Big Ten Selects Caleb Swanigan, JuJuan Johnson to All-Decade Team
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — The Big Ten Conference rolled out the first bit of its All-Decade basketball team on Monday afternoon, and two Purdue Boilermakers legends graced the roster.
Big men JaJuan Johnson and Caleb Swanigan both made the team. The league will release the second-team and first-team selections on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Third-team selections had a tie, so six players were listed. They were:
- JaJuan Johnson, Purdue
- Caleb Swanigan, Purdue
- Yogi Ferrell, Indiana
- Aaron Craft, Ohio State
- DeAngelo Russell, Ohio State
- Jordan Murphy, Minnesota
Johnson was a star at Purdue at the start of the decade. He played from 2007 through 2011 and left Purdue with his name all over the record books after his brilliant four-year career. He scored 1,919 points, which is eighth all-time, and had 854 rebounds, good for seventh all-time. His 263 blocks are third all-time. He played in 140 games for the Boilermakers, and only Dakota Mathias (141) has played in more.
His senior year, he was Big Ten Player of the Year and led the Boilers to their first Big Ten regular season title in more than a decade.
Swanigan played just two years at Purdue, from 2015 to 2017. His 436 rebounds during his sophomore season are the most in school history, by far. His sophomore year, he averaged 18.5 points and 12.5 rebounds a game and the Boilermakers went 27-8, losing to No. 1-seeded Kansas in the NCAA regional semifinals. He currently plays for the Portland Trail Blazers in the NBA.
The selection panel consisted of 24 former players and coaches, and several media members. Members were:
- Nicole Auerbach, The Athletic
- John U. Bacon, Author
- Stephen Bardo, BTN/FOX Sports
- John Beilein, BTN
- Ben Brust, BTN
- Brian Butch, BTN
- Lisa Byington, BTN
- Mike DeCourcy, The Sporting News
- Len Elmore, Fox Sports
- Pat Forde, Sports Illustrated
- Teddy Greenstein, Chicago Tribune
- Mike Hall, BTN
- Robbie Hummel, BTN/ESPN
- Andy Katz, BTN/FOX Sports/NCAA
- Steve Lavin, FOX Sports
- Tim Miles, BTN/FOX Sports
- Shon Morris, BTN
- Rick Pizzo, BTN
- Dave Revsine, BTN
- Alex Roux, BTN
- Jess Settles, BTN
- Harold Shelton, BTN
- Bob Wenzel, BTN/FOX Sports
- Brent Yarina, BTN
