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Cardinal has ties to the University of Illinois, but it's at conference rival Purdue where he is making his name.
(David E. Klutho)
| Brian Cardinal,
Purdue
Class:
Sophomore Position:
Forward
Height:
6'8" Weight:
230
DOB:
May 2,
1977
Hometown:
Tolono,
Ill.
High School:
Unity
Vital
Stats: 12.0 points per game, 4.9 rebounds, 51.5% field goals
by Chad Millman
Brian Cardinal made a colorful impression on teammates and
opponents during his freshman year. His body was a canvas
of black-and-blue bruises and raspberry-colored welts. He
coveted loose balls like they were
cash and drew more inspiration from a charge than a dunk. At
the end of the season, he was awarded Purdue's Mr. Hustle
and Courage awards. This year the Boilermakers' stat crew
invented a new way to keep track of Cardinal's efforts.
It's called the "floor
dive," and of course, Cardinal led the team with 66 in the regular season.
Growing up in Tolono, Ill., Cardinal could afford to play
with such reckless abandon. His father, Rod, has been the
head basketball trainer for the University of Illinois for
24 years. Cardinal believed he'd one day play for the
Illini, getting taped up
and iced down by his dad. He was a ball boy on the 1989
Illinois team that went to the Final Four and he learned to
shoot a basketball at Assembly
Hall.
As a senior at Unity High School, Cardinal averaged 25
points and 12 rebounds a game and ranked as one of the top
100 players in the country. But then-Illinois coach Lou
Henson questioned Cardinal's talents and was hesitant to
recruit the son of someone
on his
staff.
"Coach's intuition was correct," Rod Cardinal
says of Henson's decision not to offer Brian a scholarship.
"It's hard enough to watch him play twice a year, let
alone every
day."
"I was born wearing orange and blue," says Brian.
"When I signed to come to Purdue, I had to get rid of
three-fourths of my wardrobe because it was Illinois
stuff."
After a redshirt year, Cardinal immediately stepped into
the starting lineup and is averaging 11.9 points and 4.9
rebounds this season. But Boilermakers fans don't come
to see him shoot. They come to watch him swing his
well-padded
elbows.
"I try to go out and play my role," Cardinal
says. "That is to play hard, dive on the floor and
take some
charges."
Before his first game against Illinois in Champaign,
Cardinal passed some old friends who work on the
maintenance crew at Assembly Hall. He told them to take the
night off. As always, he'd be taking care of the dirty
work.
Other Spotlights
March 18: Tim Young, Stanford
March 17: Sarunas
Jasikevicius, Maryland; Adia Barnes, Arizona
March 16: Mateen Cleaves, Michigan; Murriel Page, Florida
March 15: Jason Hart, Syracuse
March 14: Kris Johnson, UCLA
March 13: Lee Nailon, Texas Christian
March 12: Brian Earl, Princeton
March 11: Tyrone Weeks, Massachusetts
March 10: Brett Robisch, Oklahoma St.
March 9: Larry Hughes, Saint Louis
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