Saturday in Evanston, Purdue capped an improbable championship season by clinching a share of the Big Ten title with a win at Northwestern, the 24th conference crown earned in the Boilermakers' history.

This week, GoldandBlack.com will break down some of Purdue's foremost keys to success this season.

Nojel Eastern might be one of the most unique players in college basketball, and that was reflected in his productivity this season.

A 6-foot-6, 220-pounder, Eastern is Purdues' point guard, and led the Boilermakers in rebounding (by a healthy margin) at 6.6 per game in Big Ten play, and was No. 1 at 5.7 for the whole season. The former number is easily best among guards in the Big Ten and an interesting historical note for Purdue, making Eastern possibly the first guard in Boilermaker history to lead his team in rebounding.

Obviously, Eastern is not a typical guard, per se, and comparing eras is always difficult, but one of the few other players who come to mind is Herm Gilliam, who led Purdue in rebounding from 1967-69. He was an athletic forward who went on to play guard professionally, but would have been categorized as a forward in college.

There's no ambiguity at all with any Purdue leading rebounder since, making this clearly the finest rebounding season by a guard in Boilermaker history, and what was as uncommon a personnel advantage as perhaps any in the Big Ten this season.

And it really, really mattered.

Offensive rebounding turned out to be a critical element to the Boilermakers' success this season as Purdue finished behind only Michigan State in offensive rebounding percentage at 34.6, and Eastern's 41 offensive rebounds matched Trevion Williams' total for the team lead, one ahead of Matt Haarms and Grady Eifert, who each registered 40. Anecdotal examples exist of Eastern carrying Purdue on the offensive glass at times this season, most recently in the loss at Minnesota, a game Purdue had a chance in at the end solely due to its offensive rebounding.

On an aside, Williams' total of 41 offensive rebounds in Big Ten play is a remarkable number for the freshman, who averaged just 12.1 minutes during the conference season. His offensive rebounding numbers equate to 6.8 per 40 minutes, a robust number, obviously.

His emergence midseason changed Purdue in a variety of ways, and Matt Haarms' rebounding hit an uptick in Big Ten play, increasing from 4.8 per game in 11 non-conference play to 5.8 in the conference season.

Purdue's rebounding improved as its defense did.

In 11 non-conference games, opponents shot 45.6 percent against Purdue; in 20 Big Ten games, they shot 41.8 percent.

The Boilermakers were vulnerable to the offensive glass at times this season, and their defensive rebounding percentage of 71.0 ranked ninth in the conference during the Big Ten season.

But offensive rebounding fit well into a Boilermaker blueprint for success that was so very driven by maximizing possessions, and thus opportunities.

And that was truly a team effort, as they say.

Eastern, Williams, Haarms and Eifert made Purdue the only team in the Big Ten with four players who grabbed 40 or more offensive rebounds during the league season. No other team in the league had more than two.

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