Purdue Basketball: TJ Ford on Eden Ewing

Tonight, I had the privilege to talk to former Pacer and Longhorn great TJ Ford regarding new Boilermaker recruit Eden Ewing. TJ has worked with Eden throughout his basketball career, and offered some insight into what Purdue will be getting in the lanky Texan. I didn’t have any way to record the call, so I’ll be doing some paraphrasing, and throwing in the occasional quote I managed to scribble down.

On Ewing’s position at Purdue:

You can use him as either a 3 or a 4. Versatility is what makes him a unique. Eden’s a guy that does everything well. He can put the ball on the floor, make 3’s, and rebound.

TJ felt that Eden compared favorably to Vincent Edwards’ skill set.

On Ewing’s personality:

Eden’s a good kid, he’s worked hard to get where he is today, and he comes from a great family (His father is Lorenzo Ewing, who played for La Tech and Houston Baptist, his Uncle is Daniel Ewing, former McDonalds AA, Duke PG, NBA player and current player for Maccabi Ashdod in Israel). Eden is a quiet, low maintenance guy who loves to laugh. He’s a cool, down to earth guy that does what is expected of him and has really started to show some maturity. He’s a guy that can fit into a team right away, “he might not be loved by everyone, but he’ll be liked by everyone.”

On Ewing’s Recruitment:

His recruitment was stressful. He had to make some hard decisions. When he visited Purdue the environment made it “feel like he was home”.

On TJ Ford Basketball:

TJ Ford Basketball Academy teaches kids life skills through basketball. We work on the overall athlete; everything from working on character, building relationships, keeping commitments, and helping mentor young men to make the right decisions. We’re big into developing the overall kid. We pride ourselves in taking kids that might be overlooked and building them into college basketball players. We’ve produced over 100 college basketball players since 2003.

On Carsen Edwards:

We worked with Carsen the summer going into his junior year. We worked hard on developing his game and he took off and had a great run his junior and senior year.

On Matt Painter and Purdue:

“Coach Painter is a good coach and it’s been a pleasure to get to know him.” I look forward to watching Purdue play this year and in the future. Purdue’s done a good job in Houston and has pulled 2 good kids.

I again want to thank TJ for taking the time to talk with me. He did miss a golden opportunity to discuss how his Texas Longhorns knocked Purdue out of the 2002-2003 tournament, and I thank him for that as well.