Purdue headlines the latest transfer news

Boilermakers add much-needed backcourt piece. Plus: Who was calling 2024 recruits and an early Kentucky look

June 16, 2022

Tonight is game six of the NBA Finals, and the Golden State Warriors look to capture another title. As Celtics fans anxiously hope Steph Curry doesn’t drop 50, let’s take a look at commitment news, early 2024 recruiting, Kentucky’s potential offensive scheme, a chat with Armando Bacot, NBA Draft analysis and much more.

Let’s get to the news.

STARTING FIVE

1. Purdue FINALLY lands guard help

Purdue seemed to have no portal luck. It missed on Nijel Pack after some hefty NIL offers, Tyrese Hunter went to Texas, and Kyle Lofton chose Florida. That changed Wednesday.

Well-traveled guard David Jenkins Jr. will end his career in West Lafayette, Ind as a crucial backcourt element for Matt Painter. Jenkins spent two years at South Dakota State, two years at UNLV (one redshirt) and one season at Utah. The sharpshooter averaged 14.9 points and shot 42 percent from deep in 125 games.

Jenkins allows Painter to be patient acclimating incoming freshmen Braden Smith and Fletcher Loyer. However, Jenkins isn’t a point guard — so Ethan Morton could run the show until Smith is ready to start at point guard. It’s a little different than relying on Jaden Ivey with elite scoring and creation ability, but Jenkins will be a reliable player.

With superstar center Zach Edey, a few valuable rotation pieces like Mason Gillis and Caleb Furst back with a good recruiting class, it’s possible Purdue finds its way into the Top 25.

2. Time to call the 2024 recruits

Coaches rushed to the phones early Wednesday morning as the direct contact period for 2024 recruits officially started. On3.com’s Joe Tipton and Jamie Shaw did a live blog to follow all the contact information. Some notable moves:

  • Naas Cunningham, a 6-foot-7 wing widely regarded as the top 2024 player, heard from schools like Texas, Bryant, Longwood, Duke, BYU and Missouri. Cunningham attended Gil St. Bernards in East Orange, NJ, before signing with Overtime Elite, but will retain college eligibility as he will forgo getting paid from Overtime. He holds offers from Duke, Kansas, Creighton, Georgia among others.

  • Tre Johnson, the number two player, heard from Gonzaga, Duke, North Carolina, Baylor, Kentucky, and Arkansas and more. The Dallas native won’t lack college options.

  • Ian Jackson heard from Missouri, UNC, Kentucky, and Pittsburgh. The 6-foot-6 Jackson attends Cardinal Hayes HS in the Bronx.

  • Fourth-ranked Bryson Tucker was contacted by North Carolina, Villanova and Duke, Georgetown, VA Tech and Iowa. Tucker hails from Baltimore, but will transfer to IMG Academy in Florida for his junior year. Notable IMG 2022 graduates? Jarace Walker (Houston), Jett Howard (Michigan) and Keyontae George (Baylor).

  • Fifth-ranked Isaiah Elohim heard from Missouri, Arizona State, Longwood, Georgia, Duke, Arkansas, Arizona, BYU, Florida, Baylor, Kentucky, Texas, Kansas, and Michigan. He shined as a sophomore and will get attention playing on the same team as Bronny James.

I’ll add this: Shoutout to Longwood for shooting their shot. While it’s unlikely any top-50 recruit winds up committing to a Big South school over Kentucky, it’s also recruiting for potential future portal moves. That’s how mid-major schools can make major moves, like Big South foe UNC Asheville did with Drew Pember. I mean, did anyone foresee Earl Timberlake ending up at Bryant? Put yourself in the conversation.

3. Big Blue Nation gets some intel

As Kentucky prepares for its August exhibition trip to the Bahamas, (young) fans got their first peek at the 2022-23 roster. Some thoughts below:

It’s good to see C.J. Fredrick healthy as he’s dealt with foot injuries throughout his career. He’ll allow Kentucky to space the floor successfully.

It’s not surprising Kentucky tried some four-out dribble drive stuff since Sahvir Wheeler can either score or kick out to shooters. However, if Jacob Toppin and Oscar Tshiebwe (two non-shooters) are out there it could allow defenses clog the paint. The idea of Damion Collins play the four next to Tshiebwe would provide Kentucky with the most versatility because of his ability to stretch the defense.

Keep an eye on freshman Cason Wallace, a five-star recruit who won’t average 15 points or be a top-three scorer, but will play lockdown defense. Wallace can defend any guard in the country thanks to his speed and on-ball instincts.

4. Emmanuel Akot sets a final three

Emmanuel Akot entered the transfer portal at the beginning of April. His recruitment stayed radio silent until now.

The 6-foot-7 guard played a valuable role for the Mountain West champs, running the offense and playing lockdown defense on the opposing team’s best perimeter scorer. Akot averaged 10.6 points, 3.1 rebounds and 2.8 assists and shot a career-best 38.6 percent from deep.

Which fit works best? Memphis. A guard/wing who can defend and make plays in transition? That’s Akot. He won’t run the show (that’ll be Kendric Davis’ role), but can do just about everything else.

