More Options For Purdue's Three Open Scholarships

Yesterday T-Mill looked at some potential additions Matt Painter and his staff could try to add to next year's team. I have a few more that have been discussed on Twitter and other places that I want to add to the conversation. First, however, I think we need to look at how appealing Purdue really appears to a potential fifth-year transfer addition.

Next year Purdue is guaranteed to start at least three freshmen or sophomores. Guaranteed. And that's if they start all (read: both) of their seniors, Travis Carroll and Terone Johnson. Nobody expects Carroll to start over A.J. Hammons, so what we're looking at here is a team starting at least four underclassmen, with all but one reserve being underclassmen.

In addition to the lack of experience, Purdue didn't even make the NCAA tournament next year, nor does it have Kentucky's 2013 recruiting class, so victories and success are far from being a sure thing.

So if you're a fifth-year transfer guy, with only one year left of college basketball, what would you think of a school where winning was far from a sure-thing, but playing time for you isn't necessarily ensured either as, to some extent, a coach with eight underclassmen and two seniors is going to want to play and develop his young guys as much as possible. I'm not saying the coach would give up on the season or anything of that sort, but how much can you justify sitting young guys to move up from say, sixth in the Big Ten to fourth?

I'm sure there are plenty that will disagree with me on this point, and that's fine. I'm just explaining how I would look at the situation if I were in the shoes of a 5th-year transfer guy.

With all that said, I think Purdue should at least try to add at least one immediately eligible guy, but preferably more for next season. I really don't see what adding someone would hurt, so long as the guy they add fits the team's personality, as in he's not causing fights. Oh, and if he could stay out of legal trouble too he'd get bonus points. Heck, even adding a guy that would have to sit out a year helps even-out the scholarship grid a bit, while still enabling them to have another body for practices.

By the way, the Spring signing period begins today.

An update on T-Mill's suggestions from yesterday:

Vincennes wing DeShawn Delaney: While he's definitely an intriguing prospect to Purdue fans, I've seen no mention on Twitter of Purdue coaches having contact with him (I know, Twitter isn't the most reliable means to learn this stuff.) He has visited Bradley, where fans are trying their darnedest to woo him to come in and help push them "over the top", and has planned visits to New Mexico and Texas A&M.

Former Memphis big man Tarick Black: Duke is now involved. I don't think anyone would be too upset if Purdue found a way to land a big guy that scored almost 1,000 points in three years at Memphis, but when Duke is involved...godspeed.

North Florida guard Jerron Granberry: The only school I can find him connected to is Wyoming, as he recently did an interview with their Rivals site. Granberry has a connection to Wyoming through a current Cowboy assistant coach who used to coach him at North Florida. He walked away from basketball in November after his dad died and says he wants to get back to basketball, but worries staying in Florida where his dad's death happened may make him "relapse." I don't know what he'd relapse into, but something like that has to be considered when you're trying to move on from a season where the team had clear chemistry issues like Purdue in 2012-13.

Now, on to the guys I'd like to add to the list.

Possible Future Boilers (maybe? hopefully?):

Cornell 6-foot-6 forward Errick Peck. He's originally from Indianapolis, but went to Cornell over offers from Butler and most of what was then the Horizon League out of high school. I'm told he ended up with an Ivy League degree instead of two national title game appearances with Butler because he wasn't first in a "first come, first served" scholarship offer. Peck averaged 9.7 points, 4.8 rebounds and 1.6 assists in 28 games with with Cornell this year, after sitting out the whole 2011-12 season with a knee injury (Hey, he'll fit right in with the Purdue...uh..,culture, right?). Oh, and he played in high school at Cathedral with Kelsey Barlow, which may help or hurt Purdue's chances, depending on the guy's relationship with Barlow.

The Indy Star's Butler beat writer, David Woods, said on twitter that Peck would love to play his 5th year in Indianapolis, but that he (Peck) wasn't sure of Butler's interest. I'd like to think West Lafayette is close enough to his hometown of Indianapolis to count, right? Other schools listed as possibilities include Boston College and Duquesne, both a heck of a lot farther away. Here's BC Interrupted's take on him.

One last note on Peck: The Ivy League doesn't allow athletes to use their fifth season of eligibility for redshirting unless it's for medical reasons, and even then they don't allow guys that have graduated (like Peck) to use it. So Peck isn't necessarily transferring because he wants to; he has to transfer if he wants to keep playing.

Another possibility is Gulf Coast junior college combo guard Chad Frazier, considered one of the top JuCo prospects out there. He originally committed to Texas A&M, but has since decommitted and is looking at other schools. I'm not really sure what schools are after him, though I'd suspect at the least Marquette is, having lost two guards unexpectedly in the last week. He had offers from Gonzaga, Illinois, South Carolina, Alabama and Rhode Island before committing to TAMU.

One last possibility to consider is Lasan Kromah, a guy that will graduate from George Washington and recently decided he would transfer for his fifth year. George Washington's coach had a reaction that seemed to resemble Painter's reaction to the Sandi Marcius decision. Maryland blog Testudo Times mentions him as a possibility for them to add next season, noting that he'd likely only be able to provide "situational minutes." The 6-foot-5 Kromah averaged 10.1 points, 3.7 rebounds and 1.9 assists per game last year.