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We’re only a few weeks away from the first game for the Men of Mackey in The basketball Tournament over in Columbus, but today meant some roster changes. First, there was the announcement that P.J. Thompson, Ryan Cline, and Grady Eifert were not going to be able to play:
Announcement Due to the changes in format and schedule of TBT we are sad to announce that Ryan, Grady and PJ won’t be able to join us this summer. They are as disappointed as we are but they all hope to be back next year and will be rooting us on this summer. #Boilers4Life
— Men of Mackey (@PurdueTbt) June 21, 2020
That means we have some replacement players, and the first is the third graduate transfer that came to the program in recent years as Jumpin’ Johnny Hill is now part of the team:
Roster Announcement Please welcome @BoilerBall alum Johnny Hill to the team! Johnny is a true PG who led the team in steals during his senior year while shooting 54% from the field and a team best 83% from the field! Welcome Johnny! pic.twitter.com/h4urvo0Cwb
— Men of Mackey (@PurdueTbt) June 21, 2020
Hill was only able to play in West Lafayette a single season, but he averaged 5.1 points and 2.3 assists during the 2015-16 season.
The next two players were not quite men of Mackey as they are not former Purdue players:
Roster Announcement We are excited to add former @NBA player and @nbagleague MVP @JustinDentmon to the #MenOfMackey! Justin is a @thetournament vet who brings tons of experience to our squad. He currently plays in Europe and we are so excited to get him! pic.twitter.com/muVNcQYms4
— Men of Mackey (@PurdueTbt) June 21, 2020
Justin Dentmon is a somewhat familiar name to Purdue fans, as we ended his collegiate career in the 2009 NCAA Tournament second round against Washington. If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em, I guess. He had five points and three assists in 27 minutes in that game and eventually made it into 8 NBA games total with San Antonio, Toronto, and Dallas before having a successful European career.
Roster Announcement We’re excited to add @Ethan22Stair to the squad! Ethan played for long time Purdue assistant @CoachGregGary at @MercerMBB where he was a 1,000 point scorer and averaged 15/9 and recorded 12 double-doubles this past season. Please welcome Ethan to the team!
— Men of Mackey (@PurdueTbt) June 21, 2020
Ethan Stair just finished up his college career averaging 14.6 points per game for Mercer this past season. He hit more than 140 three-pointers in his career at Mercer and was over 40% in 2018-19.
While we’re diappointed we don’t get to see Grady, Ryan, and P.J., these are solid additions. The team will start play on July 5th at Nationwide Arena in Columbus on one of the ESPN networks.