Complete series: Vincent Edwards first, second installments | Isaac Haas first, second | Dakota Mathias first, second | P.J. Thompson first, second

It's a big week for Purdue's seniors with one road venue left to check off the list (Illinois) and the final home game in Mackey Arena.

That's a recipe for emotions to be high.

Dakota Mathias knows this.

So he's trying to take it one step at a time: First with the Illini Thursday in Champaign, the only Big Ten city this class hasn't won in. Then: Figuring out that senior day speech.

But that didn't stop Mathias from putting bets, so to speak, on which of the seniors will cry on Sunday following the game against Minnesota when the group offers thank yous and whatever else to the likely packed crowd in Mackey. (That guy? He got called "soft.")

Much more from the sharp-shooter who dropped 18 points against Penn State in a necessary bounce-back game Sunday in our "Lasting Legacy" series, including whether he will use that final Mackey appearance to dunk for the first time in a game.

We're doing this series on the seniors, in part, because we initially featured this class when they were freshmen.

So we'll make sure to pair the most-recent installments with "flashbacks" from Year 1.

Here is Mathias' third piece, from late February, three years ago:

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