It's legacy time for Robbie Hummel.
If you want my opinion - and according to your credit card statements, you're at least willing to tolerate it - Hummel doesn't need to score another point, grab another rebound, take another charge or win another game to solidify his place as one of Purdue's all-time greats.
His place on the proverbial Mount Rushmore of Purdue basketball is secure and now it's just a matter of finagling the banner policies this spring to get a No. 4 hanging from the rafters in 2012.
But with the way Hummel is playing right now, most recently with his 29-point outburst against Nebraska in a game Purdue had no choice to win, he's playing like a man who's clearly not done making memories in West Lafayette.
We must keep the Nebraska game in perspective. Nebraska is, well, Nebraska.
But this is four games in a row now for the senior playing at the first-team All-Big Ten level we all know to be his default setting. And he's playing like somebody who'd lay down under a Greyhound right now if it meant not having to finish his brilliant career in the NIT.
Hummel's playing healthy, he's playing confident and he's playing mad. He just looks different than the shell of his former self who was clanking all those jumpers a month ago and beating himself senseless over it.
The most revealing play he made Wednesday night may not have been the jumpers he stuck in dudes' eyes; the offensive rebounds he just outworked people for; the steal he turned into a 1-on-2 layup; or the threes he flat-out splashed. It was the charge he got called for, because charges comes from aggressiveness, which comes from confidence.
Hummel's rebounding at the highest level of his career. He's just taking them from people. He just rebounded at a career-high clip against Michigan State, which is kind of like getting in the river with those grizzly bears when the salmon are spawning.
This is the Robbie Hummel we'll all remember, I certainly hope, and he's playing like a kid who's determined to make sure we do. He's writing his legacy right now, it would appear, and reminding us again that good players can get down, but good people don't stay down.
Hummel has won championships at Purdue. He's been part of gigantic wins and played famously alongside iconic players and helped transform a program.
But achievement comes in all shapes and forms.
Let's be honest here: Everything that could have gone wrong for Purdue to this point this season pretty much has. It's been a difficult year for Hummel, who's been left behind while his classmates have started getting paid to play.
Hummel has been asked to carry a team he came into the season barely recognizing.
The heart and mind have always been up to it. The body, not so much.
Purdue's season has been just OK thus far. By past standards, at least.
Had Hummel and Lewis Jackson been healthy all year, here's guessing that those home losses to Michigan, Wisconsin, Indiana and Michigan State don't all go the other way. Neither do Xavier and Butler.
But while the clock is ticking now, there are opportunities left.
There's an opportunity for Purdue to play its way into the NCAA Tournament and maybe beat a couple people there.
And in a career full of achievement, given all that's transpired this season, maybe that would be Hummel's greatest achievement of all.
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This post was edited on 2/23 12:00 AM by Brian_GoldandBlack.com
