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Simpson will also visit Iowa State the following weekend and those, as of now, look like they'll be Simpson's only two official visits.
That does not mean schools like Xavier (especially) aren't players here. The elder Simpson said they have been everywhere else already. Xavier Simpson has never taken a recruiting-minded visit to Purdue.
Simpson scored 24 with five steals Thursday morning in a win over California Supreme at the Peach Jam.
Matt Painter, Xavier's Chris Mack, Illinois' John Groce, Iowa's Fran McCaffery and interestingly, Michigan State's Tom Izzo were all courtside. (Painter moved over at halftime to see Carsen Edwards vs. Schnider Herard)
The Izzo thing is interesting because Michigan State has long been the Death Star hanging over this recruitment and still may be, assuming things haven't passed the point of no return there. The Spartans are heavily involved with in-state blue-chipper Cassius Winston, their first choice at the position.
Purdue is hanging in there.
The visit will be crucial. Xavier isn't going away here. (BN)
Purdue is looking all over the country at every position in a year where the Midwest isn't exactly well-stocked.
That's especially true at point guard, where Purdue has offers out to Simpson, Carsen Edwards and East Coast combo guard Bruce Brown, if not more.
Saw Brown for the first time this morning and saw a player with the look of a perfect Purdue fit. Kid is tough, aggressive, energetic and an effective penetrator. Shooting is, shall we say, less than refined, we've been told and not sure he is a true, true point guard, but he is definitely a player. He's been highly sought-after - he has a ton of offers, including some real heavyweights - but Purdue will try to get in the mix there. Whether he is a point guard in Matt Painter and staff's eyes or a 2 - or a combination thereof - we don't know.
But back to the point, where Purdue has a bunch of irons in the fire.
It has been watching Milwaukee's Te'Jon Lucas since at least the spring and could ramp things up there if it likes him the rest of the summer. Purdue has watched closely New Jersey's Breein Tyree, as well, as we told you in our story earlier this week from the Under Armour event.
The junior college route, as we've told you, is very much an option, too.
Purdue has been embedded in the early stages of the recruitment of Tyler (Texas) Junior College's Ronnie Stacy, a 6-3 guard who's originally from Alabama. Stacy wasn't a big-time player for Tyler, averaging about 10 minutes per game, as a freshman, but is presumably in line for much more to come.
We'll find out more about him in the weeks to come.
"We haven't talked much about it, but if we ended up at the same college, it wouldn't be a bad thing," Wilkes said. "It'd be great. We get along well, great. He's been like my brother."
Purdue may be viable with Wilkes if he sticks to his guns about academics. Keep in mind, this is a player with a really, really bright future in basketball, potentially, and so making a decision based on engineering programs is something that could very easily go by the wayside at some point, but hasn't yet at least.
Scruggs … we seriously doubt Purdue gets him. Not to be flippant about it, but it just doesn't feel like they're a prime player right now. Indiana seems to be, Kansas too, and Kentucky looms large over all of them, but there's a lot of time for things to change, too. (BN)
FYI: The Nike thing has been a challenge for us, but Mac Irvin Fire will be at a tourney in Milwaukee we're covering next weekend, so we'll get interviews with Purdue 2016 target Zach Norvell and 2017 Justin Smith there. And King James and Xavier Simpson will be at AAU Nationals in Louisville at the end of the month, so we'll get Simpson a week before his planned official visit to Purdue.
Purdue didn't/couldn't take the Atlanta Mays burner because of academic questions.
Turns out, Brown qualified last month and Middle Tennessee stole one. (BN)
Malone, who spent the last nine seasons as the New Orleans Saints’ tight ends coach, has deep ties to the state of Michigan; a native of Redford, a suburb of Detroit, he was a Wolverines’ assistant from 1997-2005.
West Bloomfield coach Ron Bellamy, a former Michigan wide receiver who played for Malone when the latter was the UM offensive coordinator, credits Malone with the commitment of Navon Mosley.
“He’s from Michigan, coached at Michigan for a long time,” Bellamy said of Malone. “He knows the recruiting area. The thing I like about Coach Malone, when he recruits a kid or is recruiting a parent, whatever it may be, he’s a very genuine guy, a great guy.
“As a parent, you feel a level of comfort that this man is going to be on the staff. Typically how it works in recruiting is that if you recruit my kid, then automatically you become associated with my kid; if my kid has issues, then we need to go to you.”
Bellamy thinks Malone, who is in his first season as the Boilermakers’ tight end coach, will work well under Coach Darrell Hazell, because they share personality traits. Neither is going to needlessly rant and rave, Bellamy said.
“(Malone is) like ‘Look, this is how it’s going to be done. I’m here for you. Let me know what tools I need to give you to be successful,’” Bellamy said. “Then it’s competition from that standpoint: ‘If you can’t get the job done, then I have to find someone else who can.’ He always has an open-door policy. He was my offensive coordinator for two years, and before then he was our offensive line coach and coached arguably the best offensive line in the history of Michigan. All five starters, the first two years I was in college, all played in the NFL. Two first-round draft picks (Steve Hutchinson and Jeff Backus), a second-round draft pick (Maurice Williams), and another guy (Jonathan Goodwin) who is going into his 14th year in the NFL. He’s done a phenomenal job.” (KC)
A third straight year might be a possibility. Purdue is looking at Lakers’ Garrett Winn, a junior athlete who Bellamy says projects as an offensive skill player and a return specialist.
“He’s a star-in-the-making,” Bellamy said. “He’s a 4.0 (GPA) kid. I told Coach Hazell ‘You need to jump on him, jump on him, jump on him before the Michigan schools do.’ So that’s a possibility that we could send three in a row to Purdue.” (KC)
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