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62 GOLD AND BLACK ILLUSTRATED plenishing its existing wealth of size, looking for a big man to potentially come in and help offset the looming loss of senior A.J. Hammons and insulate the program against early departures to the profes- sional ranks. Painter and his staff cast a wide net looking for big men in the '16 class. As it stood in late October, they were left with two apparent targets standing above all others, several of which have committed to other schools. Schnider Herard, a 6-foot-10, 255-pound Haitian who attends high school in Texas, officially visited West Lafayette in early October and seems primed to choose between Purdue, Kansas and Mississippi State, with Texas Tech and California among other finalists. Herard, ranked 34th nationally by Rivals.com, would seem like Purdue's best bet to be able to contribute im- mediately following Hammons' departure. That's Painter's pitch. "Schnider had, I think, 34 scholarship offers and narrowing that down from 10 to five, he was looking for where he might play right away and which pro- grams are going to use their big guys," said Derrick Shelby, Herard's guardian. "You know, he's a 6-foot- 10-and-a-half center and Purdue has a track record of using its big guys and some of them there now in (Hammons) and (Caleb Swanigan). "Their big guys touch the ball and that's important to Schnider, to go somewhere he'll know that if he busts his butt he'll get an opportunity to play (early) and an opportunity to be successful. … There's that opportunity at Purdue." Purdue would have the flexibility to sign multiple big men if such a possibility were to unfold. It also has an offer out to Senegalese post player Khadim Sy of Oak Hill Academy in Virginia, the same prep school Hammons attended. Sy, who's 6-10, 240 pounds or so, is considered raw at this stage of his career, but has high-level size and is improving considerably, those around Brian Neubert Purdue guard target Bruce Brown is considered a top-50 recruit nationally. Brian Neubert Texas' Carsen Edwards is a high-scoring combo guard who's committed to Purdue to play point guard.