Fans can keep track of future Boilermakers
on Internet recruiting sites
by Ken Thompson
Lafayette Journal and Courier, January 1998
A couple of years ago during the Jamaal Magloire Purdue-Kentucky recruiting saga, I was searching for any kind of information that would help our Purdue beat writer in his coverage.
That's when I stumbled upon The Unofficial Purdue Men's Basketball Recruiting Site (expert.cc.purdue.edu/~wanker/recruiting.html), organized by Bob Richards.
Not only did this site seem to have daily information on Magloire, it also had a link to one of the newspapers in Magloire's hometown, Toronto. Even after Magloire chose Kentucky, I found myself coming back to this site again and again. Now it is bookmarked on this paper's computer.
Purdue recruiting buffs can follow game-by-bame updates of current recruits Maynard Lewis, John Allison, and Rodney Smith as well as potential future Boilermakers like Anthony Oates, Vincent Hart, Jason Gardner, and Austin Parkinson. There are also photos available to download for many of these players.
National recruiting links are available as well as links for Purdue football and women's basketball recruiting sites.
For those interested in Purdue and Big Ten related news, The Unofficial Purdue Men's Basketball Recruiting site has a news section and links to several newspapers that cover the league.
The aforementioned Purdue football recruiting link, the Purdue Gridiron Action Page (www.access-chicago.net/~semge) relies heavily on reports from the Journal and Courier and Purdue Exponent.
It also has links to other Big Ten unofficial football recruiting sites for Boilermaker fans who want to get other perspectives on the pursuit of common recruits.
Other useful links include those from six other Purdue-oriented sites, the official Big Ten site and league schools' official sites.
Without question the largest and best advertising supported non-newspaper Purdue site belongs to Brad Jewell's Mr. Sportsman All-Stars (pages.prodgy.com/mrsportsman/menu.html).
Don't expect to go through this site in a matter of minutes. The depth of information here must be seen to be believed.
With information broken down into 19 "teams," the heaviest coverage is geared toward Purdue men's basketball. Among the available information is a live scoreboard, real audio game and Gene Keady Live broadcasts, statistics and seemingly every little detail about the players and Keady.
Of course, ther's also the obligatory Bob Knight-bashing section whcih borrows its title from Star Wars: The Dark Side of Bobby Knight.
Mr. Sportsman also follows former Boilermakers in professional leagues with specific links for Glenn Robinson, Steve Scheffler, and Cuonzo Martin. Also available are CBA and American Basketball Association links.
If that wasn't enough, ther are links to recruiting sites, newspapers, and national sports sites, Purdue women's basketball, the Indiana High School Athletic Association, various basketball halls of fame and four Purdue bulletin board forums.
Matt Krautheim's Old Gold Land (expert.cc.purdue.edu/~mkrauthe) greets browsers with a photo of Purdue defensive back Adrian Beasley returning Ron Powlus' fumble for the clinching touchdown against Notre Dame. The caption captures the play's meaning perfectly: A moment that turned around more than just a game.
Once you reach the page itself, Old Gold Land mostly is a guide to other Purdue-related sites. One link I found interesting was a home page of a Purdue couple who illustrated their Alamo Bowl trip with many snapshots. It's kind of like home movies without the sleep-inducing narration.
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