VARIOUS PLACES IN KENTUCKY - Spent the morning and early afternoon at EYBL in Lexington, then made a brief stop at Under Armour in Louisville for an evening session. We'll stay here tomorrow instead of hitting adidas in Indy because of fear that traffic might blow up the whole day.
Anyway, you don't care about such planes, trains and automobiles matters or about the fact that my room at the Ramada looks into the pool area in a hotel full of teenage basketball players. What could possibly go wrong?
(They're jumping in the pool now.)
Want to touch on a couple things from the day quickly and again, these quick, informal notebooks will give way to more detailed reports on individuals to come.
- Xavier Simpson was better in the game we saw this afternoon than he was last night in a loss, but still finished with five turnovers and 4-of-10 shooting, 1-of-4 from three. He looked better, though, even if the numbers didn't show it. The eye-ball test did. He had five assists, was more efficient in taking half as many shots as he did the night before, made his free throws and made impact defensive plays.
Jarron Cumberland is not comfortable with his new team yet and that's painfully obvious, so he's not showing what he can do. A player who is normally always attacking seems to be first trying to fit in. He had six points in the win over CIA Bounce from Canada.
UPDATE: Tonight, though, Cumberland had 23 in a loss to the Georgia Stars. Here's guessing, knowing him, he just said to hell with it and let 'er rip. Simpson was urging Cumberland after the afternoon game to "take your shots," showing some of the leadership people talk about with him. Cumberland also seemed to have a bit of a talk with his dad right after that first game, so obviously something clicked for him in the second game.
Simpson was 6-of-11 for 16 points with just one turnover in the evening, according to box scores.
Talked to Simpson this afternoon. He said he is unsure on visit plans. His father had said a while back that he'd be visiting Purdue in mid-May. We should have followed back up with dad and will do so at Spiece next weekend.
We will have a full story on Simpson this week.
- Point guard is going to be an interesting deal now. Simpson has an offer and is a priority, but there are other guys in the mix. Saturday, we think, was Matt Painter's first look at Carsen Edwards, but Painter only saw the first half of Houston Hoops' loss to PSA Cardinals. Edwards didn't shoot well in that first half, Painter had to switch to another court for the second half, then Edwards started burying shots.
Edwards is good, but there's a lot of 2-guard in him. He's going to have to play the point in college, but he's a combo. Painter may want a more "quintessential" point for all I know, but I'll tell you this: Based on two AAU games of each this weekend, Edwards looks to me to be every bit as good as Simpson if not better, though they are distinctly different players. It'll be interesting to see what Purdue does there and if they offer, whether they can get in on him.
- A note on the Tayler Persons news that Kyle Neddenriep reported this morning about a Purdue visit next weekend. This is not an offer situation at the moment but Purdue has done legwork on him the same way it has on every available guard it can find.
Persons is a big, strong point guard who is extremely tough and someone who can score a little bit.
When he was a sophomore-to-be in high school, he led his AAU team to a title in Fishers and I distinctly remember writing that night about him projecting to be a "Purdue fit" - I'm just trolling the recruiting malcontents with that - based on his demeanor. Didn't know if he'd be good enough though and he wound up at Northern Kentucky, where he averaged a team-high 13.1 points as a freshman this year, then decided to transfer.
I don't know what Purdue is going to do there, but we have told you that they are very open to taking a multi-transfer at the point instead of a 2016 freshman. Makes a lot of sense.
And we can not emphasize this enough: Coaches absolutely covet the opportunity to work with an experienced player for a year before introducing him into the playing mix. There is big-time value in that for any coach and that's part of the reason transfers have become such a massive recruiting market nowadays. Best way to not "stay young" as too many high-majors are is to keep bringing in older guys.
Don't be surprised at all if Purdue punts on the 2016 point guard class from the high school ranks and takes a transfer, maybe Persons.
- Nick Ward has been a beast at EYBL.
In the evening session, according to box scores, he had 30 and 15 boards in a win over Team Final. He shot 21 free throws and only missed seven of them, which isn't bad for him. We kid, we kid.
Very apparent right now he is the best-case scenario for Purdue for a big man recruit in the 2016 class, but look out. His recruitment might go to an entirely different level after showings like this in a showcase like this and this is a kid who already holds Michigan State and Ohio State offers, among others.
In the game we did see, Ward had 15, 10 and three blocks in a loss to the Arkansas Wings and superhuman Malik Monk.
At EYBL, no one's been able to keep Ward off the boards. He's just overwhelming people with his power, width, effort and strength of hands and opponents' best chance to stop him has been to foul him. He really struggles at the stripe, which is sort of odd, because he can make face-up jumpers, as he did on at least one occasion today.
- Didn't watch Barret Benson tonight because he was playing at the same time as Joey Brunk and we'll see Benson tomorrow, then all next weekend at Spiece. Brunk will not be at Spiece.
