Every year during the July AAU season there are a couple players who pop up out of nowhere on Purdue’s radar. This year it looks to be 2014 recruit Sean O’Mara. The 6’9″ 220lb big man plays at Benet Academy and is from Lisle, IL.
O’Mara is a back to the basket post player. Currently Purdue’s only player who fits that bill is center AJ Hammons. He would be able to bring a nice change of pace from Jay Simpson, Jacob Lawson, and Donnie Hale. He also has very good footwork and utilizes a variety of post moves.
According to an interview with umhoops.com, O’Mara visited Purdue June 13th. While Purdue hasn’t offered yet, expect them to be a player at the end of his recruitment. O’Mara has had contact with the majority of Big Ten schools and has offers from UIC, Illinois State, and Xavier.
The Boilers will definitely need another big man in the 2014 class. Travis Carroll and Sandi Marcius will no longer be with the program and the other post players will be juniors and one senior(Lawson). The only 2014 other big man that has an offer, to public knowledge, is Tyler Wideman. Interesting thing about that though is that Purdue is his only known offer for how skilled he is, but he doesn’t seem to return the interest. I’m assuming other schools haven’t shown as much interest because he is only 6’6″ and doesn’t have the skills to be a small forward or guard. Personally, I’d rather see Purdue start pursuing other players with more height even if it means losing out on Wideman.
This will be a recruitment to keep an eye on. Expect Purdue to compete with the usual suspects of Michigan, Michigan St, and IU in this one.