Hello, me again.
While Scott Frost was calling hilariously ill-fated on-side kicks in Dublin in Week 0, Purdue basketball was holding its once-annual and now-maybe-again-annual elite camp after a hiatus of a few years. Apparently there was a pandemic.
Anyway, I spent the morning and afternoon at Purdue's Recreational Sports Center — the Co-Rec to Purdue people of a certain age — and wanted to just recap things here real quick.
KANON CATCHINGS
Purdue's potential next man up for the 2024 class showed up for the camp, the first of his two visits in the span of a week, as he'll return Thursday for his junior-year official visit.
This was a pretty quick camp in terms of the games, just three sessions, but in the games I saw — his entire first game, head to head sort of against Purdue commit Jack Benter, and then parts of the two others — Catchings was excellent. And he was excellent while looking like he was barely trying, if that makes sense. That's not to say he wasn't trying but he's so smooth and there are things he does that are so effortless, he looks that way. If that makes sense. Coherent thoughts may not be my thing today.
Catchings nailed threes like he always does, nailed pull-ups like he always does, did a really nice job creating space for himself to get to his pull-up, finished in transition whenever given the opportunity and really rebounded, an element of his game that's a sneaky strength.
Two things I thought that stood out today: He did a nice job as a live-dribble passer today, on drive-and-kick situations or leading breaks and he did a great job in traffic, really nimble with his footwork and understanding how to slip through bodies and get high-percentage shots up.
This is a kid who may not walk into college and light the world on fire from Day 1, but his up-side his immense and his floor is pretty high, too, because I think that at worst, you have a 6-8ish player with height, length, athleticism and versatility who's also a really good shooter. What I've seen of Catchings for months now, I think he can be a 40-percent sort of three-point shooter at the next level. He's got great touch on his shot and pretty good mechanics for a guy who's still an awful lot of arm and leg.
I did not get a chance to talk to Catchings afterward as he split while I was looking for other players, but there was no point anyway. He's making his official in a couple days.
JACK BENTER
Camps aren't always great for players like Benter to stand out, but he did anyway, doing all the stuff that drew Purdue to him.
He didn't shoot great in Game 1 — sort of matching up with Catchings — but still managed 10 points (despite going 0-for-2 on two-point free throws) to Catchings' nine and did a lot of other stuff. He's a very good passer, very good at advancing the ball to start breaks, he gets a ton of steals and he really rebounds for a guard. His physical nature for his positional category still is a real eye-opener. He recorded an and-one in the post on one touch today that a lot of power forwards would have admired.
Benter didn't shoot great in that game against Catchings, probably like 2-for-6 from three, then made five threes in the first half alone of the next game.
MALACHI MORENO
Only saw bits and pieces of the Purdue 2025 target's games today, but man, he is so tall, so long and so light on his feet. Your random, half-baked comp of the day will be me mentioning Willie Cauley-Stein here, just because of Moreno's body type and mobility. Easy to see why he's going to be a national recruit, probably. He showed today in the games I saw that he can dribble. bringing the ball up the floor a few times.
A FEW OTHER THINGS
• Lawrence North sophomore-to-be guard Azavier "Stink" Robinson is going to be a player Purdue recruits, I think. Pretty explosive kid off the dribble who can get to the basket and shoot off the bounce. Made the only three I saw him take today.
• I didn't get to see as much of Attucks' Dezmon Briscoe as I wanted to today, but did see the big man drain a nice catch-and-shoot three (I think it was a three). He's a big-time rebounder from what I've seen in the past and has some offensive tools. Reminds me of Jay Simpson at this stage for some reason, in a good way.
Bear with me because I think I lost my roster ...
• Tindley's Dezhon Hall is only going to be a freshman this year. You'd have no idea. He's very good as is, and definitely a name worth remembering.
• I didn't really get to see 2025 E.J. Walker (from just outside Cincinnati in Northern Kentucky) play, but did speak with him after. He did an unofficial visit sort of thing with Purdue afterward, I think, and seems like a player they're going to recruit. He has a bunch of high majors interested in him.
• Cathedral has a really nice young backcourt coming up with 2025s Lebron Gough and Deric Cannaday. Both small, but can play.
• Didn't really get to see him play, either, but I know Purdue is pretty interested in 2024 Normal (Ill.) guard Braylon Roman, who was at the camp today.
• I don't know if Purdue's recruiting him or not, but Wisconsin 2025 forward Kai Rogers was really good today. He was on Benter's team so I saw him a bunch.
• David Jenkins Jr. took great pride in the team he coached going 3-0 today. He had Catchings and Kiwane Garris Jr., whose father played at Illinois back in the day.
Just thought I'd share.
That's about all I can think of. I did a bunch of interviews. We'll see if I actually bother to write the stories. Pretty run-of-the-mill early-recruiting-process sort of stuff from young players.
Reminder: Catchings will be back for an official visit starting Thursday. Gicarri Harris visits as well, as does Benter and 2023 commit Myles Colvin.