But in the few glimpses of Benson's game that we stole, he looks quicker and more active. His productivity, though, hasn't been great this spring. I don't know what happened in his game tonight, but the Illinois Wolves got smashed by 25 by Mo Williams Academy. Benson had six points and no boards.
Brunk's team didn't fare much better, getting handled by Juice All-Stars. Productivity is never an issue for him, though. He produces against everybody. His team gets him the ball in good positions and when not, Brunk gets himself the ball in good positions off the boards. He had 13 and eight tonight, modest numbers, but better than anyone else did in a double-digit final.
Hopefully you saw our story on Brunk by now. Really hard to know where Purdue sits because he is the most polite, genial kid you'll ever come across and he's going to be as nice as he can to everyone until the very end.
But our guess is Purdue remains a player - we didn't say leader, people - along with Michigan State, Xavier and probably Butler.
Some notes on coaches watching …
• At Under Armour, in the one game we saw, Iowa head coach Fran McCaffery was there as were assistants from Xavier, Butler and Michigan State, among those schools relevant to his recruitment. Purdue assistant Greg Gary was there, but bounced between Brunk's and Benson's games on adjacent courts.
At Benson's game, coaches relevant to his recruitment included assistant coaches from Illinois, Kansas State, Georgetown, Nebraska and I'm sure there were more I'm forgetting. Saw Chris Collins milling around afterward so am assuming the Northwestern head coach was there for Benson too.
At EYBL, Simpson's and Cumberland's afternoon game was played in front of Matt Painter, Mick Cronin, Chris Mack and Archie Miller in addition to a bunch of other coaches. John Groce, too, IIRC, unless that was last night. It's all running together.
Ward's game against the Arkansas Wings had Painter and Tom Izzo among those sitting courtside specifically for him.
Painter and Jack Owens were at EYBL today. Owens saw Fort Wayne 2017 big man Malik Williams at a different tournament in Lexington as well, but no Purdue coaches got to see East Coast big man Rodney Miller. He's hurt and didn't make the trip. Purdue has been active in his recruitment and he's apparently reciprocated interest.
Gary was in Louisville, for Under Armour and Nike's 16-and-under event.
We assume then that left Brandon Brantley at adidas in Indy.
Tomorrow evening coaches get booted from the road and will shuffle back to their respective campuses.
When Purdue's staff gets back to West Lafayette, prospective fifth-year transfer addition Johnny Hill will be waiting for them. He arrived on campus Saturday night and will stay through Monday morning.
Good night.
Anyway, you don't care about such planes, trains and automobiles matters or about the fact that my room at the Ramada looks into the pool area in a hotel full of teenage basketball players. What could possibly go wrong?
(They're jumping in the pool now.)
Want to touch on a couple things from the day quickly and again, these quick, informal notebooks will give way to more detailed reports on individuals to come.
- Xavier Simpson was better in the game we saw this afternoon than he was last night in a loss, but still finished with five turnovers and 4-of-10 shooting, 1-of-4 from three. He looked better, though, even if the numbers didn't show it. The eye-ball test did. He had five assists, was more efficient in taking half as many shots as he did the night before, made his free throws and made impact defensive plays.
Jarron Cumberland is not comfortable with his new team yet and that's painfully obvious, so he's not showing what he can do. A player who is normally always attacking seems to be first trying to fit in. He had six points in the win over CIA Bounce from Canada.
UPDATE: Tonight, though, Cumberland had 23 in a loss to the Georgia Stars. Here's guessing, knowing him, he just said to hell with it and let 'er rip. Simpson was urging Cumberland after the afternoon game to "take your shots," showing some of the leadership people talk about with him. Cumberland also seemed to have a bit of a talk with his dad right after that first game, so obviously something clicked for him in the second game.
Simpson was 6-of-11 for 16 points with just one turnover in the evening, according to box scores.
Talked to Simpson this afternoon. He said he is unsure on visit plans. His father had said a while back that he'd be visiting Purdue in mid-May. We should have followed back up with dad and will do so at Spiece next weekend.
We will have a full story on Simpson this week.
- Point guard is going to be an interesting deal now. Simpson has an offer and is a priority, but there are other guys in the mix. Saturday, we think, was Matt Painter's first look at Carsen Edwards, but Painter only saw the first half of Houston Hoops' loss to PSA Cardinals. Edwards didn't shoot well in that first half, Painter had to switch to another court for the second half, then Edwards started burying shots.
Edwards is good, but there's a lot of 2-guard in him. He's going to have to play the point in college, but he's a combo. Painter may want a more "quintessential" point for all I know, but I'll tell you this: Based on two AAU games of each this weekend, Edwards looks to me to be every bit as good as Simpson if not better, though they are distinctly different players. It'll be interesting to see what Purdue does there and if they offer, whether they can get in on him.
