2016 Purdue Basketball Recruiting: Possible Graduate Transfers

With the news that Grant Weatherford is leaving after just one season (and no playing time), it is time to revisit the scholarship situation and possible graduate transfers into the program. First, here is the current scholarship grid:

Some notes:

• Purdue will be a relatively young team next season with Stephens as the lone scholarship senior. This graph assumes he returns, so I am thinking that until told otherwise.
• This graph also assumes that Caleb Swanigan withdraws from the NBA Draft and returns, which is likely.
• Jon McKeeman, a walk-on, will be the other senior, as he "redshirted" this season due to injury. It may work out well for him, as it is unlikely Purdue will add three more players for 2016-17, so McKeeman, as the longest tenured walk-on, would likely get awarded a scholarship for his final season.

Now, onto graduate transfers. With only 10 scholarship players Purdue is in a spot where it can be generous with a grad transfer when it comes to depth. It has five guards (Thompson, C. Edwards, Mathias, Stephens, and Cline) as well as five frontcourt players (Smotherman, V. Edwards, Taylor, Haas, and Swanigan). Depending on lineups, Purdue can run with three guards as they did at times this year in Thompson-Mathias-Cline. The weakest spot is the 2/3 spot. Purdue could use a scorer and reserve small forward with only Smotherman and V. Edwards to play the three.

Here are some potential graduate transfers that might be worth a look:

Canyon Barry - College of Charleston - The son of Hall of Famer Rick Barry, Canyon averaged 12.5 points and 5.1 rebounds as a 6'6" forward in 2014-15. He missed about half of this season with a shoulder injury, but was averaging 19.7 points and 3.4 rebounds with 1.3 assists. He is a semi-decent three-point shooter, but could be better if he is not carrying an offense.

Jordan Price - LaSalle - Price has not officially announced a transfer, but after playing a year at Auburn, then transferring to LaSalle, he has put in four years and could be graduating. At 6'5" 230 pounds he is a dynamic scorer that averaged 19.2 points, 5.5 rebounds, and 3.0 assists this past year for the Explorers. He also shot 36.5% from three and hit almost three per game. If Purdue is looking for a dynamic scorer, this is it.

Ryan Taylor - Marshall - Another player that has not been a confirmed graduate, he hails from Indianapolis where he played at Lawrence North in 2009-10 before he moved to Louisville. He was a First-Team All-State selection at Lawrence North averaging 27.6 points per game. This past year at Marshall he averaged 14.2 points, 6.6 rebounds, and 3.0 assists per game as a bruising 6'5", 240 pound forward.

Aaron Valdes - Hawaii - No one in their right mind would leave Honolulu for West Lafayette, but Valdes is a possibility. Valdes just finished his fourth year at Hawaii, but redshirted as a freshman. He also has incentive to go elsewhere because Hawaii is ineligible for the 2017 NCAA Tournament. He is a 6'5", 190 pound forward that averaged 14.1 points, 5.5 rebounds, and 2.4 assists for a team that made the NCAAs and won a game.