While Scott Frost was calling hilariously ill-fated on-side kicks in Dublin in Week 0, Purdue basketball was holding its once-annual and now-maybe-again-annual elite camp after a hiatus of a few years. Apparently there was a pandemic.
Anyway, I spent the morning and afternoon at Purdue's Recreational Sports Center — the Co-Rec to Purdue people of a certain age — and wanted to just recap things here real quick.
KANON CATCHINGS
Purdue's potential next man up for the 2024 class showed up for the camp, the first of his two visits in the span of a week, as he'll return Thursday for his junior-year official visit.
This was a pretty quick camp in terms of the games, just three sessions, but in the games I saw — his entire first game, head to head sort of against Purdue commit Jack Benter, and then parts of the two others — Catchings was excellent. And he was excellent while looking like he was barely trying, if that makes sense. That's not to say he wasn't trying but he's so smooth and there are things he does that are so effortless, he looks that way. If that makes sense. Coherent thoughts may not be my thing today.
Catchings nailed threes like he always does, nailed pull-ups like he always does, did a really nice job creating space for himself to get to his pull-up, finished in transition whenever given the opportunity and really rebounded, an element of his game that's a sneaky strength.
Two things I thought that stood out today: He did a nice job as a live-dribble passer today, on drive-and-kick situations or leading breaks and he did a great job in traffic, really nimble with his footwork and understanding how to slip through bodies and get high-percentage shots up.
This is a kid who may not walk into college and light the world on fire from Day 1, but his up-side his immense and his floor is pretty high, too, because I think that at worst, you have a 6-8ish player with height, length, athleticism and versatility who's also a really good shooter. What I've seen of Catchings for months now, I think he can be a 40-percent sort of three-point shooter at the next level. He's got great touch on his shot and pretty good mechanics for a guy who's still an awful lot of arm and leg.
I did not get a chance to talk to Catchings afterward as he split while I was looking for other players, but there was no point anyway. He's making his official in a couple days.
JACK BENTER
Camps aren't always great for players like Benter to stand out, but he did anyway, doing all the stuff that drew Purdue to him.
He didn't shoot great in Game 1 — sort of matching up with Catchings — but still managed 10 points (despite going 0-for-2 on two-point free throws) to Catchings' nine and did a lot of other stuff. He's a very good passer, very good at advancing the ball to start breaks, he gets a ton of steals and he really rebounds for a guard. His physical nature for his positional category still is a real eye-opener. He recorded an and-one in the post on one touch today that a lot of power forwards would have admired.
Benter didn't shoot great in that game against Catchings, probably like 2-for-6 from three, then made five threes in the first half alone of the next game.
MALACHI MORENO
Only saw bits and pieces of the Purdue 2025 target's games today, but man, he is so tall, so long and so light on his feet. Your random, half-baked comp of the day will be me mentioning Willie Cauley-Stein here, just because of Moreno's body type and mobility. Easy to see why he's going to be a national recruit, probably. He showed today in the games I saw that he can dribble. bringing the ball up the floor a few times.
A FEW OTHER THINGS
• Lawrence North sophomore-to-be guard Azavier "Stink" Robinson is going to be a player Purdue recruits, I think. Pretty explosive kid off the dribble who can get to the basket and shoot off the bounce. Made the only three I saw him take today.
• I didn't get to see as much of Attucks' Dezmon Briscoe as I wanted to today, but did see the big man drain a nice catch-and-shoot three (I think it was a three). He's a big-time rebounder from what I've seen in the past and has some offensive tools. Reminds me of Jay Simpson at this stage for some reason, in a good way.
Bear with me because I think I lost my roster ...
• Tindley's Dezhon Hall is only going to be a freshman this year. You'd have no idea. He's very good as is, and definitely a name worth remembering.
• I didn't really get to see 2025 E.J. Walker (from just outside Cincinnati in Northern Kentucky) play, but did speak with him after. He did an unofficial visit sort of thing with Purdue afterward, I think, and seems like a player they're going to recruit. He has a bunch of high majors interested in him.
• Cathedral has a really nice young backcourt coming up with 2025s Lebron Gough and Deric Cannaday. Both small, but can play.
• Didn't really get to see him play, either, but I know Purdue is pretty interested in 2024 Normal (Ill.) guard Braylon Roman, who was at the camp today.
• I don't know if Purdue's recruiting him or not, but Wisconsin 2025 forward Kai Rogers was really good today. He was on Benter's team so I saw him a bunch.
• David Jenkins Jr. took great pride in the team he coached going 3-0 today. He had Catchings and Kiwane Garris Jr., whose father played at Illinois back in the day.
Just thought I'd share.
That's about all I can think of. I did a bunch of interviews. We'll see if I actually bother to write the stories. Pretty run-of-the-mill early-recruiting-process sort of stuff from young players.
Reminder: Catchings will be back for an official visit starting Thursday. Gicarri Harris visits as well, as does Benter and 2023 commit Myles Colvin.
