When Lewis Jackson, Rob Hummel and JaJuan Johnson were asked who has been most impressive over the summer and early in Purdue's workouts, they all gave the same answer.
Patrick Bade.
Not hard to see why.
Bade's body has been transformed.
As a freshman last season, the 6-foot-8 Bade weighed 243 pounds. In the offseason, he focused on changing his diet and running and he'd dropped to 225 pounds at the start of the second week of individual workouts.
Instead of looking a bit cumbersome as a big man, now Bade has an athletic-looking body and is moving well.
"I didn't really get to show my athletic ability so much last year at that weight, so I figured if I'd drop, I'd be able to show," he said after a recent individual workout. "I've gained a lot of positive things from it. I'm a lot quicker, able to guard faster people, able to jump a lot higher, and I'm just able to move.
"It's kind of helped my jump shot. I'm able to get up in the air a little more. I don't get tired as quickly, so I can keep going at a harder pace. It's really helped my ballhandling skills. I feel like I'm a lot quicker with the ball when I'm dribbling and I'm able to protect it better, be a lot quicker for when defenders reach in."
Bade started the transformation by changing his diet, adding more vegetables and fruit. He said he rarely ate either before, calling himself more of a "meat and potatoes" guy. He tried new veggies, including finding out that he liked lettuce and started eating salads regularly. He likes to sprinkle in some red onion, carrots and top it with Italian dressing.
Then he started adding running to his workout routine that already include agility training and weights. He did interval training -- walking for 90 seconds and then running at a marathon runner's pace for 30 seconds.
And teammates began to notice the changes.
"I think the most overall improved player has to be Patrick Bade," Jackson said. "He's finishing better. He lost a lot of weight. His body looks good. He's running."
Hummel said: "I think he's made major strides to being a very good post player in the Big Ten."
Johnson said: "He's been hitting down that 15-foot shot. He's finishing a lot better around the bucket. If he can do that, he definitely can play, as long as he rebounds, he'll be fine."
Bade said hearing that from teammates has given him a confidence boost and let him know "what I'm doing is actually being worth something. I'm actually making a product of myself."
Bade had some bumps in his freshman season -- he sometimes struggled to finish shots near the basket or help facilitate the motion offense by setting screens -- but he also gave the Boilermakers solid minutes later in the season and into the NCAA tournament.
He averaged 1.5 points and 1.6 rebounds in 7.3 minutes per game and played in all 35.
"I give it a great year. It's hard to come in and play as a freshman, especially," he said.
When asked what he can take from last season to build upon for his sophomore year, he said, "That I can actually play. I'm here for the same reason everybody else is."
