2014 Purdue Basketball Recruiting: P.J. Thompson Commits

The 2014 Purdue recruiting class received an addition this evening, as Brebeuf point guard P.J. Thompson, who was offered by Matt Painter this week, accepted and committed to the Boilermakers tonight. He becomes the fifth member of the class and will sign when the spring signing period begins on April 16.

Thompson is a bit under the radar. He is unrated by ESPN, a three-star by Scout, and not yet rated by Rivals. His low ratings are likely due to a lack of size, as he is listed as a generous 5'10" 155 pounds.

I have seen Thompson play in person twice and both were last season. The game where he stood out to me was at Lebanon last year in a 58-53 victory. He took the game over as a scorer in the second half and helped knock off a pretty good Lebanon team. I can't remember the exact stats, but I do remember it was an impressive performance.

This season for Brebeuf he averaged 24.1 points and 2.8 assists as the Braves finished 15-6. They were eliminated from the state tournament this past weekend in a 36-30 loss to Guerin Catholic, one of the top teams in Class 3A. Their losses were to some of the best teams in the state. Guerin got them in the regular season as well and is one of the teams left with a legit shot at winning the 3A title. They also lost to Carmel, Zionsville, and Cathedral, who were all good 4A teams. Carmel actually played Cathedral last year in the 4A state championship game.

I have said it before, but Thompson reminds me a lot of Lewis Jackson. Both are similar in stature and both are natural leaders on the floor. Thompson had to be more of a scorer for his high school team, but that will help in the long run because he has a better jump shot than LewJack did out of high school. Thompson is very quick and makes good decisions with the basketball.

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I think this is a very good get because Thompson can be the distributor and floor general Purdue desperately needs. With this commitment I think we can expect Bryson Scott to have more of a move to the two and if he puts in work over the summer on his jumper it could pay huge dividends for him. Thompson will initially back up Ronnie Johnson, but his role will not be to score the basketball as much as RJ. His game really is similar to LewJack's game, and let's face it, we could use that.

It makes the 2014 class very interesting, as it now has a PG, SG, SF, PF, and a true center. If they mesh well, Purdue could see a pretty good team evolve from it.

So, welcome aboard, P.J. We're glad to have you as a Boilermaker.