Purdue Appears To be Active In The Transfer Market

Transfers were the name of the game today in Indiana, as it seemed like half of the Indiana roster left the program while Purdue was mentioned as a possible destination for one of the bigger names that surfaced. One of the problems with a transfer is that, unless the player is a graduate transfer, the player will have no impact next season. They would also take away a scholarship the Boiler could offer in the 2015 class. To give you the more accurate picture, here is there current scholarship situation.

As you can see, Purdue will be ridiculously young next season, but if it competes and turns things around there is a ton of promise for the next two seasons. Depending on what coach Painter wants to do for 2015 recruiting he could add a player (or two?) that could figure into the 2015-16 season mix. Here are a couple of the names that surfaced today:

Eron Harris - West Virginia - Harris announced today that he is leaving the Mountaineers and he would like to come closer to home. He is from Indianapolis, as he played his high school ball at Lawrence North with Basil Smotherman. He averaged 9.8 points per game as a freshman in 2012-13 season and 17.2 points per game this year. He was an excellent outside shooter this year at 42.2% and hit on 89 three-pointers, so almost three per game. Best of all, Purdue got a chance to scout him in person twice having played West Virginia in each of the past two seasons. This year he had 24 points against us in Morgantown and he had 10 points and five rebounds in West Lafayette last season.

The downside, of course, is that he would have to sit a year unless he can get a hardship waiver that has him coming closer to home for his transfer. Purdue needs him immediately, and it would be tough to have him sit a year. His dad is an alum and he has a former teammate on his team in Basil, so there are some connections.

Trevor Thompson - Virginia Tech - Buzz Williams took over at VaTech and we have an upcoming football series with the Hokies, so why not get a basketball player from them, too? Thompson announced he would transfer after Williams was announced, and Thompson was already at odds with him from the beginning:

I'd like to shame both parties for what transpired upon their reunion. In what amounts to a highly petty, unnecessary confrontation, Buzz challenged Thompson about his dedication and offered to grant him a release from his scholarship OVER A BUZZING CELLPHONE DURING THE FIRST TEAM MEETING. Did that need to be done in public? A call-out like that? Let's be real here. Unless Trevor took the call and interrupted the meeting, then you can bring yourself to overlook that. Especially if you know you might be on thin ice with the player anyhow. This is not how I foresaw the first team meeting under Buzz going upon hearing about the kind of guy he is, and the positive energy he is supposed to bring.

Thompson was a freshman this past season at Virginia Tech and he averaged just under 5 points and 5 rebounds in 16 minutes per night for a pretty bad Va Tech team. He is a 6'11" forward that is very lanky and is probably more of a true power forward than a center, which would be an interesting pairing in 2015-16 with either sophomore Isaac Haas or senior (if he stays that long) A.J. Hammons. Again though, he is a player that could help immediately but would have to sit for 2014-15 before having three years left.

Thompson is from Indianapolis originally, where he played at Ben Davis before doing a year of prep school.

Ronnie Johnson comes clean

Ronnie Johnson had his say with the Indianapolis Star, and it was not pretty:

"The system that they played didn't fit me very well," Johnson said. "There was a lot of subbing and it was hard to get into the flow of the game. I felt like I needed to play through my mistakes like every other guard in the Big Ten was."

Uh, Ronnie, you started 59 of your 66 career games and averaged over 30 minutes per game. You couldn't get much more playing time. There's more:

"I had already made my mind up," Johnson said. "They had recruited (Brebeuf Jesuit's P.J. Thompson) so they had another point guard and I felt there'd be even more subbing."

Well, Ronnie, you see, college basketball goes on after a player leaves, and since you would be a junior and Thompson would be a freshman coach Painter needed to prepare for Life After Ronnie Johnson. Then again, a quote like this sounds like we wouldn't need to replace Ronnie because we could never get over losing his greatness.

"I felt like he didn't believe in me," he said. "I felt like the only time I could be myself was in transition. I wasn't playing freely. I'm looking for the next school where a coach will instill confidence in me and let me be a coach on the floor."

YOU WERE A STARTING POINT GUARD ON A BIG TEN TEAM AS A TRUE FRESHMAN!!!!! HOW IS THAT NOT TRUST! Also, if you were so great in transition, why was Purdue constantly screwing up fast breaks and not scoring when it was in transition? We had to lead the conference in botched transition opportunities this season.

RJ is looking mostly at Cincinnati, Xavier, Memphis, Auburn, and Pittsburgh. He also may team up with Jeremy Hollowell, who announced he would leave Indiana after two years. Well, good luck then!