A quick clearinghouse of some stuff to go along with our Damezi Anderson story just now ....
• I spent tonight at Nike, but will split tomorrow between Nike and Under Armour.
Purdue's breakdown: Matt Painter and Brandon Brantley spent tonight in Atlanta, while Greg Gary was at Nike and Steve Lutz at Under Armour. Painter flies into Indy for Nike the rest of the weekend I believe.
That's two weekends in a row Painter has opened at adidas, which has Robby Carmody, Jerome Hunter, Robert Phinisee, newly offer Bryan Penn-Johnson and now Darius Bazley, the subject of the latest installment of AAU Bingo, as he left his UA team to go play for this startup Twenty Two Vision team on adidas, which has Romeo Langford.
• Did my first ever interview with a translator tonight, as apparently Purdue point guard target Neftali Alvarez, who's from Puerto Rico, doesn't speak great English. One of his teammates was kind enough to assist, but the interview kind of was what it was. He did say Purdue would be "top five" for him. I believe something was said about really liking Syracuse, though. I'll have to go back and listen, but not sure they've offered yet.
• This 2019 big man from Texas, Drew Timme, is terrific. Steve Lutz had offered him at Creighton and followed suit for Purdue. He's going to be really highly recruited, and you can see why. He is all effort and energy on top of being big and skilled. Not convinced he's the 6-10 he's listed at, but he can face the basket and drive, bring the ball up and post up. He was fun to watch. He's a 2019 playing up in EYBL, which is not for the faint of heart.
• Didn't get to interview Jamal Bieniemy, Franklin Agunanne, Trevion Williams and some others. We're kind of at the mercy of who shows up in the media area. Hopefully tomorrow.
• Still have to think he's gonna be hard to pull out of Michigan, if not Lansing, but Brandon Johns seems legitimately interested in Purdue. Also, he says he's 6-8. I think he's taller. Kudos to him for not embellishing.
• Purdue's going to be really hard-pressed to get big-time East Coast forward Cole Swider, but he said there is appeal to Purdue and he clearly has listened to what Purdue's told him after it offered this week. He gave a thoughtful comment about Purdue' style of play and how shooters like him are complemented by big men at Purdue. For a kid with damn near 40 offers, most of them having come in the past few weeks, I think that said something.
• Purdue really picking up interest in plastic-man Michigan forward Marcus Bingham, who visited during the season and got a call this past week from Painter, which is often a tell. I think Purdue would be a big one for him. He just got offered by Washington, which was pretty random, but maybe a sign of more to come. Bingham is probably a combo forward, but he's 6-9 and long as hell.
• Nojel Eastern is here, will be all weekend. We'll write a story on him at some point but in the meantime here's our video interview. Fans are going to love this kid. And, he might be the biggest guard in the Big Ten season. Purdue might be the only school in the country who's backup point guard is bigger than its 4. Not sure that's accurate, but Eastern looks it.
• We'll have full stories to come on basically all these guys. Just not tonight.
• I spent tonight at Nike, but will split tomorrow between Nike and Under Armour.
Purdue's breakdown: Matt Painter and Brandon Brantley spent tonight in Atlanta, while Greg Gary was at Nike and Steve Lutz at Under Armour. Painter flies into Indy for Nike the rest of the weekend I believe.
That's two weekends in a row Painter has opened at adidas, which has Robby Carmody, Jerome Hunter, Robert Phinisee, newly offer Bryan Penn-Johnson and now Darius Bazley, the subject of the latest installment of AAU Bingo, as he left his UA team to go play for this startup Twenty Two Vision team on adidas, which has Romeo Langford.
• Did my first ever interview with a translator tonight, as apparently Purdue point guard target Neftali Alvarez, who's from Puerto Rico, doesn't speak great English. One of his teammates was kind enough to assist, but the interview kind of was what it was. He did say Purdue would be "top five" for him. I believe something was said about really liking Syracuse, though. I'll have to go back and listen, but not sure they've offered yet.
• This 2019 big man from Texas, Drew Timme, is terrific. Steve Lutz had offered him at Creighton and followed suit for Purdue. He's going to be really highly recruited, and you can see why. He is all effort and energy on top of being big and skilled. Not convinced he's the 6-10 he's listed at, but he can face the basket and drive, bring the ball up and post up. He was fun to watch. He's a 2019 playing up in EYBL, which is not for the faint of heart.
• Didn't get to interview Jamal Bieniemy, Franklin Agunanne, Trevion Williams and some others. We're kind of at the mercy of who shows up in the media area. Hopefully tomorrow.
• Still have to think he's gonna be hard to pull out of Michigan, if not Lansing, but Brandon Johns seems legitimately interested in Purdue. Also, he says he's 6-8. I think he's taller. Kudos to him for not embellishing.
• Purdue's going to be really hard-pressed to get big-time East Coast forward Cole Swider, but he said there is appeal to Purdue and he clearly has listened to what Purdue's told him after it offered this week. He gave a thoughtful comment about Purdue' style of play and how shooters like him are complemented by big men at Purdue. For a kid with damn near 40 offers, most of them having come in the past few weeks, I think that said something.
• Purdue really picking up interest in plastic-man Michigan forward Marcus Bingham, who visited during the season and got a call this past week from Painter, which is often a tell. I think Purdue would be a big one for him. He just got offered by Washington, which was pretty random, but maybe a sign of more to come. Bingham is probably a combo forward, but he's 6-9 and long as hell.
• Nojel Eastern is here, will be all weekend. We'll write a story on him at some point but in the meantime here's our video interview. Fans are going to love this kid. And, he might be the biggest guard in the Big Ten season. Purdue might be the only school in the country who's backup point guard is bigger than its 4. Not sure that's accurate, but Eastern looks it.
• We'll have full stories to come on basically all these guys. Just not tonight.
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