The attached photo caused some ripples on the tweetermachine over the weekend, as Purdue fans noted that yes, AJ Hammons is indeed in this photo and no, AJ isn’t sitting on a stool or something. Isaac Haas is just that massive. While I would like to caution everybody to remember that Haas is going to be a freshman and we all know how polished incoming freshman usually are, particularly big men, I don’t want to be a complete wet blanket. There hasn’t been a lot to be excited about lately, as we’ve documented, and so sure, if you want to drift off to sleep each night dreaming of Purdue having not one but two viable 7-footers this season, you go right ahead.

It’s all about expectations, right? If you’re expecting 20/10 out of Haas this season, you’re going to be disappointed. But if you say, “But hey, all he really has to do to alter the game is stand in the lane on defense,” then you’d be correct. I know we’ll all be very eager to see how Isaac’s game is progressing as November approaches. (Speaking of November, imagine being poor Isaac or AJ as they fold themselves into an airplane seat for the flight to Hawaii for the Maui Invitational.)

AJ Hammons put up a 30 point performance in a loss to IU his freshman year, so obviously those outbursts are fair to expect – I think it’s just also wise to expect a lack of consistency. And hey, I guess I qualify as a Purdue-related writer as here I am talking about tempering expectations. Ugh.

However, the difference here is that I’m simply saying that a freshman big man won’t be as polished or consistent as he will ultimately have the potential to be. Any solid production you get out of him this season is kind of gravy – it should be AJ hauling the load as a junior. No more excuses there. He’s the man now.

In the meantime, Mr. Haas can chip in in the following ways:

• Pushing AJ hard in practice, something nobody really had the size to do before now
• Spelling AJ when needed, either due to fatigue or foul trouble
• Being a second massive, shot blocker to put on the floor alongside AJ just to terrorize teams
• Getting cats out of trees when the fire department is busy
• Getting things off of high shelves for AJ

Just over 100 days until the Boilermakers’ first exhibition game on Nov 2 vs California (the one in Pennsylvania, not the one with the pretty girls).