Blog ($): Caleb Swanigan deserved this, but earned it

Purdue All-American Caleb Swanigan is headed to the Portland Trailblazers, after the franchise used their first-round pick to select him.

He was drafted 26th overall.

As a sophomore at Purdue, the former McDonald's All-American and two-time gold medalist with USA Basketball averaged 18-and-a-half points and 12-and-a-half rebounds and led the Boilermakers to a Big Ten regular season title and a Sweet 16 appearance in the NCAA Tournament.

As a result, he was named Big Ten Player-of-the-Year and a finalist for every national player-of-the-year award there is, then in the spring elected to remain in the draft after going through the evaluation process for the second time in as many years.

Swanigan becomes the sixth Purdue player drafted during Matt Painter's tenure in West Lafayette, joining Carl Landry, JaJuan Johnson, E'Twaun Moore, Robbie Hummel and A.J. Hammons.

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