Versyp on '17 Purdue women's basketball signees

More: Versyp audio

The Boilermakers went over the border in rounding out their 2017 signing class.

In the last month before Wednesday's start of the early basketball signing period, Sharon Versyp added Canadians Léony Boudreau and Tamara Farquhar and Senegal J.C. transfer Fatou Diagne. The trio joined long-time commitment and Purdue legacy — the daughter of former Boilermaker Kay (Tucker) Lawson — Dani Lawson.

Following is Versyp's comments about the signing class Wednesday afternoon:

Q. With three foreign-born players, does that mark a change in how you want to recruit or is it just how ended up this year?

Versyp: “Not necessarily, it’s just where it ended up. We were recruiting Tam for a very, very long time. And Leony came out of that group. But you’re recruiting all over the country, nationally, but if you find certain players, if they’re from our country or not, it’s about whether it’s the right fit.

“Two of them were a great fit. And then we had the prospect that we came in on a little bit later than the other two, but she’s an incredible human being who happens to be from the Senegal. It just happened to be that they’re from different countries.”

Q. Can you compare the talent level in Canada to the U.S.? Is it getting closer?

Versyp: “I think the Canadians have made huge strides. I think if you saw the Canadian national team vs. the USA national team (in the Olympics), they played really, really well against each other and others obviously we dominated.

“But it’s individuals. It’s not maybe all players, but there’s certain players who step up, like Tam made a national team and she’s the youngest on that national team. She has a future with her skill set. I don’t think one thing overpowers the other, but it’s individually based.”

Q. What was building this class like, considering you had the early commitment from Dani Lawson then had to wait until the last month to get the remaining three?

Versyp: “We haven’t had to do that over the last five or six years. The players have usually done their due diligence and committed earlier. They’ve known what they’ve wanted, we’ve had them on campus.

“This year, a lot of the kids that we were recruiting, they were a lot further away, so we had to almost wait for their official visits. I think it was those circumstances more than anything. So it did, it went all the way down to the wire, but I’m very excited about these young women who have joined our team. But they need to come and be able to visit, and they weren’t able to, where in years past they had been able to.”

Q. Tell us something you like about each of them.

Versyp: “We’ll start with Dani. She just has that great versatility down low, incredible footwork and can handle the ball, has that inside-outside game.

“Tam is a player who can make an immediate impact. She’s 6-foot, we haven’t had a 3 player like Tam in a long, long time. Can defend 1 through 4, great length, can post you up and shoot outside, just a real physical presence, an extremely hard-worker.

“Leony, leadership, a communicator, takes control on the floor when she needs to and is in those situations. He has great floor vision and is a great passer and will look to score the ball second.

“And Fatou, just having that 6-foot-5 presence down low, an athlete who can run the floor and she does have one of the best hook shots I’ve seen in the women’s game. I’ve witnessed that.”

Q. You always look for freshmen to make some sort of impact, although not all of them can in their first year. But with this group, where do you see each kid potentially impacting your team next year.”

Versyp: “They all bring a different quality. With Leony, we have bigger size at the combo guard spot. (Andreona) Keys is really 5-10 and the rest are kind of below that, so having that size and great passing ability, understanding the game, having leadership, that will be a big key with Ashley (Morrissette) leaving.

“Tam is just an extremely unique player. I think she bring explosiveness, athleticism, things that we do have but her length, she just has a lot that she brings to the table. She can be big and athletic as well.

“Dani has a physical presence down low and she can shoot the 15-foot, the three, so like a stretch 4 kind of player for us.

“And Fatou, we have a 6-6 player, now 6-5 and 6-4, it’s great. We can go against the best in the country down low. If you have an injury or something happens, they’re going to be able to bring their piece of the puzzle because all three of them are so different. She’s more of that athletic center, back-to-the-basket.”

Position: Combo guard

Ht: 5-10

School: Dawson College

Notables: Averaged 11.1 points, 4.2 rebounds in 2014-15, before sitting out a major portion of last season with an injury. ... Chose Purdue over Akron and Delaware.

Position: Center

Ht: 6-5

School: Gulf Coast College

Notables: Has three years of eligibility at Purdue, after sitting out last season with an injury. ... Is second Purdue player from Senegal, joining Aya Traore. ... Chose Purdue over Tennessee, Kentucky and UMass. ... Ranked as high as the No. 7 JUCO nationally.

Position: Wing

Ht: 6-0

School: Dawson College

Notables: Averaged 17.3 points and 7.7 rebounds last season. ... Ranked the No. 4 overall player in Canada by Crown Scout Girls. ... Missed back-to-back seasons from 2013-15 with injuries. ... Chose Purdue over Michigan State and TCU.

Position: Forward

Ht: 6-2

School: Hathaway Brown

Notables: Averaged 14 points, 13 rebounds, 2.3 blocks and 1.8 steals per game last season. ... No. 89 in the class by Blue Star. ... Purdue was first offer. ... Committed in summer of 2014.

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