Nathan Baird

nbaird@jconline.com

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Caleb Swanigan winced a little while watching game film recently with his Purdue basketball teammates.

The footage, only a few months old, seemed much older to Swanigan. The film showed a turnover-prone freshman still adjusting to a higher level of competition. The other Boilermakers even remarked on how young their 6-foot-9, 250-pound power forward looked.

Yet right now, Swanigan describes himself as experiencing a time warp of sorts. The preseason All-Big Ten Conference selection has come so far since his arrival at Purdue. The approaching season, one he hopes includes his transition from promising prospect to professional, can't get here fast enough.

"It feels like light years ago, when I was playing against Old Dominion and just struggling," Swanigan said at Big Ten Media Day on Thursday. "The season's almost here. It feels close but also feels far at the same time, because it's right there. This is a time when time feels slow."

Swanigan carries himself with a different demeanor than a year ago at this time. More casual, yet more assured.

His teammates say he's come out of his shell — talking more, engaging more socially, even taking to Instagram to roast the entire roster over the summer. Purdue forward Vincent Edwards said it was a matter of Swanigan placing his trust in a group of teammates who had shown themselves worthy of it.

That change in demeanor is one contrast that stood out to the rest of the Boilermakers on that game film. From a gold medal with USA basketball to a Big Ten All-Freshman season to the NBA Draft process, Swanigan has endured a year of growth.

"He's just so mature now," junior point guard P.J. Thompson said last week. "He's really grown up. He's really accepted he had to come back this year and help Purdue win.

"Obviously he wanted to be one and done but he took what the NBA had to say and he came back and he knows what he has to do now in order to get there."

You can hear that sophistication in the way Swanigan discusses his own game. Purdue coach Matt Painter said Swanigan's open mind, from his freshman season experiences through the NBA Combine, set the foundation for an offseason of improvement.

Take his perimeter shooting, for instance. Swanigan made 29.2 percent of his 3s last season — 25 percent in Big Ten play. At the time he shrugged off those struggles. Scoring wasn't supposed to be a big part of his game, he said.

Now, Swanigan embraces a reality less obvious in the moment. He was still learning the game, and bad choices led to bad shots.

By the way, multiple Purdue players are talking about Swanigan's perimeter shot as one of his biggest offseason improvements.

"When you watch, you can see why people think certain things about you and see how you look in other people's eyes, because when you're playing you can't see it that way," Swanigan said. "Some of the stuff is obvious, like why didn't I make that play, why didn't I make that play? You can't get it back, so you just have to grow from it."

The man they call "Biggie" continues to drift farther from the pudgy frame that spurred that nickname. Graduate transfer Spike Albrecht didn't play against Swanigan at Michigan last season, but he watched him, and he's noticed a slimmer, more fit athlete. Isaac Haas, Purdue's 7-foot-2 center, said his companion in the post is "faster, more explosive."

While he may cringe a bit when looking back at certain games, Swanigan unquestionably set a high baseline as a freshman. His led the Big Ten in rebounding with 8.3 per game — the sixth-best total for a league freshman since 1993-94.

"He's so big, and he's so skilled," Ohio State forward Keita Bates-Diop said. "He knows how to play the game and he knows how to use his body really well. He's a big guy, so he gets you this way and he'll go the other way, knock you off-balance."

Swanigan said he wasn't necessarily trying to fit in as a freshman. With Rapheal Davis and A.J. Hammons established in their roles, he tried to keep his head down and do his job.

Now, Swanigan said he's ready to be the kind of player Purdue can lean on as those two longstanding pillars of the program have departed.

Swanigan didn't lack confidence when he arrived in West Lafayette. Subtly, however, this year does represent a change.

"This year, I'm sure," Swanigan said last week. "That's the difference."

Contact Journal & Courier Purdue sports reporter Nathan Baird at nbaird@jconline.com. Follow on Twitter: @nbairdjc.

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