Moore Pledges to Boilers

There are five in-state players ranked in Scout.com's top 100, and for the third time Indiana has missed out on one of the state's best. East Chicago's E'twaun Moore announced Friday he'll state in-state, but play for Purdue.

The second-ranked player in the state of Indiana is off the board.

Scout.com’s Mike Sullivan reported earlier this morning that E’twaun Moore, a 6-3, 170-pound guard from East Chicago H.S., verbally committed to Purdue Coach Matt Painter. Moore is currently participating in the Peach Jam AAU event.

While Moore was non-committal about his college destination at last week’s Nike All-America Camp, he made it clear Purdue was well out in front of the competition, which included Indiana, Illinois and Iowa, among others.

“I really like Purdue,” Moore said. “It’s a hometown school.”

The 39th-ranked player in the 2007 class according to Scout.com, Moore becomes the second top-100 player to commit to Purdue in recent weeks. Earlier, 6-10, 195-pound JaJuan Johnson committed to the Boilermakers as well.

There is also speculation that AAU teammate Robbie Hummel will wind up in a Boilermaker uniform as well. Hummel plans to announce his college decision on Monday during a press conference at Valparaiso H.S.

Moore admitted the familiarity he might wind up having with a handful of players in Purdue’s 2007 class was a factor.

“You have to see who you’re going to play with and if you know and like the guys who are going to be on your team,” Moore said. “If you like the guys a lot and they are going to a school that kind of persuades you a little bit.”