Breakdown: Purdue recruits on Saturday at Hoop Group’s Spring Jam in Westfield

WESTFIELD — A few Purdue priority recruits highlight the field at this weekend’s Hoop Group Spring Jam at the Pacers Athletic Center in Westfield.

Here are a few notes and thoughts — opinion — on the main ones.

GoldandBlack.com will have much more event coverage throughout the spring and summer.

ON TRENT SISLEY

Purdue’s one clearly established and realistic Class of 2025 target, Trent Sisley continues to acclimate to his new Indiana Elite 17-and-under team, where the versatile forward is playing a bit of a different role.

A high school post player by necessity — capping his opportunities to showcase his diverse skill set and often subjecting him to stifling, but still generally futile, defensive tactics, Sisley will be a classic stretch 4 in college. But with Indiana Elite, where he shares a frontcourt with high-major prospects Malachi Moreno and Dezmon Briscoe, the 6-foot-8, 210-plus-pound Sisley is essentially playing small forward as part of what has to be one of the most physically imposing frontcourts on the circuit. That doesn’t mean Indiana Elite stays in those lineups the whole game, but it at least starts that way.

It does free Sisley to play more on the perimeter, but he did a nice job Saturday attacking the guards or wings defending him with post-ups, showing his diversity of skill. Those matchups can be tricky on D when he has to contain a guard off the bounce, but that experience will help ready him for the screen-switching that’ll be demanded of him in college, wherever that may be.

Sisley isn’t going to be the biggest forward at the next level, but he can shoot threes, attack off the dribble, post up, handle the ball and should be an above-average passer depending on his next level role. He tries hard and is smart and rugged. And he is absolutely a plus athlete, with high-end bounce as a finisher; that’s a strength that should be amplified when he plays against bigger, slower forwards at the next level.

There’s some real pick-and-roll- or pick-and-pop-compatible qualities in Sisley, as well. He’s a good enough shooter to pop out for threes or attack closeouts off the dribble and quick enough to slip screens when defenses present the opportunity. Not sure anyone would use him this way, but he can probably handle the ball well enough to where he can use screens, too. He did it a few times Saturday to dribble into post-ups, collapse the defense and pass out to shooters.

At minimum, Sisley should be a really high-floor system piece with valuable intangibles in addition to being a plus shooter and athlete at a position where both attributes really matter in the frontcourt.

Purdue, Indiana, Notre Dame and Michigan State look like the big four for Sisley, who said he plans a fall decision as of now. Louisville just offered, too, and is likely to get an unofficial visit.

PURDUE’S TOP 2026 GUARD TARGET MAY BE …

… Taylen Kinney. It’s really early, but the point guard from Newport, Ky., near Cincinnati, is clearly a Boilermaker priority for the post-Braden Smith Era. He visited for a football weekend in the fall and was offered at that time. He has a bunch of other offers with more to come, but did speak highly about Purdue and with knowledge of its personnel blueprints.

The 6-foot-1 Kinney is an excellent floor general with great size, great energy and an uncommon physicality about him as a point guard. In his game this afternoon, Kinney routinely had people bouncing off him as a screen-setter and was constantly using his own body in the backcourt to free up a teammate who was bringing the ball up when Kinney wasn’t. Not stuff you see very often from high school guards, or any guards, for that matter.

In that afternoon game, Kinney — who’s coming back from a hamstring injury that affected him for months, shook off a run of early turnovers, trying to make difficult plays, to dominate the game from that point on, finishing (unofficially) with 15 points, plus a bunch of assists and even more rebounds. He was highly reminiscent of Smith in his use of ball screens to get to the basket, to manufacture passing angles, and to get to his jumper. Also reminiscent of Smith: Kinney taking over a close game (that probably shouldn’t have been) and spurring his team to win going away. Smith used to do that all the time in grassroots play, like there actually was a switch he could flip. Like Smith, too, Kinney really rebounds.

The difference here: Kinney is legit 6-1, 200-plus-pounds, with broad shoulders and great length, a nice complement to his competitive streak, which really, really shows up on defense and in his leadership. Kinney’s always talking and seemingly having a blast.

Purdue 2026 target Anthony Thompson is also in Westfield this weekend, bu his games conflicted with Sisley’s. Thompson, who’s just 15 but already has a college body, hasn’t been offered by Purdue yet, but is certainly a prime candidate to be.

More on Kinney to come this week and Thompson next week.

A 2027 NAME TO REMEMBER

Kenneth Lampley III of Indiana Elite’s 15U team is a sophomore-to-be at Tindley Prep, the small and particularly demanding school that produced Eric Hunter.

Lampley is the son of former Purdue women’s basketball All-American Jannon (Roland) Lampley.

Listed at 6-7, Lampley is an extremely versatile and mobile multi-positional player at this stage, a defensive mindset on and off the ball, a distinct understanding of how to play and what looks like massive physical up-side.

Purdue has scouted Lampley at Tindley on more than one occasion and would be wise to keep it up.

The post Breakdown: Purdue recruits on Saturday at Hoop Group’s Spring Jam in Westfield appeared first on On3.