Purdue will sign one of Matt Painters best classes today

Caleb Furst (foreground) and Trey Kaufman-Renn (background) make up one of Purdue’s finest recruiting classes under Matt Painter (GoldandBlack.com)

Today, Purdue signs a small 2021 recruiting class, but one of the best Matt Painter has landed during his decade-and-a-half coaching the Boilermakers.

In signing Rivals.com four-star prospects Caleb Furst and Trey Kaufman-Renn, Painter has landed a bedrock for his frontcourt for years to come, a pair of top-50-ranked forwards and the top two prospects in the state of Indiana’s 2021 class at the moment.

A LOOK AT BOTH PLAYERS

Scouting Report: Furst is generally listed as a center but can play either true frontcourt spot. … A well-refined low-post scorer and facilitator whose proven himself against both smaller-school high school competition and elite grassroots competition around the basket. … Runs the floor extremely well for a big man and excels at catching on the run and finishing. … An outstanding passer for his position. … Has shown he can make mid-range jump shots as well as the occasional three-pointer, both of which could be emphases for him at the college level. … A productive rebounder at every level he’s played at and a high-effort sort of player.

More: Caleb Furst scouting report

Details: Furst averaged 22 points, more than 13-and-a-half rebounds, nearly four assists and two-and-a-half blocks and was named first-team AP all-state following this season cut short … led Blackhawk Christian to Indiana’s Class A state title as a sophomore … Furst played as a 16-year-old on the 17-and-under Nike EYBL circuit between his sophomore and junior year and averaged 11 points and five rebounds per game on the most competitive circuit in grassroots … Furst has taken part in several USA Basketball events.

Chose Purdue Over: Furst committed to Purdue in early March over offers from Michigan State and Virginia. Those were the three schools he took junior-year official visits to. Indiana also offered, as did Louisville, Stanford and numerous others.

Scouting Report: Kaufman-Renn is a modern sort of forward who can play all over the floor. … A well-refined low-post scorer who can score with his back to the basket or face up and either drive or shoot. … A multi-level scorer who can make mid-range jumpers and pull-ups alike … a very good three-point shooter who looked this summer to be very confident shooting them. … Increased quickness and burst has made him more of a threat as a penetrator. … Similar in many ways to former Boilermaker Vincent Edwards, though he’ll be bigger and may not possess quite the same level of guard skills.

Details: Kaufman-Renn was Indiana’s Gatorade Player-of-the-Year last season after averaging 26 points and 10 rebounds. … Silver Creek won Indiana’s Class 3A state title his sophomore season before being denied a chance to repeat last season due to the pandemic.

Chose Purdue Over: Kaufman-Renn came down to Purdue, Indiana, Virginia and North Carolina, but ultimately decided between Purdue and IU, distance from home being a consideration (and the pandemic). Louisville, Xavier, Wake Forest and Texas A&M were some of his many other offers. Indiana State — to which he has family connections — made his final list of five.

THE PLAN

Purdue scored a recruiting coup by landing not just one of the two — as seemed highly likely after Furst committed in March — but both.

As the process wore on and Purdue’s search for a guard or wing to go along with Furst pressed on, the plan changed.

During a summer in which Kaufman-Renn looked like a very different player post-spring quarantine than he did prior — quicker, stronger, faster, more explosive and just better — Purdue warmed to the idea of him playing more as a wing than an interior player.

The chance for Kaufman-Renn, recruited originally as a 4, same as Furst, to play the 3 brought this together.

“I think we’ll be great together,” Furst said Tuesday night. “I’m really excited about our future together and joining the team at Purdue.”

Furst was recruited as a true power forward type, though he will also play as a different sort of center than Purdue’s used to, and it’s there that his most favorable matchups are likely to exist, since he’s more skilled and more mobile than most true centers and the defensive demands of that position may be more favorable.

Kaufman-Renn will project initially as a combo forward, capable of playing the 3 or 4.

The aggregate versatility the two forwards possess suggests plenty of opportunities for them to play alongside one another for the Boilermakers.

“I really like his basketball game,” Kaufman said of Furst, who he played against at last December’s FORUM Tip-Off in Classic in Southport and again this summer. “… Just his ability to not kind of be a black hole (on offense). A lot of big guys you see, they don’t really know when to pass. They don’t have that IQ of the game. He’s very smart, and he’s very skilled. He knows when to take his man and dominate and knows when to pass out to his teammates.

“Just having a high-IQ player like that, that helps me with my game, because he’ll make the right play, he’ll know when to cut and he’ll know what to do at the offensive end.”