Purdue Basketball: Ranking Top 10 Purdue Basketball Players of the Decade

Since the start of the decade, Coach Matt Painter has gotten many outstanding talents to come and play for the Boilermakers. With the 2010’s coming to a close, I have continued the Purdue Top 10’s of the decade lists but this one will be much less depressing than the QB list.

This time I am going to give my Top 10 Purdue Basketball players of the decade.

The criteria that went into these rankings include:

• Statistics
• Role on team
• Leadership
• Seasons played during decade (From 2010-11 to Present)
• Team success during career

1. Carsen Edwards: Carsen was by far the best player for Purdue during the 2010’s given what he did during his career, most notably carrying the Boilermakers to the Elite 8 by averaging 34.8 points per game during the magical March Madness run last season. Carsen averaged 17.8 points, 3.4 rebounds and 2.5 assists per game over his 3 year career from 2017-2019 in West Lafayette. He is arguably the most explosive athlete and dynamic scorer that Coach Matt Painter has recruited to Purdue. Carsen was also part of 2 Purdue Big Ten Championships, a 2-time All Big Ten selection, a 2018-19 Consensus All-American and went 5-0 against Indiana.
2. JaJuan Johnson: If JaJuan played more than one season since 2010 he would challenge Carsen for #1 on this list. In his only season this decade he averaged 20.5 points and 8.6 rebounds per game in his outstanding senior season. The duo of JaJuan and E’Twaun Moore is arguably one of the best duos in Big Ten history. He also was named 2010-11 Big Ten Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year and was a finalist for the Wooden Award.
3. Caleb “Biggie” Swanigan: Biggie is the highest rated recruit to sign with the Boilermakers under Matt Painter’s watch. He most definitely lived up to the hype in his two years playing for Purdue turning into the go to option during his sophomore season. He averaged 14.4 points, 10.4 rebounds and 2.4 assists. During the 2016-17 season Swanigan was named the Big Ten Player of the Year, a Consensus All-American and was a finalist for both the Naismith and Wooden Awards in addition to winning a Big Ten Championship.
4. E’Twaun Moore: Along with being one of the best players to play for Purdue, he is also the most decorated NBA player on this list. During his lone season this decade he averaged 18 points, 5.1 rebounds and 3.2 assists. Just like JaJuan Johnson, he would be higher on this list had he played more than one season as those two along with the next guy on this list are responsible for turning Purdue In 2010-11 he was All Big Ten First Team and a Wooden Award finalist.
5. Robbie Hummel: The last of the Baby Boilers comes in at #5 on this list as he too only played one year during this decade. During his senior season he averaged 16.4 points, 7.2 rebounds and 1.9 assists but his impact was much more than his stat line. He was a 5th year senior and was the undisputed leader of the team that took a big hit after JaJuan Johnson and E’Twaun Moore graduated the year prior.
6. AJ Hammons: AJ grew tremendously over his 4 years in Black and Gold and became a leader his junior and senior seasons even after losing minutes to Isaac Haas. During his career he averaged 12.1 points, 7 rebounds and 2.6 blocks per game. He is one of the most prolific shot blockers in Purdue history behind Joe Barry Carroll and ranks third in Purdue history in rebounds. He was named 2015-16 All Big Ten, 3-time Big Ten Defensive Team and was the 2015-16 Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year.
7. Vincent Edwards: Vincent was a guy who came in and contributed from Day 1 until the day he graduated and led by example. He was not the most vocal guy on the team but was one of the best leaders in recent history. He steadily improved from year to year and turned into a Swiss Army knife type of player for Coach Painter. Over his 4 year career he averaged 11.9 points, 5.6 rebounds and 2.9 assists a night, made 127 starts for the Boilermakers and helped win a Big Ten Championship.
8. Isaac Haas: Haas is another guy that came in and worked hard for 4 years in Mackey to help turn the program around after two straight losing seasons. Haas came in and learned from AJ Hammons and used that to become one of the biggest leaders during his senior season along with Vincent Edwards, Dakota Mathias and PJ Thompson. Fans know the kind of player he was after he broke his elbow in the first round of the 2018 NCAA Tournament and worked extremely hard to be able to play again but was ultimately not cleared.
9. Dakota Mathias: The Midwestern Cowboy just did everything for the Boilermakers. He rebounded, he got timely buckets, shot well from behind the arc and was one of the best passers Matt Painter has had in his time at Purdue. Dakota was a completely unselfish player that did whatever it took to win games and because of that won a Big Ten Championship.
10. Ryan Cline: Ryan Cline should be on this list for his absolutely insane Sweet 16 game against Tennessee alone, scoring a career high 27 points to advance Purdue to the Elite 8 for the first time since 2000. He also matured into a tremendous leader for the Boilermakers during his senior season, was apart of the winningest class in Purdue basketball history with 109 wins and will forever be a Boilermaker legend.

Honorable Mentions:

• Rapheal Davis
• PJ Thompson
• DJ Byrd
• Ryne Smith
• Tommy Luce (The King of Mackey)
• Terone Johnson
• Matt Haarms

Debate and put your own Top 10 in the comments!

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