Background
Position: Forward
Height: 6’8
Weight: 205 lbs
Hometown: Durham, North Carolina
High School: La Lumiere (La Porte, Indiana)
Purdue basketball certainly does not shy away from recruiting players from its home state. John Wooden was from Martinsville, Rick Mount is from Lebanon, Glenn Robinson is from Gary, Robbie Hummel is from Valpo, E’Twaun Moore is from East Chicago, Caleb Swanigan was from Fort Wayne, Jaden Ivey is from Mishawaka, and Purdue most recent trio of seniors are all from Indiana. Yes it’s true that in 49 states, it’s just basketball because the state the Boilermakers call home just does it different and Matt Painter (another in-state player) finds the majority of his players from the Crossroads of America. This year is no different as three of four (so far) incoming freshman are from in-state while two hail from the same high school. Jed already provided insight to the first commit from La Lumiere, Jacob Webber, but now we move on to his teammate and fellow Purdue commit, Rivers Knight.
Season Lookahead
Rivers Knight, a 3-star (247) recruit originally from Durham, North Carolina, committed to Purdue back in September and will be part of one of the highest rated recruiting classes in Purdue basketball history. At 6’8, Knight is pretty much your archetype power forward, given he can gain that college muscle we all want incoming kids to get. A good defender and better long-range shooter, Knight can spread the floor and looks to fit right in with how Purdue models its offense. The issue for the moment is that Purdue currently has a log jam of bigs vying for minutes. Between the 4 and 5, Knight figures to be 5th in line behind Daniel Jacobsen, Sinan Huan, Raleigh Burgess, and Caden Pierce. Plus, an argument can be made that Knight is 6th if you factor in Jack Benter playing the 4 in a small lineup. Either way, it will be an uphill battle for Rivers Knight to get minutes but nobody has said that talented depth is a bad thing. Knight could be the guy to utilize a redshirt this upcoming season (if redshirts are even a thing in November) but we will have to wait and see.
