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We start with a review of Purdue basketball 2014 recruiting.
As you saw this week, Purdue offered a scholarship to Ohio shooting guard/wing Dakota Mathias, an offer that has impacted his recruiting process significantly, it would appear.
Mathias intimated this week that a decision could come following this season or in the spring, which speaks to the magnitude of the Purdue offer for him.
He is leaning strongly to Purdue, as is fellow Ohioan Vince Edwards.
As of right now, 2014 is a three-man class, with at least one of those spots expected to go a big man.
The two most prominent names in that bucket are Alec Brennan and Jabari Craig.
We spoke at length with both their AAU coaches this week and will have extended updates on both to come, but here's the gist.
On Brennan, things would seem to be looking pretty good for Purdue right now. His summer coach, Ty Boswell, said, "I've never seen a coach recruit a kid any harder" than Jack Owens is on Brennan, and it's paying off, per Boswell. Matt Painter's been to see Brennan multiple times.
Brennan is a multi-skilled 6-foot-10 big from Massachusetts who's ranked 130th by Rivals.com in the Class of 2014 before really getting very much exposure to this point.
The prep school big man is an elite-level student and that will factor heavily into his decision, ultimately. Both his parents are architects. His mother actually went to grad school at Purdue and his father's from Chicago, there are some inherent ties there, though West Lafayette obviously would not fall in the "close to home" category.
Brennan has all sorts of East Coast offers and Notre Dame and Stanford are heavily involved. Northwestern got a visit this summer while Brennan was also in the Midwest to visit Purdue.
Duke has shown interest, Massiah said.
Might not rule out the Ivy League here, either. Brennan genuinely wants to do engineering, another plus for Purdue. It's a colossal challenge at this level to play basketball and manage such an academic course, but it's what Brennan is looking to do. In case you're wondering: The last Purdue scholarship basketball player to earn an engineering degree was Matt Kiefer and we're only saying "scholarship" in case there's a walk-on we're forgetting.
According to Boswell, Brennan is also looking for a school that'll let its bigs step out on the perimeter on offense and as you might imagine, Purdue's working the Robbie Hummel/JaJuan Johnson angles in that context.
Everyone looks good in a highlight video. But here as some highlights from our YouTube bureau: Link.
Brennan will take official visits, Boswell said, so there will be no decision any time soon.
The same can be said for Craig, a Canadian who goes to high school in Georgia right now, but will relocate next year to a yet-to-be-determined prep school.
Craig's very different than Brennan in that he's not as skilled offensively, pretty raw actually, from what we're told, but might be considered more of a defensive menace. He's very tall, very long and very athletic.
Hard to tell who exactly are the serious players there beside Purdue, though one of them is Georgia Tech, but a litany of ACC and SEC schools are involved. Indiana and Louisville are showing interest, Massiah said.
It was hoped that Craig might be brought in for an official visit during this season, but the schedule will not allow that to happen, Massiah said.
Purdue was really the first school to seriously recruit Craig, with Greg Gary more or less discovering him and getting the Boilermakers involved before anyone else. (BN)
To 2013 recruiting, obviously Purdue didn't get Corn Elder, as the Tennessee point guard chose football over basketball more than he chose one school over another. That it was Miami was a surprise, considering how involved Georgia Tech was and that so many SEC schools wanted the SEC state native.
Anyway, too bad for Purdue, which wanted Elder for his toughness and competiveness more than anything else, him being considered a potential tone-setter for a team that right now needs as much of both as it can get.
Where does Purdue go now? There's no telling beside knowing that Matt Painter and staff will go all-out again looking for immediate help.
Purdue's 13 scholarships are booked for next season, but if all remains as is right now, the Boilermakers could over-sign by one. It might be a moot point, considering an elephant growing more and more prominent in the room is the likelihood of scholarships opening after this season. We're not going to speculate as to who, but any time a season goes the way this one has and players' minutes or roles drop off, attrition should surprise no one.
Purdue went to see shooter Petar Rusic. He won't be recruited seriously.
Keep in mind, in terms of the "late" recruiting calendar, it's pretty early. After the season, other schools' signees might open up due to coaching changes and possible fifth-year options could arise. Translation: The pool of prospects will increase considerably, a reflection of just how highly Purdue thought of Elder that it went all in on him so early. (BN)
Purdue will have its first junior day of the Darrell Hazell Era on Sunday, Feb. 24 for the Northwestern basketball game, hoping to draw as many 2014 targets and serious prospects to West Lafayette as possible. (BN)
Regarding the defensive line coach position, we can tell you for certain that nothing is immediately imminent and Hazell is still on the open market looking for somebody.
We do have a pretty good lead on a potential candidate and will hopefully be able to legitimize it if things progress. After the moving targets that were Randy Melvin and Jappy Oliver, we're going to wait a little longer to see what happens before making a big deal of it. Hopefully in the next couple days we'll have more for you. (BN)
On linebacker signee Johnny Thompson, Greg Hudson said on signing day that the Georgian wears size 18 shoes, suggesting he'll grow considerably.
How much?
"I think I might get to 6-7," Thompson said.
If he does, you're looking at a potential 250- or 260-pounder.
He's 6-2, 205 right now. (BN)
Wide receiver signee Dan Monteroso is interesting, as he could have played college basketball at a notable level, too.
The 2,000-point scorer in high school boasts a 41-inch vertical leap.
"I had a couple Division I offers from mid-majors," Monteroso said. "A lot of them wanted me to play both football and basketball. Northeastern, UNC Greensboro, and The Citadel, and a few MAC schools recruited me to play both." (BN)
Join us tomorrow at 2 p.m. for 'Gold and Black LIVE' with our special guest, Chris Peludat--Assistant athletic director--Marketing and Ticketing. We will talk Legacy Fund, and much more.
If you can't join us then, a replay will be posted around dinnertime. (staff)
Also, for those of who simply can't get enough of the soothing sound of Kyle Charters' voice, be sure to tune in Monday morning at 10 a.m. for our new feature, 'Gold and Black Radio.'
To reach our show page, click here. From there, you can listen to the new show on Monday morning, or listen back to previous shows.
Also, notice that the 15-minute show is downloadable to your iTunes, so you can listen on the go. (staff)
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This post was edited on 2/14 4:15 PM by Kyle_GoldandBlack.com
This post was edited on 2/15 10:20 AM by Alan_GoldandBlack.com
This post was edited on 2/15 10:21 AM by Alan_GoldandBlack.com
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We start with a review of Purdue basketball 2014 recruiting.
Purdue will have its first junior day of the Darrell Hazell Era on Sunday, Feb. 24 for the Northwestern basketball game, hoping to draw as many 2014 targets and serious prospects to West Lafayette as possible. (BN)
Join us tomorrow at 2 p.m. for 'Gold and Black LIVE' with our special guest, Chris Peludat--Assistant athletic director--Marketing and Ticketing. We will talk Legacy Fund, and much more.
Also, for those of who simply can't get enough of the soothing sound of Kyle Charters' voice, be sure to tune in Monday morning at 10 a.m. for our new feature, 'Gold and Black Radio.'