5 Days To Purdue Basketball: Basil Smotherman

Today's player I have long described him as "Kelsey Barlow with his give-a-shit always turned on". That is what Basil is. He's a hustler, baby (I just want you to know) and he is a bit of a unique player in that he busts ass and is uniquely athletic.

Basil Smotherman - So.

Indianapolis, IN (Lawrence North HS)

6'6",212 pounds

Forward

2014-15 Projection: Regular contributor

Basil is a year into his Purdue career and I don't think he is going to evolve into a regular player that drops 15-20 points on a team every night. He will give you between 4-8 points per game in his career with the occasional 12-15 game, but he provides a certain set of skills. His athleticism allows him to make the occasional wow play like an unexpected dunk, a huge rebound, a big block, or a steal an score that does not appear in the box score, but carries a huge amount of weight. Sure, when he goes baseline and flushes in a guy's face it is only worth two points, but that type of play gets the blue hairs off their butts and ignites Mackey.

That is the value Smotherman brings. He can be an absolutely solid role player and if he adds the three to his repertoire he becomes more dangerous as a guy that needs to be guarded because he is at least a threat to score. He makes a defense make more choices, and when he is on defense he is capable of making a big play.

That's where we get back to Barlow. Barlow was capable of the same thing, but he took plays off. Smotherman doesn't do that. Just by being a potential highlight teams have to pay attention to Smotherman, and that is a good thing.