NCAA Tournament Purdue | Freshmen flash and substance

The story is Zach Edey. 30 points, 21 rebounds, just the second guy to do that in fifty years in an NCAA Tournament.

The story is Braden Smith. He's screaming at himself at mid-court because three threes wasn't enough. He expects every one to go in on his way to 11 points, 10 assists, and 5 rebounds, an absolute master class of point guard play.

But the story is also 21:38, 8 points, 3 rebounds and an assist.

It's 11:57 and 3 rebounds, 0-3 shooting including two missed three.

Those numbers might not look a lot, but they represent what looked like Purdue's future, the two freshmen who come off the bench for Matt Painter, Camden Heide and Myles Colvin, respectively.

The thing is, after just 5 minutes and 21 seconds, Heide was one of the first two subs in for Painter. A minute later, Colvin was following Heide onto the court.

Purdue's future has shown up early.

The big plays are easy to mark.

It's Camden Heide sprinting full speed down the court. It's something him and point guard Braden Smith practice. It's a luxury that Smith didn't have last year.

Smith saw him and a half dribble later, he's floating a ball way above the rim and Heide goes up and gets it. Heide's length and athleticism is something not many coaches have the luxury of to go to off the bench.

Matt Painter has two of those options.

Later, when the game is out of hand, it almost got really out of hand. Colvin somehow jumped higher than Heide, bringing the ball up with one hand, and tried to make his way onto Sportscenter Top Plays.

The dunk didn't go, but the attempt didn't go unnoticed. No one was doing that off the bench for Purdue last season.

But Purdue's two freshmen are more than their flash. The two freshman have been substance for Painter off the bench.

"They're both good players and obviously they haven't always had the opportunities in games," Matt Painter said after the game. "And that's tough to play well when you don't have consistent minutes."

But Camden Heide has found a home coming off the bench for Painter as the coach's first primary wing option. Heide's role has been simple. After being the best player in Minnesota in high school, he's now asked to defend, and he's asked to shoot when wide open or dunk when the transition calls for it.

Heide has found regular minutes and a priority position as Painter's stopper off the bench that's still able to spread the floor.

Myles Colvin's freshman year hasn't been as smooth.

Colvin flashed early in the season, but he also fell out of the rotation during the Big Ten regular season. The defense wasn't there. The ball movement wasn't crisp.

From the start of the year, Colvin drew 8 DNP's, all Coach's Decision.

Then, with Purdue looking to close out the regular season without a loss at Mackey, he got early minutes. He had two steals.

Then in the Big Ten Tournament, Painter went to Colvin in the first half again. He played 8 minutes and scored 5 points with Smith hurt and the team needing a spark. Then he played 12 minutes against Wisconsin.

In Purdue's first NCAA Tournament since its loss to a #16 seed, its most important game under Painter, he got another 12 minutes.

Myles Colvin is not fiery off the court. He's chill, even-keel, quiet, determined. It can look like he's not engaged at times, but he's cerebral. He's been locked in from day one. PJ Thompson tells me he's never not in the video room with him, every day watching film, getting better. Even as the minutes haven't been there, he's been getting ready.

March Madness can't touch Colvin, he tells me.

"I think the nerves kinda went away right before I came on the court," Colvin told me after the game. "I did my usual pre-game routine. I didn't let it get to my head. I think it was important for me to do that so I could be myself on the court."

What Colvin is on the court has changed a lot over the last year. In high school, Colvin was a one man show because he had to be. Now, he's on one of the best teams in the country.

He did big things in high school. Now he's doing the small stuff.

"It's definitely something I'm more focused on," he told me. "Obviously there's things other than scoring. When you have the best player in the country you're not gonna be the first option. I think it's just learning to play off him and everyone else and doing the little things like rebounding, guarding somebody, and sharing the ball."

Colvin's three rebounds in twelve minutes ties a career high, and on his first defensive possession, he showed off his freak athleticism to alter a shot at the rim.

But just a few weeks ago, Colvin's playing time seemed done for the year save blow outs. When Painter loses trust in a player and the season gets late, the rotation gets smaller, and I asked Colvin if there were times during the season where he didn't think he'd be actually playing in the tournament games.

"I try not to think like that," Colvin told me. "Just because, obviously, I'm a freshman on the best team in the country, but I think just staying ready and keeping working, just waiting for my moment. When my moment came, I felt like I took advantage of it. Just being patient and trusting my coaches and trusting my teammates."

Colvin didn't make a shot in his first NCAA Tournament game. It was one of his best games at Purdue.

It's late in the season, but it's still a little strange to him, being open.

"When I get open threes," he tells me with a laugh when I ask him if it's weird to not be doubled all the time like high school. "It's a little weird not to have someone contest it."

This late into the season, Purdue's two freshmen are coming into its own.

There's not many teams in the country that can go to its bench and get faster, longer, and more athletic without sacrificing shooting. Matt Painter and Purdue can.

The starters feel it, too.

"It definitely give us a different kind of style of play," Smith said after the game smiling. "Like I threw that lob to Cam. I mean, I'm not throwing it to Fletch."

The mood in Purdue's locker room is as light as you'd expect it to be. It vanquished some demons with its win over Grambling State.

But the purpose is ahead of them. It helps to have two freshmen who don't know any better.

But it really helps to have two freshmen who are still getting better.

Purdue will head into the second round of March to take on the winner of the 8/9 game between TCU and Utah State.