue when its coaches vis-
ited his school, but he definitely put out a vibe, one way
or another.
"He just thought that was the ideal place for him,
because of our development of big guys," Painter said.
"He's an intelligent person, a very, very intelligent per-
son, and sometimes intelligent people, coaching them,
they know a lot, think a lot and process things. It really
came out in that first meeting.
"He was impressed with us, but we walked away im-
pressed with him."
This was September. Soon after, he was in West La-
fayette for a football weekend official visit. On Oct. 4, he
was committed.
To hear Painter tell it, it sounds as if Purdue's coach
is almost remorseful to have pulled in a recruit that oth-
er schools dedicated more time and effort into pursu-
ing. He's been on the other end of it, he'll tell you, and
he's too respectful of other coaches to not feel for them,
to some extent.
But he'll get over it.
With every shot Haarms turns away, with every
NBA-résumé step-back jumper the towering big man
sticks, with every contested rebound he grabs and every
two-handed dunk he finishes rolling to the rim — and
most importantly, with every game he helps those Boil-
ermakers win — Purdue's coach's conscience needles
him less and less.
j
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