Still, N.C. State would work. Jarkel Joiner nor Terquavion Smith aren’t high-level defenders, but Memphis would be a better fit. Same deal for Western Kentucky, who seems to land a few transfers or recruits over high-major schools every season. It’s happened with Jamarion Sharp recently, Charles Bassey before that and Mitchell Robinson (OK, that was brief) before Bassey.

5. College of Charleston lands some size

Pat Kelsey just added 6-foot-11 forward James Scott, who could be an important piece of Charleston’s Colonial Athletic title hopes.

Three of CofC’s top-scorers depart, including John Meeks, who led the team in scoring. However, sophomore shooting guard Reyne Smith shot 38 percent from three as a freshman, and looks like the centerpiece of Charleston’s program in the next three years. Scott averaged 12.0 points, 11.9 rebounds and 3.1 blocks in 29 games at Seventy-First high school in 2021-22.

Kelsey and staff also brought in four transfers, including two, Pat Robinson and Jaylen Scott, from D2 and NAIA, respectively. Adding similar talent helped Kelsey in the past, developing Chandler Vaudrin and Dimitrius Underwood into high-level D1 players after starting at D2 schools. Two D1 transfers Ryan Larson (Winthrop) and Ira Lee (Arizona/George Washington) look like day one starters for Charleston.

I would tab Hofstra and Towson top-two in the CAA, but don’t dismiss the up-tempo College of Charleston Cougars from having a say.

THE NBA DRAFT

Two-way NBA deals no longer just an afterthought

Today: The second part of Rob Dauster’s deep dive into why college players don’t mind staying the NBA Draft — even if they’re not a first-round lock. If you missed Part I, click here.

Two-way NBA deals are much more prevalent than just a few years ago.

A two-way contract (essentially a deal that allows an NBA organization to have a 16th and a 17th player on their roster) ensures players get minutes with a G League affiliate to keep them sharp. When it was introduced, it was a base $75,000 salary with a bump in pay for every day a player was on the 15-man NBA roster up to 45 days. 

That changed with the advent of health and safety protocols. Now, a two-way is worth half of the league minimum and a player is allowed to play in as many as 50 NBA games. In 2021-22, a full two-way deal paid out more than $460,000. These salaries aren’t guaranteed, but as one prominent front office member told The Field of 68, “if you have a good agent that gets the team to assure you you’ll play out all the NBA days, you’ll get the [full two-way salary].”

As we discussed yesterday, more than 90 percent of college players drafted in the Top 50 got a two-way deal or guaranteed money in the last two drafts (all but one who didn’t were European players). So if you know you’re going to end up being a Top 50 pick, you can more or less pencil in a salary in the upper $400,000s for 2022-23.

I know there’s a lot of NIL money floating around out there, but how many schools can deliver that kind of cash? It’s another reason why some “head-scratching” draft decisions happen.

Also, speaking of the NBA Draft don’t forget about this tonight!

FOUR QUESTIONS

Armando Bacot: The Big Man on Campus

North Carolina’s Armando Bacot will be one of the stars for the 2022-23 season. The senior senior and double-double machine (31 in 39 games) passed on the NBA Draft, placing the Heels in prime position to return to the Final Four.

He spoke to Jeff Goodman and Robbie Hummel about their run to the Final Four, beating Duke and what NIL means for him this season.

Q: You guys lost to Pitt at home [on Feb. 16]. Even after that, you guys thought you could go to the Final Four?Armando Bacot: It’s kinda crazy. At that point, we were just hoping to get into the tournament. We knew if we get into the tournament, the way we could play, we knew it would throw teams off. After that Duke game, we just really started to find our identity.

Q: What was it like getting ready to play the biggest rivalry in the sport, right before the Final Four?Armando Bacot: I knew how high stakes of a game it’d be, just growing up as a college basketball fan and knowing so much about the rivalry. We had to win. We were just ready to play, but there was all this talk about how Duke had been the best team in the tournament. … Nobody was picking us to win the game. And we just wanted to spoil their party.

Q: How is the ankle? How bad was that injury [in the Final Four] that we saw you hobble off the court? And what was going on with the court there?Armando Bacot: It’s just weird. I saw the video and it just didn’t look like something that should happen on a game-ready court. It definitely threw me off after the game when I saw it. I thought I had a good angle [on the drive] and I thought I had a good chance making the shot because I knew Dave [McCormack] had four fouls and didn’t want to pick up his fifth foul. So I took that step and the ankle just twisted. I knew the ankle was weak, but I thought I was in a good place. I guess it’s just one of those things where we’re never gonna know.

Q: Let’s get to NIL. We’ve seen Kofi [Cockburn] leave, we’ve seen Oscar [Tshiebwe] stay. You decided you were coming back quickly., How much did NIT play into that?Armando Bacot: It played somewhat of a role. I knew coming back they’re be opportunities, and NIL’s been good, but a huge part for me was I’ve been injured and I just wanted to go into that [NBA] process as healthy as possible and develop more.

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PREVIEWING THE 2022 NBA DRAFT

Bennedict Mathurin ‘looks the part’

There’s lots to like about Arizona sophomore wing Bennedict Mathurin. He’s got size (6-6, 210), shooting (37% from deep), a competitive edge, and figures to get even better since he’s only 19.

Terrence Oglesby and Jeff Goodman discuss why Mathurin should be a terrific pro, what he needs to do to improve, and why he’s not in the discussion to be a Top 5 pick.

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THE FAST BREAK