You're going to read some quotes from Ethan Morton — hell, you may already have — in which he speaks with reverence about such things as putting the team before himself and playing for the collective over the individual.
These sentiments, these set him apart.
No one says that stuff.
They should, because that stuff brings about winning, but I repeat: No one says that stuff. Hell, few understand that stuff. I'll say it again: People looked at Purdue this season like it was the bearded lady, because it won without (gasp) top-50 recruits.
Now, it has a top-50 recruit that oozes everything that made those not-top-50 recruits champions this season.
Say what you want about the ability, and that's there, obviously, the towering size for his position — he's a 6-foot-5 true point guard, as Purdue is now cornering the market in skyscraper point guards the way it did a few years back with skyscraper centers — and the elite passing and pinpoint shooting.
Those are the reasons Ethan Morton is the No. 43 player nationally according to Rivals.com, the most heralded point guard Painter will have signed, and a young man who could have gone to any number of awesome programs.
But those were just part of the reason Painter was drawn to him likes bees to a pop can, as Painter himself might say. You know what Painter is all about, what he appreciates in players, the intangible stuff that doesn't show up in one's mixtape, the sorts of things that can make a player as much a peer to his coaches as a subject.
This season, I think, really went a long way in legitimizing Purdue — not in reality, but in the court of public perception, and the latter is more important in this context — as a place where great guards can thrive, and Purdue's recruiting results thus far seem to support that thought. It's not that Purdue got Jaden Ivey and Ethan Morton, but when.
Timing speaks to the decisiveness of one's recruiting win sometimes, and Ivey committed three days before a spring evaluation period that might have tripled his offers in a weekend and a summer that might have added an exponent. Morton committed without taking his final junior year official visits, let alone any senior year visits, and he didn't care much to play out a summer that could have brought a blueblood or two into the mix for all we know.
I think this season helped Purdue with guards, and March made it cool.
But I don't think that's what got Morton. Purdue might have gotten him anyway, because like the stuff he says about basketball — the awesomeness of putting yourself to the side for the sake of the team — the same for recruiting. This was the kid who talked about trust and relationships and all the other stuff that Purdue is really good with, that kids realize when they're 23 more than they do when they're 17, and not only meant it, but acted on it when all was said and done.
He was drawn to substance, and that's why he committed to Purdue; Purdue was drawn to substance as well, and that's why it's thrilled to death tonight.
These sentiments, these set him apart.
No one says that stuff.
They should, because that stuff brings about winning, but I repeat: No one says that stuff. Hell, few understand that stuff. I'll say it again: People looked at Purdue this season like it was the bearded lady, because it won without (gasp) top-50 recruits.
Now, it has a top-50 recruit that oozes everything that made those not-top-50 recruits champions this season.
Say what you want about the ability, and that's there, obviously, the towering size for his position — he's a 6-foot-5 true point guard, as Purdue is now cornering the market in skyscraper point guards the way it did a few years back with skyscraper centers — and the elite passing and pinpoint shooting.
Those are the reasons Ethan Morton is the No. 43 player nationally according to Rivals.com, the most heralded point guard Painter will have signed, and a young man who could have gone to any number of awesome programs.
But those were just part of the reason Painter was drawn to him likes bees to a pop can, as Painter himself might say. You know what Painter is all about, what he appreciates in players, the intangible stuff that doesn't show up in one's mixtape, the sorts of things that can make a player as much a peer to his coaches as a subject.
This season, I think, really went a long way in legitimizing Purdue — not in reality, but in the court of public perception, and the latter is more important in this context — as a place where great guards can thrive, and Purdue's recruiting results thus far seem to support that thought. It's not that Purdue got Jaden Ivey and Ethan Morton, but when.
Timing speaks to the decisiveness of one's recruiting win sometimes, and Ivey committed three days before a spring evaluation period that might have tripled his offers in a weekend and a summer that might have added an exponent. Morton committed without taking his final junior year official visits, let alone any senior year visits, and he didn't care much to play out a summer that could have brought a blueblood or two into the mix for all we know.
I think this season helped Purdue with guards, and March made it cool.
But I don't think that's what got Morton. Purdue might have gotten him anyway, because like the stuff he says about basketball — the awesomeness of putting yourself to the side for the sake of the team — the same for recruiting. This was the kid who talked about trust and relationships and all the other stuff that Purdue is really good with, that kids realize when they're 23 more than they do when they're 17, and not only meant it, but acted on it when all was said and done.
He was drawn to substance, and that's why he committed to Purdue; Purdue was drawn to substance as well, and that's why it's thrilled to death tonight.
