The Top 10 of 2016-17: Caleb Swanigan's All-America season

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GoldandBlack.com is running down its top 10 stories of the past year in Purdue athletics, a particularly loaded year.

Purdue's championship season in 2016-17 was fueled by a player who just might have been the best in the country.

That's been debated, but what can't be debated is that Boilermaker sophomore Caleb Swanigan was clearly as impactful, influential and simply dominant as any player in college basketball.

For his efforts, he was named a finalist for every National Player-of-the-Year honor that matters, rendering his Big Ten Player-of-the-Year award as something of a redundancy.

For the season, Swanigan averaged 18-and-a-half points and 12-and-a-half rebounds, nearly leading the NCAA in the latter category. In Big Ten games, he led the league in both scoring and rebounding, a rare feat.

After considering a jump to the NBA after his freshman season, Swanigan improved considerably across the board as a sophomore, reflected by his much-improved three-point shooting (45 percent for the season) and just the overall growth in poise he showed from one season to the next.

All this couple with his now well-known story and history made him one the faces of college basketball.

— Brian Neubert

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