Paul Turner Lands Another Big Ten Scholarship Offer

By Roy & Harv Schmidt

December 11, 2011

10:00 A.M. CST

Looking at how rapidly Purdue University has moved with its recruitment of 6'4 2014 2-guard Paul Turner since the Illinois high school basketball season started in November, we knew that something was in the works.  And sure enough, that has now come about, as reliable sources have confirmed that Turner has received a scholarship offer from the Boilermakers and head coach Matt Painter.

Turner was extended the offer by Painter yesterday while on the West Lafayette campus for an unofficial visit.  Painter also watched Turner play at the Ron Johnson Thanksgiving Classic in a game versus St. Charles East and 2013 Purdue commit Kendall Stephens.

The one who has been most instrumental in getting the Boilermaker offer to Turner to come about is Associate Head Coach Jack Owens.  In fact, Owens was in attendance this past Friday night at St. Joseph High School to watch Turner in action in a key Chicago Catholic League contest versus De LaSalle.  Turner did not disappoint, finishing with 16 points in a 62-52 loss.  Owens has been recruiting Turner for as long and as hard as any coach in the D1 ranks going back to when Turner was in seventh grade.

Turner's offer from the Boilermakers is his seventh from a D1 program to date.  It comes on top of previous offers from Illinois, Missouri, Wisconsin, Xavier, DePaul and South Florida.  There are plenty of others who continue to show strong interest as well.

There is no question in our mind that Turner ranks among the top five prospects in Illinois from the extremely talented 2014 class.  He has great mental toughness and has shown the ability to get it done in crunch time.  In addition, Turner is one of the top defensive players in the state and has turned in outstanding defensive efforts in both outings in which we have watched him this season--versus St. Charles East's Stephens and against De LaSalle's 6'5 2013 wing Alvin Ellis.

On a side note, the De LaSalle-St. Joseph contest attracted a slew of D1 coaches in addition to Owens.  Others who were in the gym included University Of Illinois head coach Bruce Weber, Illinois State University head coach Tim Jankovich, University Of Wisconsin assistant coach Lamont Paris, University Of Minnesota assistant coach Vince Taylor and Valparaiso University assistant coach Roger Powell.

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