Three Thoughts is a new feature GoldandBlack.com will run every Monday morning in-season.

This week/weekend, two really significant achievements for Purdue recruits: Braden Smith winning Mr. Basketball and Fletcher Loyer dominating at the three-point shoot at the Final Four, the replay running on Sunday afternoon on CBS.

Had Smith not won Mr. Basketball, Loyer would have, so that's win-win for Purdue, but it's pretty telling to me at least that two years straight, Purdue's signed both Mr. Basketball and the state's Gatorade Player-of-the-Year and that's four different dudes. Such things don't matter If the players aren't good enough, but all four are definitely good enough.

I don't no what would have happened with the Mr. Basketball race had Smith not taken over the fourth quarter against Loyer and Homestead in Logansport. I personally figure Smith won Mr. Basketball by beating Carmel. But that Homestead game was a Mr. Basketball moment, and a perfect encapsulation of Smith and what Purdue was drawn to.

In my experience watching him, covering him, reading about him, editing video of him — all that exciting stuff — I can tell you Purdue's not had many guys with such a knack for raising their competitive levels when needed, rising to the occasion and just affecting games with doing obvious stuff, like scoring.

There's no telling how Smith's Purdue career turns out. There never is before they show up. But there's no way around his energy and his competitiveness and his right kind of stubbornness being big deals, maybe very quickly.