A few follow-up things that I couldn't fit in last night, some of which we told you throughout the course of the recruiting process ...
• Micah Shrewsberry gets a big assist on this one, from everything I understand. Brandon Brantley was the lead recruiter here and Matt Painter was obviously closely involved as he always is, but in the last few months, Shrewsberry really came into the picture, too, and most notably discussed some NBA concepts and whatnot with him, for his time with the Celtics. I think that really helped seal the deal here.
Remember, too, when schools like North Carolina were still trying to line up a Zoom visit of any kind, Kaufman was doing a Zoom session solely with Purdue sports performance coach Gavin Roberts. That level of detail toward Purdue was a big hint many weeks ago. Roberts helped here, as well.
• I think Painter does go back a ways with Kaufman's uncle, Matt Renn, but there's also a connection between the family and another member of the Indiana State network, Lou Gudino, who's now an assisant coach at Wichita State and has long known Painter well. We believe he was another advocate toward Purdue at the beginning of this process, part of the reason Purdue opened in a pretty strong position here.
This is the sort of thing we're talking about when we say that Painter at this stage of his career is really benefiting from a strong network, from the years of goodwill he's built up, and the fact that he's defined all odds by coming this far in his career without making very many enemies, which is a very difficult thing to do in his profession.
• Kaufman hit it off really well with Purdue's players on his visit back in the fall. I think he saw them as more like-minded. He knew a lot of players at other places, but that doesn't mean he ever saw them as the best fit.
• Purdue was just steady as hell here, no incidents really. Louisville fell out of this very quickly for whatever reason. Bad visit, I think. Xavier was really strong early along with Purdue, but something happened there, too, later on in the process that ties wound up being cut. Indiana never really connected with Kaufman, probably pushed a little too hard and I think played a role in putting a lot of pro-IU stuff out there seemingly to try to pressure the kid. Probably wasn't a great idea, in hindsight.
Purdue overcame a bunch here — I'm not sure he had a live offer here for a while post-Caleb Furst commitment — but never hurt itself either.
• Micah Shrewsberry gets a big assist on this one, from everything I understand. Brandon Brantley was the lead recruiter here and Matt Painter was obviously closely involved as he always is, but in the last few months, Shrewsberry really came into the picture, too, and most notably discussed some NBA concepts and whatnot with him, for his time with the Celtics. I think that really helped seal the deal here.
Remember, too, when schools like North Carolina were still trying to line up a Zoom visit of any kind, Kaufman was doing a Zoom session solely with Purdue sports performance coach Gavin Roberts. That level of detail toward Purdue was a big hint many weeks ago. Roberts helped here, as well.
• I think Painter does go back a ways with Kaufman's uncle, Matt Renn, but there's also a connection between the family and another member of the Indiana State network, Lou Gudino, who's now an assisant coach at Wichita State and has long known Painter well. We believe he was another advocate toward Purdue at the beginning of this process, part of the reason Purdue opened in a pretty strong position here.
This is the sort of thing we're talking about when we say that Painter at this stage of his career is really benefiting from a strong network, from the years of goodwill he's built up, and the fact that he's defined all odds by coming this far in his career without making very many enemies, which is a very difficult thing to do in his profession.
• Kaufman hit it off really well with Purdue's players on his visit back in the fall. I think he saw them as more like-minded. He knew a lot of players at other places, but that doesn't mean he ever saw them as the best fit.
• Purdue was just steady as hell here, no incidents really. Louisville fell out of this very quickly for whatever reason. Bad visit, I think. Xavier was really strong early along with Purdue, but something happened there, too, later on in the process that ties wound up being cut. Indiana never really connected with Kaufman, probably pushed a little too hard and I think played a role in putting a lot of pro-IU stuff out there seemingly to try to pressure the kid. Probably wasn't a great idea, in hindsight.
Purdue overcame a bunch here — I'm not sure he had a live offer here for a while post-Caleb Furst commitment — but never hurt itself either.
