As we reach the halfway point of the NCAA's final evaluation period this summer, the Purdue staff is back out on the road evaluating talent. The current evaluation period runs from July 22 through July 31. The next open evaluation period where Division I coaches can evaluate at non-scholastic events will be a two-day window for September 30th and October 1st.

Purdue head coach Sharon Versyp and assistant Jody Benner will be in Indianapolis at the Adidas Summer Slam, while assistant Martin Clapp with be in Augusta and Atlanta. Two events that may get Clapp's attention will be the Nike Nationals competition, and the Peach State Summer Invitational and Superstar Showcase. The Peach State event is three days of top teams from the southeastern U.S., including representatives from Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Alabama, Missouri, and Florida.

Another Benton Central connection?

Versyp will keep an eye on the high school where she coached from 93-96, watching the development of 5'6 Skyler Gick. Gick will be a sophomore in 2006-07, and is coming off a stellar freshman season where she earned the starting varsity point guard slot. She averaged 14.5 points, 3.6 steals, 4.8 assists as Benton Central won their first sectional title since 1992.

Add Skyler Gick to Skylar Diggins of South Bend Washington, Markee Martin of Fort Wayne Bishop Luers, and Kelly Faris of Heritage Christian, and you have an early indication of the depth of the class of 2009 in Indiana. And earlier in the month, two additional 2009 Indiana high school players were honored at the adidas Top Ten Camp. Kelsey Reynolds, a 5'9 point guard, and Lily Svete, a 6'1 power forward both from Penn High, were named to the adidas Top Ten Underclassmen All-Star team.

Faris named Junior Olympic MVP

Although her first love is basketball, Heritage Christian sophomore-to-be Kelly Faris was recently named the MVP of the 2006 USA Volleyball Junior Olympic Championships in Atlanta, GA. Faris plays for the Circle City 15-Purple Cobras in volleyball, and with the Indiana's Finest program in basketball. Faris is now going for a national championship in basketball. This week her team is in Lafayette, LA at the 2006 14U Division I National Championships. At the end of pool play, Indiana's Finest Black is a perfect 4-0, and has the second highest point total through pool play.

La'Terria Taylor offered

Purdue has reportedly extended a scholarship offer to La'Terria Taylor, a 5'10 guard who will be a freshman at Von Steuben High in Illinois next year. Taylor impressed the staff at Versyp's Offensive Skills Camp last month. Taylor recently was named the MVP of the adidas Top Ten Underclassmen All-Star game in Georgia.

Coaches hit adidas Top Ten

According to Johnson's summer coach, Purdue attended every one of LyKendra Johnson's games in Atlanta earlier in the month. Despite being without all-americans Alison Jackson and Devereaux Peters, Johnson led Hoops Express I to the championship game of the Select Division of the adidas Tournament of Champions. Johnson, a 2007 post player, has been offered a scholarship and the Purdue staff has been making it very clear they would like to see Johnson in a Purdue uniform. Johnson is still reportedly scheduled to visit Purdue in August with her mother.

Sharon Versyp was also noticable in tracking Kristen Dockery at adidas, who was there playing with Indiana Elite. Dockery was selected as an adidas upperclass All-Star. Dockery will next be playing at the adidas Summer Slam in Indianapolis this weekend. And as we stated above, Versyp and Benner will again be front and center.

Kristen played with a Family team during the USJN tournament in Fishers early in July, where she played along side Ta'Shia Phillips. The play with the Family was just for the USJN event, and she got hooked up with the Family due to interest in playing with the South Bend Soldiers for that tournament. The Soldiers and Family combined rosters to field teams for that event.

Big Ten Recruiting

Veronica Hicks, a 5’9 junior guard from Thornwood High School in Illinois, has verbally accepted a scholarship offer from Michigan. As a junior last season, Hicks averaged 12.3 points, 5.8 rebounds, and 2.0 steals per game in leading her team to a 10-0 conference mark and 22-6 overall record. Hicks is ranked 6th in her class with a 4.5 GPA, and plans to major in industrial engineering.

Indiana has received their first commitment for the class of 2008. Junior-to-be Lindsay Enterline announced she has verbally committed to Indiana University to play basketball. The Heritage point guard follows in the footsteps of her older sister, Leah, who played for the Patriots for four seasons before going to Bloomington. Lindsay, a 5-11 guard, averaged 13.0 points, 4.8 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 2.3 steals as a sophomore.

Lawrenceville High School (IL) 6'0 wing Chelsea Buher gave Illinois head coach Teresa Grentz her commitment recently. Buher pulled the trigger a week after being offered by Grentz. Buher enters her senior season having scored 1,485 career points. She averaged 16.7 points a game as a freshman, 18.2 points a game for a regional championship team a sophomore, and 21.7 points a game last season. Buher chose Illinois over Northwestern, and plans to possibly study veterinary medicine.

READ MORE: Big Ten Recruiting: Commitments