Key Indiana Target Trey Kaufman Talks Top Five, Preparing for Senior Year

Indiana recruit Trey Kaufman caught up with Sports Illustrated to discuss his relationship with all the schools in his top five, as well as his skill set on the floor.

Dylan Wallace | Sep 15, 2020

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — Trey Kaufman had just helped Silver Creek (Sellersburg, Ind.) win a sectional championship last March, and they were making plans to load up the bus and head to regionals when the IHSAA state tournament was canceled.

His quest for back-to-back state championships was put on hold, and there was no telling when basketball would be able to return with COVID-19. The virus changed everything, including his summer basketball plans and his ability to visits the colleges at the top of his list. The 4-star forward had to adjust on the fly.

So he adapted to the new norm over the last few months — Zoom calls, virtual tours, and trying to imagine what it would be like to play at a school without actually experiencing anything tangible beforehand.

After family trips to see the campuses at Virginia and North Carolina over Labor Day weekend, Kaufman was able to finally pare down his list of favorite schools to five.

On Sept. 8, Kaufman put out his list — Virginia, North Carolina, Indiana, Purdue and Indiana State.

"I was like, 'hey I’m not going to go to any schools other than these five,' so that’s when I decided to trim," Kaufman said.

Trey Kaufman gets into the paint during the Battle of the Brands event at Finch Creek Fieldhouse in Noblesville, Ind / Anna Tiplick

His trips to Charlottesville and Chapel Hill weren't official visits, and there were no interactions between head coaches Tony Bennett at Virginia or Roy Williams at North Carolina because of NCAA recruiting restrictions. Kaufman just wanted to get a feel for things.

"Both places are very good. There were some small things we were trying to accomplish and what I was looking for, such as how far the practice room would be from the dorms and some other things," Kaufman said. "But for the most part, it was just familiarizing myself with both places and, you know, if I were going to commit to either one of those places, I’d want to know at least how it looks like and how it feels before I got there."

As far as the three Indiana schools on the list, Kaufman said all three of them jumped on him pretty early in the recruiting process.

"That was big for me because they all sort of saw something in me before others did," Kaufman said.

Purdue showed interest first, but Kaufman said this relationship with all three are pretty even.

He has taken official visits to both Indiana and Purdue, and he has met their coaching staffs and even some players on the team.

As for Indiana State, Kaufman has gone up there a few weekends to play pick-up games with the team. His uncle, Matt Renn, is a Hall of Fame inductee at Indiana State.

Kaufman has done battles over the years with Purdue 2021 commit Caleb Furst from Blackhawk Christian School. He also plays alongside Indiana's 2021 big man Logan Duncomb during the AAU season for Indiana Elite.

"Logan is great. On the court, we fit perfectly together," Kaufman said. "Last year wasn’t as good as this year, but as our games have improved, we can do different things on the floor. He’s obviously a great kid, and yeah, he’s a great teammate."

What makes Kaufman so special on the floor is that at 6-foot-9, he can punish opponents in a variety of ways. Brandon Hoffman, his head coach at Silver Creek, said "it's not rocket science" to figure out why Kaufman is so good because he has the total package.

As a freshman in high school, Kaufman could shoot, but he spent most of time playing center. His sophomore season, he said he definitely played the five spot all season and spent most of the time in the paint.

Heading into his junior season, Kaufman was 6-foot-6 at the time, and he realized there weren't a whole lot fives in the NBA that were his size, so he knew he needed to expand his game.

Last season, Kaufman had another growth spurt — and his overall game grew as well. He started to handle the ball more and play on the perimeter. He averaged 25.8 points, 9.6 rebounds and 1.6 blocks per game.

"I think next year, he’ll be even that much more of a dominant player," Hoffman said.

Kaufman said all schools recruiting him have said they want him to play the three (small forward) position.

"My job (this season) is to play the three. I might even play point guard a little bit just based on the lineups," Kaufman said. "But just developing a ball-handling skill set over the years is the biggest thing."

Kaufman's first summer practice was last Tuesday. Starting this week, Silver Creek will be conditioning once a week and practicing twice a week. They are going to prepare for a high school basketball season this winter until told otherwise.

"We have an expectation to go to state," Kaufman said.

As for Kaufman's collegiate decision, the No. 55-ranked prospect in the nation is unsure of when he'll officially decide.

He thinks it'll be much like when he chose his top five, and he'll just have a feeling of which school is right for him.

"I don’t know if I’ll do a top three, or a top two, I don’t know, I’ll probably just decide on a school," Kaufman said. "I don't really have a game plan for how I’m going to do this; it's kind of just how I feel."

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