Express Thoughts: College BB recruiting, Purdue hoops and more

Gold and Black Express Thoughts from the Weekend column, with analysis of Purdue football, Boilermaker men’s basketball, recruiting, or whatever else comes to mind.

ON SPRING COLLEGE BASKETBALL RECRUITING

Funny thing about these college basketball recruiting events like I just spent the weekend covering: They’ve always smelled like money, but now it’s just all out in the open.

Coaches who used to whisper and backbite about this school getting this kid for X amount of dollars now openly discuss it, because it’s normal now.

The athletes are getting what they deserve in the context of the economy of college basketball but in the context of the rules as they long stood, the bad guys won, if there was ever such a thing as “bad” guys. The moral and ethical ambiguity of college basketball was really interesting but now the money’s all out there in the open until DeLoitte pushes back it back under the table and into more hushed tones again.

Those who were illegally buying players with impunity all along, the schools who were ready to roll as soon as NIL came around — they’re not hard to ID — they didn’t necessarily win here, because now that everyone’s players are getting paid, that leveled the playing field some. You can look around and find some real good examples of name brands in college football and college basketball who haven’t done so hot since the money came out into the daylight and some measure of parity came with it. If it gets forced back into the darkness, the bagman staffer/wiretap guy will again get his chance to do his thing, but in the meantime, there aren’t all that many pockets turned inside out to fill at the high-major level.

I think it is important to note the distinction between “buying” players and compensating them based on the market and their achievements. Braden Smith is going to make a ton of money this season, as he should considering he’s a first-team All-American, one of college basketball’s real stars, and a marketable individual. But during this spring in which players went for airport prices, he could have gotten more someplace else, yes. This weekend, as a story went, one staffer at a school that was ready to mess with Smith expressed surprise he didn’t chase the money, obviously oblivious the fact that sometimes players want to be where they are happy and content. What a pathetically nihilistic view to think otherwise, but that’s what college basketball is full of now.

It reminds of the long-term viability of Purdue’s model, of building relationships, gauging fit and breeding loyalty during recruiting, then being honest and fair with people thereafter. Money is a big deal, yes, and Purdue is fine in that regard, but the people who are out there beating their chests over their war chests and recruiting to numbers instead of people, they’re missing the plot here.

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ON HOW THINGS CHANGE

Speaking here only of my perceptions and relative peer consensus: A year ago at this time, Luke Ertel looked like a player who screamed “Purdue,” but you still kind of had to talk yourself into a bit as a really high high-major prospect. Today, go find someone — anyone — who’s not a fan. He’s going to be a top-100-ranked player before long, if he’s not already, and someone who would have a bunch of offers right now had he not committed to Purdue forever ago.

That’s where Purdue wins, getting its guys early and winning fights the easy way, by avoiding them altogether. Had Jaden Ivey and Fletcher Loyer, to name two, not committed before live periods, all hell would have broken loose for those players as soon as they set foot on an EYBL court in April. (Same reason Purdue undoubtedly wanted Trey Thompson wrapped up by now.)

It’s funny about basketball recruiting. Things change over time. There are players out there with Purdue offers who I’d be surprised if Purdue even keeps recruiting them; there are players out there now you’ve never heard of to this point who’ll be top of mind come the end of July and into the fall.

A year ago at this time I’d have put Taylen Kinney at the top of the list of Purdue’s 2026 targets; now, Purdue has Omer Mayer and not a whole lot of need to wade into the knife fight that’s going to be Kinney’s recruitment. The guy Purdue has to have now is Thompson.

It’s all so diifferent from where things stood last year and chances are by July, whatever silly lists and “hot boards” or whatever you might have seen on this site might be completely obsolete.

It’s too long a process, too inexact a science and the subjects are too volatile for things to ever be static when it comes to basketball recruiting.

ON PURDUE AND INDIANA

Purdue and Indiana haven’t really recruited against each other all that much in recent years, as both have expanded their recruiting reach outside the state and IU has done the whole portal/NIL thing to build its transient teams.

But with Darien DeVries there now, you wonder if Indiana might start recruiting some of the same sorts of players as Purdue and thus may be drawn to some of the same names. Trey Thompson would certainly be one example, as IU just offered him.

Purdue has been the top program in the state for a while now, and at least evening things out some has to be considered important for DeVries if he’s going to succeed there and stop the Hoosiers’ debiliitating coaching churn.

That in mind, I’ll point out that this past weekend, Indiana offered Thompson and made a real push at 2027 center Isaiah Hill. Both players who might have been trending toward committing to Purdue.

Both players are awesome and IU is smart to recruit them, but maybe running some interference on a rival was part of the calculus, too.