Eli Boettger | @boettger_eli | 04/07/20
Welcome to the second installment of Three Things!
The intention of Three Things is simple: Keeping you informed. The offseason can be a busy time and college basketball isn’t always on everyone’s radars from April to October.
Here’s how it will work: Every morning, Monday through Friday, we will provide you with three things that you need to know from the previous day. Pretty simple, right? You’ll be amazed by your new college basketball wisdom!
Here are the three things you need to know for April 7.
Matt Haarms stuns Purdue
Purdue lost a key frontcourt member on Monday with the surprising news that big man Matt Haarms will graduate and transfer out of the university. Haarms averaged 8.6 points, 4.6 rebounds and 2.0 blocks per game this past season, starting 15 times.
The Boilers will turn to a heavy dose of Trevion Williams, who led the team in both points and rebounds and is set to be a junior this fall. Sophomore Emmanuel Dowuona and incoming freshman Zach Edey are also expected to contribute. As for Haarms, more than 25 schools have already reached out, including Kentucky, Gonzaga, Louisville, Seton Hall and others.
—What Matt Haarms’ unexpected departure means for Purdue
Terrell Brown commits
What a rise it’s been for Seattle product Terrell Brown. The 6-1 guard began his college career at Shoreline C.C. before transferring to Seattle U for his sophomore and junior years. This past season, Brown led the WAC and finished 19th nationally in scoring at 20.8 points per game to go along with 6.2 rebounds, 4.8 assists and 1.6 steals an outing.
Brown announced Monday he’s heading to Tucson to join the Arizona Wildcats as a grad transfer. Sean Miller’s group expects to lose starting point guard Nico Mannion and wing Josh Green to the NBA, though the ‘Cats still welcome Georgetown transfer James Akinjo to the fold while Brandon Williams hopes to return following knee surgery. A productive trio of Brown, Akinjo and Williams could put Arizona in the mix for the Pac-12 title.
Josh Hall declares
This is probably not the news Wolfpack fans were hoping for to start the week. Josh Hall — N.C. State’s top recruit of the No. 8 overall 2020 class — will explore the upcoming draft process, though he is retaining his college eligibility at this time.
Although Hall has yet to play a game at the college level, the nation’s No. 36 recruit is able to apply for the draft process because he reclassified from the 2019 class back to 2020. Hall is a 6-9 small forward who figures to start immediately for Kevin Keatts’ team if he opts to remove his name from the draft pool. Last year, top-50 recruit Jalen Lecque committed and signed his letter of intent with N.C. State before eventually forgoing his college eligibility and declaring for the NBA Draft. Could this be the second year of misfortune in a row for Keatts?
Eli Boettger is a college basketball writer and founder of HeatCheckCBB.com. He has previously worked for Sporting News, DAZN and USA TODAY SMG.
Boettger’s content has been featured by Bleacher Report, NBC Sports, FiveThirtyEight, Yahoo Sports, Athletic Director University, Washington Post, Illinois Law Review and Notre Dame Law Review, among other publications. Boettger is also a current USBWA member and Rockin’ 25 voter.