PURDUE WOMENS BASKETBALL RECRUITING:
Women's Recruiting Update: Current thoughts


Published: 8/17/2013
Author: Bob_Richards
© Old Gold Free Press Columnists

Seems like the next call the Purdue women's staff gets from 2014 point guard Gabrielle Ortiz will be a nervous one. Following her visit this weekend to Oklahoma, she is said to come back and schedule more official visits to Purdue, Vandy and Miami. Purdue is supposedly penciled in for the end of August. The question remains if the next call to the Purdue staff will be to say she has chosen Oklahoma, or to firm up her official visit to Purdue.

If the Ortiz situation doesn't work out, then point guard Darby Maggard in 2015 is becoming a stronger choice. The Purdue Elite camp attendee had some mid-major offers a couple months ago, but has been getting high-major attention after a successful summer. She is lining up unofficial visits to Vandy, Oklahoma and Miami this fall. However, the question I continue to have is how much the 2015 point guard spot has already been filled by Carmel, Ind. point guard Abby Abel, who was offered a preferred walk-on spot in June. Still, Maggard may be hard to pass on even with the highly regarded Ortiz joins in 2014.

2014 wing shooter Kortney Dunbar is visiting Tennessee this weekend, and Baylor next weekend. Others being mentioned for upcoming visits are Duke, Oklahoma State and Louisville. Add Florida, and those are the schools being mentioned recently. Have not heard Purdue mentioned from Dunbar since her visit last summer.

A player to keep an eye on if 2014 forwards Moore and Waterman commit elsewhere, is fellow post/forward Erykah Davenport of Tucker, GA. She is just now formulating her list, and Purdue has scouted her in the past. She just has one visit booked to Miami so far. Davenport is 6'2, and it seems odd to imagine a Versyp team without a handful of versatile 6'2 forwards on the roster at any given time. With Mingo and Manuel gone, and with Redmon, Bays and Clemons all gone after the 2014-15 season, that just leaves incoming freshman forward Perry on the roster in 2015-16 at 6'2. Forwards with some size are needed in 2014, and more importantly in 2015.