Saturday during Purdue's scrimmage in Mackey Arena, Aaron Wheeler shot a three from the left corner, and as the ball went up, Evan Boudreaux was positioned on the near baseline, just inside the lane, sub-optimal positioning for the offensive rebound to come.
As the shot went up, the senior darted into the lane, as if tracing the charge circle with his steps, literally running a circle — or at least half circle — around big man Trevion Williams. When the ball came off the rim, he pounced on it just before Nojel Eastern could.
It was one of Boudreaux's several offensive rebounds during the casual scrimmages Purdue played on its annual Fan Day in Mackey Arena, and a glimpse of the player Boudreaux has always believed himself to be; the one he couldn't necessarily be for half of last season; the one he intends to be now; and the one Purdue may need him to be, the player defined by energy and grit as much as points and rebounds, not that those things are always mutually exclusive.
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Afterward, Matt Painter observed that some of Boudreaux's productivity during the three 10-minute scrimmages was generated by simply "being around the ball," code for effort. There were the two offensive rebounds, the other of which he scored off, but also a pair of steals, one of which Boudreaux parlayed into a layup for Eric Hunter.
"He's played hard and done a really good job rebounding for us in practice," Painter said. "He's put himself in a good spot."
It's what Boudreaux has always been, he says, and perhaps his best chance to make good on the renewed opportunity that comes this season for one of the Boilermakers' few seniors.
Following a complicated debut season at Purdue, one which he opened as a key contributor prior to getting injured, then closed outside the playing rotation after getting injured, Boudreaux finds a bit of a reset now as a fifth-year player.
"I think I can do a lot of things that lead to winning on a basketball floor," Boudreaux said, "and that's not to say other guys don't, because they do, but I think I can do a lot of good things, and I'm looking forward to it."
He'll get his chance. To what extent, that remains to be seen, as is the case with more of the Boilermaker roster than not, but he'll get his chance, and he would appear well-positioned to take advantage.
For one thing, he's now experienced and more assimilated to Purdue's program after joining it last summer as a graduate transfer from Dartmouth. That familiarity really matters, Boudreaux believes.
More importantly, he's healthy.
With about 3:25 left in the first half at top-10 Michigan State last January, a half in which Boudreaux had been playing well, he drove off a shot fake against Nick Ward, sidestepped Xavier Tillman in the lane for an off-balance shot at the basket. It missed and Boudreaux came down unforgivingly on his right side, and "heard it pop," he said.
He'd inflamed a pre-existing strain to his right adductor muscle, an issue he'd been dealing with since late December.
Now, it was worse.
But he missed only the next two games because of it, though he probably lost much more than he missed.
In hindsight, Boudreaux believes he returned too quickly, playing against Indiana only 11 days after the episode in East Lansing.
"I'd been playing relatively well leading up to that and we were in the heart of the Big Ten season," Boudreaux said, "and I didn't want to miss anything."
Though he wasn't idled long, the landscape around Boudreaux shifted.
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With the junior pushed to the sideline only a few games after entering the starting lineup midseason, freshman Trevion Williams posted a double-double at Michigan State, part of his unexpected winter emergence.
Months earlier, it was partially Williams' distinct lack of readiness — he enrolled at 316 pounds — that pushed Boudreaux out of the position he came to Purdue expecting to play. He was recruited to play forward, but Grady Eifert's establishment there during preseason practice coupled with two freshman centers' rawness pushed Boudreaux inside, to center.
"He was a 'tweener, (between two positions)," Painter says now, "and sometimes when you're a 'tweener, you get bumped."
There were plenty of minutes for Boudreaux as a center, early in the season, when he split them roughly 50/50 with Matt Haarms and even moved past him into the starting five on Dec. 20, a move made too in hopes of getting more out of Haarms.
There were plenty of minutes, until that moment at the Breslin Center. Williams had already begun trending upward prior. When Boudreaux was sidelined, the door went from cracked open to kicked in.
Once Boudreaux returned, still probably not fully healthy, Haarms was creeping toward playing at an All-Big Ten level and Williams was an essential component to a team that would sucker-punch the league by winning it.
Purdue won the Big Ten regular season title, then reached the Elite Eight, missing the Final Four by the slimmest of margins. It was exactly what Boudreaux came to Purdue after starring in the Ivy League for two seasons to do: Win.
That was his stated goal.
This wasn't quite how he envisioned it, however.
While Painter commended Boudreaux for being a "professional" amidst his circumstances, he'd play double-digit minutes last season only twice after returning from the injury. His only NCAA Tournament minute came in the second-round obliteration of Villanova.
"It was definitely a bit of a roller-coaster personally," Boudreaux said. "It was really gratifying to win the Big Ten and make it to the Elite Eight, because that's ultimately what I came here wanting to do.
"Would I liked to have gotten on the court a little bit more? Sure. But when you have a winning formula, and you have some of the best frontcourt guys in the country, sometimes those are just the circumstances, the way it goes, but at the end of the day, I came here to win."
Now, a renewed chance comes to help Purdue do so.
In mid-April, Boudreaux underwent a procedure to help along his recovery from the groin injury, a platelet-rich plasma injection, a transfusion intended to promote healing. By mid-July, he said, he was fully recovered.
Soon thereafter, he was sitting down with the program's sports performance coach, Gavin Roberts, to lay out a summer plan for his upcoming move to a new, or old, position.
Boudreaux will play forward for Purdue this season, maybe exclusively.
It's a welcomed change.
"I was recruited here to play the 4, so coming in that's where I figured I'd spend most of my time, but things change, and I was totally OK with that," Boudreaux said. "I knew that's what the coaches needed me to do, but at the same time I think my natural position is the 4, and when you have two guys at the center position who are All-Big Ten, national guys, I always saw that I could play with them and be really effective, I think."
Effectiveness can come in many forms.
Playing away from the basket, as 4s are more likely to do, Boudreaux can shoot. His matchups may change, but as a center, he was a 35-percent shooter on 26 attempts last season. In the scrimmages Saturday, he made 3-of-4.
"He's playing more confidently," fellow forward Aaron Wheeler said. "I think he's a mismatch for defenses because if he has a smaller 4 on him he can take him (inside) and at the 5, he's quicker than them. The thing for him is he's just playing to his strengths, knowing what his strengths are and playing confidently."
But again, effectiveness comes in many forms, and the player that "bumped" Boudreaux to the 5 last season, Grady Eifert, will now be wearing a suit on the Purdue bench, not a uniform as part of the Purdue lineup.
Not that Boudreaux, or any Boilermaker, will be asked to directly replace Eifert's profound value, both tangible and intangible, but you'll hear no complaints if someone, or a collection of someones, at least offsets its loss.
In late September, on the first day of official preseason practice, there seemed to be an inordinate number of instances of Boudreaux rolling around on the floor in pursuit of loose balls, "giving everything he's got in practice," as sophomore Sasha Stefanovic put it afterward.
There are no guarantees here. While Boudreaux has, by every account, positioned himself well for the opportunity to come, Purdue does have options. Wheeler will likely carry big minutes; "big" lineups with Haarms and Williams together could occupy a chunk of 4-man minutes; and freshman Mason Gillis joins that positional fray, also.
Painter has suggested that Purdue will "count on" Boudreaux this season, but to what extent remains undefined.
Historically, though, at Purdue there have been certain ways to force oneself onto the court, as Eifert basically did a year ago at this time.
"I think there's always going to be a niche, especially at Purdue, for a guy who gets a lot of offensive rebounds, makes hustle plays and is efficient on offense," Boudreaux said. "If you're that guy, you always can find your way to the court.
"There's no reason I can't be that guy."
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