elite camp

[Brian_GoldandBlack.com]

WESTFIELD, Ind. ? Spent the day today at Purdue's elite camp in Westfield and wanted to share some observations and stuff. Right now, though, it seems a bit unimportant considering the magnitude of Neil Armstrong's loss to the Boilermaker community.

But, nevertheless, here you go …

No secret here: Jordan Ash is just a ridiculous athlete. I mean, elite.

But he's raw. As we've said all along, once the skills catch up to the athleticism, then he's every bit of what he's touted to be.

He's becoming more of a playmaker off the dribble, but his shot's inconsistent. He's a work in progress.

But the athleticism for a guard of his size, at his age, is ridiculous.

And he's a great kid.

Mack Mercer, the 2014 forward from Plymouth, has really, really improved. Like, really improved.

As I think I mentioned earlier, the difference between he and high-major offeree Sean O'Mara is 20 pounds and Mercer's trending upward. Nice low-post game, good-enough athleticism and some perimeter ability, as well.

Love Michael Benkert. The 2015 from Center Grove's energy level alone makes him a great Purdue fit. It reminds a bit of Ryan Taylor before he went into witness relocation, but Benkert's not as physical. There's a bit of DeJuan Marrero there, as well, but Benkert has far more potential for growth at this stage than Marrero did. Marrero was maxed out physically as an eighth-grader, or at least pretty close to it.

Not sure Benkert has a position at this point, but he's only a sophomore. He can make shots, so he might be a wing, might be a forward, we'll see.

Probably not a no-brainer, early offer guy quite yet, but a couple months, maybe a year from now, we'll see.

Purdue needs kids who fit its culture and identity and Benkert would seem to qualify.

Didn't concentrate all that much on Ryan Welage, but caught him in passing some. Every time I did, he was grabbing a rebound between a bunch of other guys. For a skinny, gangly sophomore, it's not like he's doing it with physicality. He has a knack for finding the ball or the ball has a knack for finding him, I'm not sure.

Barret Benson is definitely somebody Purdue is going to take a long look at for 2016. Nice-looking power forward type with good feet and some thickness to him physically. Looked fairly polished for such a young big. We'll see how much he grows.

His dad, Cliff Benson, played football at Purdue.

Class of 2016 Kentucky guard Quentin Goodin is really good, one of the best players there today, if not the best.



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