Purdue Senior Guard Rapheal Davis was handed the captaincy in the middle of his sophomore season; establishing him as the leader of a promising Boilermakers team. With the Johnson brothers gone, Davis assumed even more of a leadership role last year, and a team picked to finish 11th in the Big Ten actually reached the NCAA Tournament.
Along the way Rapheal Davis won the Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year Award, edging out teammate A.J. Hammons.
According to Purdue Coach Matt Painter, Purdue has now won the B1G DPOY is six of the last 15 seasons. That’s more than a trend; it’s indicative of a culture in West Lafayette. We sat down again with Rapheal Davis at Big Ten Media Day, and we talked about the competition with Hammons for DPOY.
It’s really uncommon for two players to be so competitive with each other defensively everyday in practice. Offensively, sure that happens all the time. Defensively though is an entirely different story.
Davis joked that the reason Hammons came back to school was to win DPOY this season (completing his degree is the true reason that he returned to Purdue). We also asked Davis the story about where he was and what he was doing when he received news that he had won the award.
Turns out he was at a fancy dinner in a nice Indianapolis establishment celebrating his girlfriend’s birthday. The waiter brought out two desserts then- a birthday cake for her, and a B1G DPOY cake (New York style cheesecake) for Rapheal Davis.
Here the whole story and more in the podcast below:
Also, here’s below is the podcast from our exclusive with Davis at 2014 Big Ten Media Day.
Davis discussed his role with the team, and what the Baby Boilers must do in order to avoid another losing season. For just the second time since 1953-54, Purdue had back-to-back losing seasons entering last year. And for just the second time since 1963, they finished alone in last place in the Big Ten in 2013-14.
Also, you’ll want to check out the Rapheal Davis interview we did after the Northwestern game last season.
Paul M. Banks owns, operates and sometimes writes The Sports Bank.net, which is partnered with FOX Sports Engage Network. The website is also featured on News Now.
Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times, currently contributes to the Chicago Tribune RedEye. He also appears regularly on numerous radio and television talk shows all across the country. Catch him Tuesdays on KOZN 1620 The Zone.
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