Purdue adds a key piece to 2019 class with commitment from Mason Gillis
Breakdown ($): Mason Gillis
Analysis ($): What It Means | Now what?
Just days before the July evaluation period, Purdue secured a verbal commitment from one its most coveted targets, as New Castle's Mason Gillis decided on the Boilermakers and committed this week.
"My mom and I have been talking about it for a few weeks now," Gillis said. "I've been leaning toward Purdue. I've just been drawn to them, and these past couple days, it just felt right. I didn't see any need to wait for anything.
"It was really just Coach (Matt) Painter's interest in me, how much he believed in me, how much he wanted me to come there. I felt like a high priority and I feel like Purdue can take me where I want to go."
The 6-foot-7, 200-plus-pound combo forward, long thought to be leaning to Purdue since it offered him back in the winter, committed over offers and serious pursuits from Ohio State, Butler and Xavier, among others.
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Ranked 122nd nationally by Rivals.com, Gillis is probably the most versatile forward Purdue recruited in a class of high-end forward targets, capable of playing either frontcourt position, with size enough to play as a traditional power forward, but offensive skill enough to fill the role of stretch 4 or traditional small forward, plus versatility enough athletically to guard multiple positions, too.
"I don't think I'm a true 4/5 and I don't think I'm a guard," Gillis said. "I think I'm a player who can play any position guard any position. I've been working on that this past year-and-a-half, two years, and I think (Painter) has gotten more and more excited about it as he's learned what I am and what I can do, after seeing me develop in a short period of time.
"And the type of player he's coached and developed, I feel like I fit in that group. ... I just feel like I fit in his system."
The Indiana junior all-star joins Zionsville guard Isaiah Thompson in Purdue's 2019 class to this point.
Gillis' commitment comes a few days after he was on campus for Purdue's team camp and a few weeks after an unofficial visit that might have gone a long way to selling him on Purdue.
He missed almost the entire spring after a meniscus injury forced him to undergo surgery, but he's played sparingly at camps and in all-star events this month and is expected to be a full participant for his Indiana Elite team in July.
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