Purdue Basketball Recruiting: Takeaways from the Charlie Hughes Shootout

CARMEL and WESTFIELD — This weekend, the Charlie Hughes Shootout team showcase was the center of the Indiana high school basketball universe, the event in the state during the NCAA’s second and final June evaluation window for school-affiliated events. Purdue and many other college programs were represented at the games, based out of Carmel and Westfield high schools.

GoldandBlack.com covered the event from start to finish. Here are a few notes and thoughts about Purdue basketball recruiting from the weekend.

BIG WEEKEND FOR PURDUE COMMIT JACK BENTER

Summer high school basketball kind of is what is. There are personnel transitions going on, no practice and oftentimes lots of games packed into a short period of time, as college team camps and summer leagues are going on.

Point is, summer results should not be taken as predictive of things to come.

That said, Boilermaker recruit Jack Benter played this weekend like a worthy Mr. Basketball candidate and his Brownstown Central team looked positioned well for big things in 3A this season. Coach David Benter’s team went 4-0, with impressive wins over 4A programs Center Grove, Cathedral and Westfield (on its home floor, no less) after a tournament-opening win over Crown Point. (Note: This is not a tournament, pe se, just a showcase in which every team faces four predetermined opponents.)

After a spring in which his shooting was a bit up and down, Benter shot the three well this weekend and found all sorts of ways to score. For Brownstown, he frequently rolls into post-ups to bully-ball smaller guards. He did so often this weekend with great success, but also sliced opponents up as a passer, but as an initiator and inside-out passer.

Beyond that, Benter was tremendous as a defensive rebounder, winning out for countless contested rebounds in crowds, a testament to the physical edge he posses that belie his basketball “category.”

KANON CATCHINGS IS RUNNING ON FUMES

Fellow Purdue recruit Kanon Catchings has proven himself over and over again to be an elite talent and one of the state’s signature players, but he seems to be pushing through some things right now at the end of a long month of travel.

Just back from the USA Basketball trials in Colorado Springs and a few weeks removed from a trip to California for the Pangos camp, Catchings joined his Brownsburg team for at least one team camp (Purdue), then the Charlie Hughes event.

“I’m exhausted,” he joked while at the camp in West Lafayette.

Catchings had some big games in Carmel — including a dunk-heavy 30ish-point game in a win Saturday over Fort Wayne Wayne — but didn’t shoot threes at a great clip this weekend and turned the ball over more than he’d have liked, and essentially got the last game off, as Coach Steve Lynch let Catchings, among other key players, sit for much of the Bulldogs’ win over Penn.

THE TRENT SISLEY DERBY IS ON

College coaches found out again this weekend about the futility of watching Trent Sisley play for his high school team from an evaluation standpoint. For Heritage Hills, the multi-skilled Class of 2025 forward has to play center and spend a lot of time on the block. In grassroots play, Sisley can play all over the floor more, which really reveals his value and potential.

Anyway, Matt Painter watched Sisley twice Sunday, and Paul Lusk saw him twice during the weekend. Michigan State coach Tom Izzo watched Sisley’s 40-point game Saturday, while assistants from Indiana and Notre Dame were fixtures at his games also.

Purdue, Indiana and Michigan State have long been at the heart of this recruitment, but Notre Dame has gotten him to campus and put itself in contention, also, it seems.

MISC

• Purdue is still making sure it has a presence at all of 2025 guard Jalen Haralson‘s games, though he’s going to be nationally recruited and a tough get.

Meanwhile, the Boilermaker staff has effectively cut bait on 2024 big man Flory Bidunga. That was an up-hill battle all along, but Painter kept up the chase for quite some time. Purdue did not watch him this weekend, or at least did not make specific effort to watch him.

• South Bend Washington 2026 guard Steven Reynolds is big-time. Purdue just offered after team camp. Anyone who sees him is likely to follow suit. Michigan State would come to mind, as Tom Izzo saw Reynolds play — and play well — this weekend. Older sisters Mila and Amiyah are members of Purdue’s women’s team.

• Greenfield-Central’s Braylon Mullins was one of the real eye-openers of the event for a lot of coaches, as the 2025 guard/wing looked like a high-major shooter and scorer and showed real athleticism and bounce.

Purdue’s seen Mullins but that class will almost certainly be a very narrow search, because of scholarship scarcity and frontcourt need, barring anything changing.

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