GoldandBlack.com: Busy June for recruit

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. (GoldandBlack.com) - It's been a chaotic past month for Chasson Randle .

But for the top Purdue 2011 recruiting target, that's been a good thing.

The guard from Rock Island, Ill., committed the bulk of his June to playing for USA Basketball's 16-and-under national team in the FIBA Americas Under-16 Championship, where Team USA went 5-0 in the tournament, played in Mendoza, Argentina, to win the gold medal.

"I loved it," Randle said last week, after helping his Rock Island High School team to the championship game of Purdue's fifth and final team camp session in West Lafayette. "It was the greatest thing I've experienced in my whole career."

Randle hopes to return to USA Basketball next summer to play for the 17-and-under team that'll compete in 2010 FIBA Under-17 World Championship in Hamburg, Germany.

For the 6-foot-1 guard, the experience was worth the demands that came with it.

He left June 5 for the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs for USA Basketball's Men's Developmental Team training camp, held June 6-12.

After making the team, Randle traveled straight to Argentina for the tournament, which was held June 17-21. After playing five games in as many days, with a sore ankle, no less, Randle came home for about 24 hours, then accompanied Rock Island to Purdue's team camp Thursday.

Randle's Team USA involvement obviously left him little time to worry about recruiting, but the trip to West Lafayette did give him a chance to make a return visit to one of the schools he's heavily considering.

Purdue's just one of many major schools to have already offered the rising junior, joining the likes of Illinois, Iowa State, Ohio State, Indiana, Wisconsin and a slew of others. Florida State and Miami (Fla.) most recently laid down offers, too.

Since Rock Island arrived at Purdue Wednesday for Thursday's games, Randle had a chance to visit with Boilermaker coaches.

"I sat down and talked with them," Randle said, "and they showed me some film and things like that and told me how they feel about me.

"They showed me how their style of play is and what Coach (Matt) Painter allows on the court and what he doesn't. It was good."

It was at least Randle's third visit to Purdue, as he took an unofficial visit last spring, then again during this past season.

Because of his variety of skills and ability to play away from the ball, Randle is best described as a combo guard; but in college, point guard might be his best fit. At least Purdue thinks so.

"They're looking at me to play the 1, to put the ball in my hands," Randle said of Purdue. "I feel like I need to work on my whole game, but I think it's something I need to play more, because with my high school team, I don't really play it at all."

After a whirlwind June, things won't exactly slow down for Randle, who joined Rock Island this weekend at a tournament in Bloomington, Ill.

Now, it's time for the early July evaluation period, during which Randle will once again play with an Illinois Wolves team that also features top prospects Nnana Egwu , Jacob Williams and Antonio Drummond , among others.

Randle's busy summer to date hasn't left him much time to worry about recruiting or formulate a plan of how to attack it.

"That's something my family and I will discuss," Randle said, "but as of right now, we don't have a timetable."