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Well this is certainly interesting. Shortly after the season ended for the Boilermakers starting point guard Ronnie Johnson announced that he would transfer out of the program. That decision wasn't a huge surprise to a decent number of Purdue fans, but there was some discussion about where he would end up. Well it looks like we now know where Johnson will close out his career as the soon to be junior announced that he'll be heading to Houston.
Why is that interesting you say? Well Houston recently hired former Hoosier head coach Kelvin Sampson to coach the team. On one hand Johnson will now be playing for a former IU coach, potentially turning Ronnie off to the Boilermaker faithful looking forward to watching him elsewhere. On the other hand, Sampson tanked the Hoosier program for several seasons due to his misconduct so it's kind of difficult to truly hate the man considering how his tenure there harmed the program.
"It's a fast-paced, guard-oriented style...his style of play is a really good fit for me" mentioned Johnson. Of course per transfer rules Johnson will have to sit out for a season, but he'll have two seasons of eligibility remaining starting in 2015.
On the transfer front, Purdue is still willing to bring in a transfer before next season and will likely be hitting Indiana native Eron Harris pretty hard. Purdue is one of the teams in the running for Harris, alongside other programs like Kentucky, UCLA, Indiana, Butler and both of the major Michigan programs. Location could prove to be a huge determining factor, giving Purdue a potential edge over some of the bigger schools in the running. That being said, though, Purdue has already struck out on Trevor Thompson and Anthony Lee, both of which transferred to Ohio State.
Just the other day Purdue site Hammer & Rails detailed some possible transfers Purdue could still be seeking out. Ultimately I think the team is all in on Eron Harris but will likely wrap up shop if they can't land the West Virginia transfer. If all else fails the Boilers will once again likely offer one year scholarships to several of their walk-ons, something Painter has done several times in recent years.