WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – Not until the last two months did Purdue's basketball team live up to expectations.

But when the Boilermakers did, it cost them dearly.

Picked by no one to do anything this winter, the Boilermakers have gone out and done just that, losing half their nonconference games and reminding few of the overachieving, odds-defying, upset-minded three-time defending Big Ten Conference champs of old.

This isn't what Brian Cardinal signed up for.

"It's going a little rough," Cardinal said Tuesday, a night after Texas Christian buried the Boilermakers 97-69. "Everybody has to realize, as much as we don't want to, that we are a young ballclub. It's frustrating."

As timing goes, Cardinal's stinks.

When the former Unity star first starting getting fan mail from Purdue three years ago, the Boilermakers were Big Ten champs.

When he signed with Purdue before claiming All-Area Player of the Year honors two years ago, the Boilermakers were Big Ten champs.

When he redshirted as a freshman at Purdue, the Boilermakers were Big Ten champs.

So what happens when he finally gets his shot at playing? The Boilermakers get off to their worst start in 15 years, slip up at home against Bowling Green and stumble into the Big Ten season at 5-5, losers of three of their last four.

"Last year was a lot of fun, being a part of a great, great team, but I think it's more fun being out there playing," Cardinal said. "I didn't really get to know the players as well last year because I wasn't able to interact with them on the court. From a social aspect, it's better."

If there's an orange ember left among the ashes of the nonconference nightmare, it's Cardinal, who enters Thursday's 8 p.m. Assembly Hall date with No. 24 Illinois, 10-2, as a viable Big Ten Freshman of the Year contender.

He's third on the team in scoring (12.2 points a game) and rebounding (7.0). He's tops in steals (1.9), the Big Ten's sixth-best average. He was named MVP of the December Boilermaker Invitational and enjoyed his first double-double in just his second college game.

"He's probably better at this stage of his career than I thought he'd be," Boilermakers coach Gene Keady said.

Which brings us to the most popular opinion expressed on local sports radio talk shows this winter: Boy, he sure would look good in an Illinois uniform.

For a while there, the son of UI basketball trainer Rod Cardinal agreed.

"Growing up, I wanted to be in an orange-and-blue uniform," Cardinal said. "I'll tell you what, when I signed with Purdue I had to go out and buy a whole new wardrobe because all I had was Illinois stuff.

"Illinois didn't recruit me, to an extent. They were straight up about things and the coaches liked the way I did stuff, but they thought it was going to be a conflict with my family.

"Even if they would have offered, it would have been awfully tough for me to put my father and my family in that position. Everybody can say what they want, but honestly, I don't even know if I would have went to Illinois."

It hasn't even happened yet, and Cardinal's homecoming's already been written and talked about to death. Keady's noticeably worried. There have distractions aplenty – from David Lesmond quitting to freshmen Mike Robinson and Gary McQuay being arrested on theft charges at a West Lafayette bookstore to recruiting violations – and the youngsters haven't handled them so well.

"Just gotta say 'Hey Brian, I know this is a ballgame that's really important to you, but you've got to focus on this and not all the other things around you,' " Keady said. "It's kind of been a problem for the whole team this year. When they're young, they let distractions bother them."

Cardinal plans to keep the non-basketball stuff to a minimum. He'll look for his aunt and grandmother, who are making the trip in from Minnesota, and mingle with some old Unity buddies afterward, but there'll be no side trips to Tolono, no father-son talk before tip-off.

"I'm sure I'll see my father," Cardinal said. "Shoot, he's down there on the floor, I have to see him. We're still family, but once you get on the court, gotta fight like dogs and cats."

Cardinal can't fight with all his might these days, not with his bum back. He pulled some muscles a month ago and hurt it again at TCU. It won't keep him off the court Thursday, but may jeopardize his starting status.

"It hurts to breathe and stand up straight and lean over," Cardinal said. "Basically, everything I do, it's sore."

Not that he expects any sympathy from the Illinois fans, who gave him the business on the bench during last year's trip. Cardinal expects much of the same Thursday, even with his own little cheering section there to defend him.

"Oh man, there's always people cheering against me," Cardinal said. "Last year, I was sitting on the dang bench and they were yelling at me."