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Five-star center Caleb Swanigan has committed to Purdue

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Former Michigan State commit Caleb Swanigan has committed to Purdue.

Swanigan, a five-star center and a top 20 recruit nationally, originally committed to play for Tom Izzo and the Spartans earlier this spring, but he reopened his recruitment a few weeks later. On Tuesday morning, Indiana’s Mr. Basketball made a pledge to play for Matt Painter in West Lafayette.

The news was first reported by Scout.com.

It will be interesting to see how Painter opts to use Swanigan, as he now has three centers on his roster that need touches on the block to be effective. Seven-footer A.J. Hammons is an all-Big Ten talent that opted to return to school for his senior season, while 7-foot-2 sophomore Isaac Haas had a promising freshman season.

Purdue lacks depth and talent at the point guard spot and they have just one player returning that shot better than 32.6 percent from three next season. What that means is that Painter is going to have to win by trying to overpower opponents in the paint. Swanigan will help in that regard, as the 6-foot-8, 275 pound bruiser is one of the best rebounders in the Class of 2015.

I’d expect Swanigan to see most of his minutes at the four alongside Hammons and Haas.

Purdue is coming off of a 21-13 season where they advanced to the NCAA tournament as a No. 9 seed.