:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/45974474/usa-today-8456370.0.jpg)
This will be one of the shorter player reviews as it involved a walk-on that played less than one minute of the season. He was still Purdue's lone four-year player and because the Boilers had two extra scholarships before the year started he got a year of school paid for as he works to complete a degree in law and society.
Neal Beshears - Senior
Stats: 1 trillion
Neal's best game is easy to point out. He entered exactly one game all season long, playing in the final minute of the home blowout of Indiana. As a senior, it was probably a pretty sweet time to get your only action on the season. I don't know if he even touched the ball in that game.
Beshears would have gotten to play in earlier blowouts over Grambling, Samford, and other overmatched opponents, but a broken hand suffered early in the season kept him out of the lineup for much of the non-conference season. He finished his career with 27 appearances for 62 career minutes. He scored nine total points, none since early in the 2012-13 season. He was 3 for 8 from the field for his career, hit a three-pointer for his only basket after his freshman season, and added 10 rebounds.
It is clear Neal's biggest contributions were in practice:
Over the summer, he, Stephen Toyra and Rapheal Davis organized workouts to help integrate the five incoming freshmen into the Purdue system.
"He's been in our program four years and done a good job," Purdue coach Matt Painter said. "He practices hard, he knows what's going on. The guy shows up and plays hard every single day."
Grade: A
He was strictly a practice guy and senior leader this year, so from the sounds of things he did exactly what he was supposed to do.
Future Expectations:
Neal is going to take his Purdue degree and join the military after this season, hoping to eventually join the CIA or FBI. Those are some great goals for a player that showed his leadership in quiet, but important ways.