May Basketball Recruiting Period Day 2: Purdue 2026 targets Bo Ogden and Cameron Williams, the Cooper Zachary Show and more

COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa — Day 2 of the spring evaluation period is in the books, as Purdue’s staff reains split between events in Omaha and Memphis.

News and notes from Saturday at the adidas 3SSB event …

PURDUE ON HIGH-LEVEL BIG MAN’S RADAR

Cameron Williams, ranked 27th nationally in the 2026 class by On3, has a long list dotted with many prominent programs, Purdue among them. But though the 6-foot-11, 200-pounder from Arizona views himself as a wing and possesses the skill set of one, the Boilermaker program’s track record with big men has resonated with him.

“They think I could go there, develop and go to the next level,” Williams said. “Kind of like Zach Edey and the bigger guys they’ve had.”

“I don’t care how far the school is,” he said, “as long as it’s for me and I’m going to go there, develop and get to next level. I don’t care if it’s all the way in New York, Connecticut, whatever. I’m going to go there.”

He’ll have a lot to sort through. Arizona, USC, Arizona State, Stanford, Notre Dame and Illinois are among the many prioritizing him. But he’ll likely start taking official visits lat next month. Purdue would “for sure” be a possibility, he said.

BO OGDEN IS MORE OF A GUARD THAN ANYTHING NOW

Texas’ Bo Ogden, a long-standing Purdue target, has always sort of transcended position, a 6-5ish utility man who can handle the ball, pass, rebound, guard point guards and forwards alike. In modern college basketball, such players sometimes find their way to being perimeter-oriented 4 men or big traditional small forwards,

“I’m trying to be more of a combo guard,” said Ogden, who brings the ball up and initiates offense more often than not for his ASAK Basketball grassroots team. “I don’t think I’ve ever really been a forward, but I could have played off the ball more. Now I’m trying to play on the ball more.”

He’s doing well, leading the 3SSB circuit in scoring during its first session in Bryan, Texas.

To recruiting: Ogden officially visited Purdue in January.

“It was awesome,” Ogden said. “I really like how they develop guys. They do a really good job. I liked the campus, the facilities are really nice and I love the coaches. It’s definitely a really good option I’m going to consider.”

Tennessee is another of the high-end programs who’ve prioritized Ogden.

But Texas is the school everyone else involved inevitably will fret over.

Ogden’s from Austin. His father, Chris, is Texas basketball’s general manager, carried over from the ousted Rodney Terry’s staff to Sean Miller’s.

“I really like Coach Miller,” Ogden said. “I’m just starting to get to know him since he got to Austin, and I really like the staff there. But I’m not set on that. It’s not, ‘I’m just gonna go there because of my dad.’ But I do really like Coach Miller and it’s my hometown, so it’s a really good option.”

COOPER ZACHARY WILL MAKE FOR SOME DIFFICULT DECISIONS

Time and again, traditional blueprints for players have been blown up, though those blueprints exist for all those times they weren’t.

Cooper Zachary will inevitably be a test case for high-major coaches’ appetite for going against the grain in that sense. The Fishers guard is small, maybe prohibitively so, but though he may not wind up being Indiana’s 2027 class’ best prospect, he may end up its best player. Big difference.

He is immensely skilled, a game-wrecking shooter and uniquely crafty, clever and technically excellent. He knows how to play, as coaches say. He plays with a constant motor, defends on the ball with urgency, a disruptive presence not all that dissimilar to fellow Indianapolis area Indiana Elite star Luke Ertel, who’s committed to Purdue for the 2026 class.

All these characteristics present in Zachary are assets Matt Painter has at times been willing to trade size for. The best guard in the country is on Purdue’s team right now. He’s small. Ertel isn’t the biggest guard in the country, but his stock seems to be rising by the day among those only now seeing what Painter did before anyone else.

Predictably then, Purdue has been pretty active in recruiting Zachary, who was just offered by Nevada, Steve Alford’s staff being rich with connections to the state and Zachary’s grassroots program. (You might remember Alford signing Brody Boyd at Iowa years ago.)

Painter watched Zachary and teammates Jason Gardner Jr. and Brandon Hunter on Friday, the beginning of an eruptive weekend for him.

On Saturday, Zachary scored 23 points — per the scorebook, at least — and turned the game upside down with a second-half shooting barrage, routing a talented Game Elite team by 25. In the afternoon, Austin Rivers Southeast Elite face-guarded and held Zachary to the point he could barely get the ball.

That’s how good Zachary has been this spring, the results major college programs like Purdue are going to have to weigh against traditional “measurables” dogma.

“If I have one bad game, they might check me off,” Zachary said. “A 6-4 guard has one bad game and they’ll come back still.”