- The Indianapolis Star and Lafayette Journal & Courier write on Errick Peck who is ineligible for Ivy League play next season as a graduate student:
Purdue basketball explores possibilities of incoming transfer with former Cathedral player Errick Peck
Just because Matt Painter suddenly has three scholarships available for the 2013-14 season, the Purdue coach isn’t certain he will add a player or players to next season’s roster.
Guard Anthony Johnson and forward Jacob Lawson definitely are leaving the Boilermaker program, and there’s a strong possibility redshirt junior center Sandi Marcius won’t be back either, although the 6-foot-9 Marcius has been given the option to return for what would be his final year of eligibility.
Because eight of the 10 scholarship players on next season’s roster will have freshman or sophomore athletic eligibility, Painter ideally would like to add a fifth-year graduate student or possibly a junior college transfer.
It appears that one possible option is 6-6 wing player Errick Peck, who played three seasons at Ivy League member Cornell and is in line to graduate with one season of athletic eligibility remaining. Peck played at Indianapolis Cathedral with Kelsey Barlow. The Purdue coaching staff saw Peck multiple times when they were recruiting Barlow.
Peck averaged 14 points as a Cathedral senior and was selected to the Indiana All-Star team.
Cathedral principal Dave Worland, a Lafayette native and a varsity boys’ basketball head coach for 24 total seasons, admires Peck very much.
“When he made the Indiana All-Star team four years ago, people were saying, ‘Who is this Errick Peck?’ ” Worland said. “All he did was be one of the leading scorers and leading rebounders. He just makes things happen. During his junior and senior years at Cathedral, we had a lot of kids who were very flashy, had great skills and could dunk.
“Errick was the guy who wasn’t flashy, but he just always got the job done. He would grab a rebound and follow it by scoring. He could hit a 15-foot jumper when they needed a bucket. When he went to the Top 40 Workout, people saw that in him. Errick was the most steady of all those good players.
As a redshirt junior in 2012-13, Peck averaged 9.7 points and 4.8 rebounds, shooting 43.7 percent from the field for a team that finished 13-18. Peck was Cornell’s No. 3 scorer this past season.
“There’s some guys out there, but there’s not a lot of guys,” Painter said when asked about possible additions this spring or summer. “The fifth-year guys are the ones people are really looking for all over the country. They probably are the most over-recruited guys in the history of college basketball just because you have them for one year and they already have their degree and some years of experience.
“A lot of people are looking for that quick fix. If they need a shooter, they try to get a shooter. Yet, everybody is trying to get them. It gets confusing for some of these kids, because no one really has done the data of who is leaving and the success rate they are having. Schools are coming after them, but how successful have these guys been who have been doing these one-year stints? A couple have been successful, but there’s not a lot of them.”
Painter said some players from low-major or mid-major programs suddenly are attractive to high-major programs because they are older and have plenty of Division I experience. The X factor is that a high-major coach has no idea how productive these players can be in BCS conferences.
In a perfect world, Painter would like to add an experienced perimeter shooter. Right now, Purdue has only two seniors (Terone Johnson and Travis Carroll) and no scholarship juniors on the 2013-14 roster.
“If we take someone, it has to be the right guy, someone who would help us in an area in which we are deficient,” Painter said.
Because his freshman class will have four members, including redshirt Jay Simpson, Painter likely will not sign an additional high school senior. He will look at JUCOs but added that getting a player who fits the Boilermakers’ needs thins the available pool.
As Purdue moves forward in its recruiting, Painter knows what the program needs.“There’s no doubt we have to have a more skilled player,” Painter said. “We got away from that. Obviously, we hoped we would have a guy or two make some strides in terms of making open shots. We convinced our guys after the non-conference season that we needed to take fewer 3s.”
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