For about the last decade plus (maybe even two decades) of Purdue basketball our opponents, and I’ll go ahead and say it our haters, have had a constant refrain, “just wait till (insert name here) is gone” and then Purdue would fall back to Earth. The haters said this about the Baby Boilers, and yes Purdue did fall off a bit after that, then they said it about Biggie, then Caren, Ivey, Edey, and Smith, TKR, Loyer. It’s been constant and it’s been wrong (almost) every time. As Painter has matured in his coaching career it seems his recruiting prowess is only growing. Well, today was a big step in that continued improvement as Purdue men’s basketball received a commitment from 4/5 star class of 2027 star Isaiah Hill.
Brian Neubert from GBI was the first one I saw to break the news. So head over there and give Brian the page views and the clicks. He does a lot of hard work and more Purdue coverage is always good.
Now, I say 4/5 star because On3/Rivals has him as a 4 star as you can see in Brian’s tweet above, but ESPN has him as a 5 star recruit and 8th in the country. They also list him as the best in the state, the best in the region, and the best at his position. He is the highest rated recruit in the Matt Painter era at Purdue and the highest ranked recruit since ESPN began doing their recruiting rankings in 2007. So we are looking back approximately two decades here. Think about the players that Purdue has had in that time and understand that Hill is ranked higher than all of them. Does it guarantee a Zach Edey like career? Certainly not, but this high ranking shows that the tools are there and that the expectations will be high for the 2027 recruit.
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ESPN lists him as 7’0” and 218 pounds. He is from Indianapolis, Indiana (not the Annapolis) and goes to school at Pike. In their commitment article, Hill is quoted as crediting both head coach Matt Painter as well as associate head coach PJ Thompson:
“Purdue has been recruiting me since the eighth grade. [Assistant] coach PJ Thompson and then head coach Matt Painter saw something in me. I am thankful for them,” Hill told ESPN. “The people at the school, the coaches are very supportive on and off the court. Purdue is a great school academically.”
It’s awesome to see that Thompson was one of the guys on him, since the 8th grade!, as Thompson has set himself up nicely as the heir apparent to Matt Painter and this type of recruiting success will continue to put minds at ease as to his ability to take over whenever that time comes.
You can see some highlights of Hill below. He seems to have good feet, nice hands, and the ability to finish at the rim. You also see that he stretches the floor and while it wasn’t the prettiest three I’ve ever seen it did find the bottom of the net.
In this next package of AAU highlights you get a better look at him playing against a higher level of competition. You can see his ability to quickly get off his feet and impact opponent’s shots. That’s something Purdue has really struggled with without Zach Edey.
Quite a day for the Boilermakers here. We will have more on this commitment in the coming days as we look at the basketball fit and what role he might play for the Boilermakers when he comes onto campus in the near future. So, what are your thoughts? What are you most excited about with Hill’s commitment? Let us know in the comments.