- A note on the Tayler Persons news that Kyle Neddenriep reported this morning about a Purdue visit next weekend. This is not an offer situation at the moment but Purdue has done legwork on him the same way it has on every available guard it can find.
Persons is a big, strong point guard who is extremely tough and someone who can score a little bit.
When he was a sophomore-to-be in high school, he led his AAU team to a title in Fishers and I distinctly remember writing that night about him projecting to be a "Purdue fit" - I'm just trolling the recruiting malcontents with that - based on his demeanor. Didn't know if he'd be good enough though and he wound up at Northern Kentucky, where he averaged a team-high 13.1 points as a freshman this year, then decided to transfer.
I don't know what Purdue is going to do there, but we have told you that they are very open to taking a multi-transfer at the point instead of a 2016 freshman. Makes a lot of sense.
And we can not emphasize this enough: Coaches absolutely covet the opportunity to work with an experienced player for a year before introducing him into the playing mix. There is big-time value in that for any coach and that's part of the reason transfers have become such a massive recruiting market nowadays. Best way to not "stay young" as too many high-majors are is to keep bringing in older guys.
Don't be surprised at all if Purdue punts on the 2016 point guard class from the high school ranks and takes a transfer, maybe Persons.
- Nick Ward has been a beast at EYBL.
In the evening session, according to box scores, he had 30 and 15 boards in a win over Team Final. He shot 21 free throws and only missed seven of them, which isn't bad for him. We kid, we kid.
Very apparent right now he is the best-case scenario for Purdue for a big man recruit in the 2016 class, but look out. His recruitment might go to an entirely different level after showings like this in a showcase like this and this is a kid who already holds Michigan State and Ohio State offers, among others.
In the game we did see, Ward had 15, 10 and three blocks in a loss to the Arkansas Wings and superhuman Malik Monk.
At EYBL, no one's been able to keep Ward off the boards. He's just overwhelming people with his power, width, effort and strength of hands and opponents' best chance to stop him has been to foul him. He really struggles at the stripe, which is sort of odd, because he can make face-up jumpers, as he did on at least one occasion today.
- Didn't watch Barret Benson tonight because he was playing at the same time as Joey Brunk and we'll see Benson tomorrow, then all next weekend at Spiece. Brunk will not be at Spiece.
But in the few glimpses of Benson's game that we stole, he looks quicker and more active. His productivity, though, hasn't been great this spring. I don't know what happened in his game tonight, but the Illinois Wolves got smashed by 25 by Mo Williams Academy. Benson had six points and no boards.
Brunk's team didn't fare much better, getting handled by Juice All-Stars. Productivity is never an issue for him, though. He produces against everybody. His team gets him the ball in good positions and when not, Brunk gets himself the ball in good positions off the boards. He had 13 and eight tonight, modest numbers, but better than anyone else did in a double-digit final.
Hopefully you saw our story on Brunk by now. Really hard to know where Purdue sits because he is the most polite, genial kid you'll ever come across and he's going to be as nice as he can to everyone until the very end.
But our guess is Purdue remains a player - we didn't say leader, people - along with Michigan State, Xavier and probably Butler.
Some notes on coaches watching …
• At Under Armour, in the one game we saw, Iowa head coach Fran McCaffery was there as were assistants from Xavier, Butler and Michigan State, among those schools relevant to his recruitment. Purdue assistant Greg Gary was there, but bounced between Brunk's and Benson's games on adjacent courts.
At Benson's game, coaches relevant to his recruitment included assistant coaches from Illinois, Kansas State, Georgetown, Nebraska and I'm sure there were more I'm forgetting. Saw Chris Collins milling around afterward so am assuming the Northwestern head coach was there for Benson too.
At EYBL, Simpson's and Cumberland's afternoon game was played in front of Matt Painter, Mick Cronin, Chris Mack and Archie Miller in addition to a bunch of other coaches. John Groce, too, IIRC, unless that was last night. It's all running together.
Ward's game against the Arkansas Wings had Painter and Tom Izzo among those sitting courtside specifically for him.
Painter and Jack Owens were at EYBL today. Owens saw Fort Wayne 2017 big man Malik Williams at a different tournament in Lexington as well, but no Purdue coaches got to see East Coast big man Rodney Miller. He's hurt and didn't make the trip. Purdue has been active in his recruitment and he's apparently reciprocated interest.
Gary was in Louisville, for Under Armour and Nike's 16-and-under event.
We assume then that left Brandon Brantley at adidas in Indy.
Tomorrow evening coaches get booted from the road and will shuffle back to their respective campuses.
When Purdue's staff gets back to West Lafayette, prospective fifth-year transfer addition Johnny Hill will be waiting for them. He arrived on campus Saturday night and will stay through Monday morning.
Good night.
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