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Luke Kennard (SG Detroit Pistons)

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Top 2015 prospect Kennard visits UK for second time since getting offer
Published: August 22, 2013
By Ben Roberts ? [email protected]

Luke Kennard and his family made another visit to Kentucky on Saturday, the second time the Class of 2015 basketball recruit has been on UK?s campus this month.

Kennard and his parents spent the afternoon helping his sister move in for college, then swung by Lexington for a quick visit with UK Coach John Calipari.

?It was kind of a spur of the moment thing,? Mark Kennard told the Herald-Leader. ?We just kind of stopped in. It wasn?t anything big. Not anything too exciting ? we just stopped in to say hello and that was basically it.?

Kennard?s father said they spoke with Calipari for about 20 minutes, grabbed some dinner on campus and then headed back to Franklin, Ohio. Kennard also took an unofficial visit to UK on Aug. 1. He is one of six players from the Class of 2015 with a scholarship offer from the Cats.

Other schools that have offered Kennard include Duke, Louisville, Michigan, Michigan State, Ohio State and Indiana. Scout.com considers him the No. 18 overall prospect in the Class of 2015.

Recruiting observers have deemed UK the favorite ever since Calipari offered last month. The 6-foot-5 shooting guard has several Kentucky ties. He said he grew up rooting for the Wildcats, his father played basketball at nearby Georgetown College and his grandfather is originally from Paintsville and remains an avid UK fan.

The family has been impressed with what they?ve seen and heard from UK so far.

?Coach Cal ? he?s up front and honest,? Mark Kennard said. ?He likes Luke as a player, and obviously if Luke was ready to commit Coach Cal is ready for that to happen. And that?d be great. But he?s not using any pressure tactics or anything like that.?

?Kentucky is Kentucky,? the elder Kennard added. ?It?s one of the best schools in the nation.?

Luke Kennard is also a highly touted quarterback with a football offer from Louisville. His season starts Aug. 31, and that will leave little time for visits over the next few months. Class of 2015 prospects are allowed to start taking their five official visits in January.

The plan is to start taking those official visits as soon as possible in order to make a college decision by the end of his junior year.

?That?s the plan right now,? Mark Kennard said. ?That could change. That could definitely change. But that?s the plan.?
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Read more here: http://www.kentucky.com/2013/08/22/2781288/top-2015-prospect-kennard-visits.html#storylink=cpy
 
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Franklin junior Luke Kennard averaging 40.2 points

By Marc F. Pendleton

Staff Writer

Don’t count out Luke Kennard drawing the equivalent of football’s 11-in-the-box defense this high school basketball season. Nothing less has stopped the high-scoring Franklin phenom.

“We tried to double and triple him and we got in foul trouble,” recalled Eaton head coach Denny Shepherd of Franklin’s most recent game. “We tried to go to zone and out of that we matched up on him with two guys as much as we could. We thought that we did a pretty decent job on him making him take bad shots – if that’s a word for him.”

Eaton held Kennard to 41 points and 18 rebounds. He nailed 5 of 11 treys. That added up to an 89-51 Franklin blowout that pushed its record to 6-0.

Continued...
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Owner of a 4.3 grade-point average and a recent inductee into the National Honor Society, Kennard had his best practice the day after scoring 51, which eclipsed his uncle Tom Kennard’s previous program high of 48.
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Kennard had 45 points in the Beach Ball classic in Myrtle Beach on 12/27 against a team from South Carolina. He was scoring all over the floor, 5 treys, driving and playing through contact to score in the paint, 8 points at the foul line, and getting some easy layups.
 
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DZ83CK said:
I think the case of Kyle Wiltjer will be a cautionary tale for many recruits looking at UK (such as Luke), if he indeed follows through with his stated intent to transfer. They can recruit over you in your freshman year, and get a new first round pick for you to compete with every year. Hard to stomach being a highly regarded prospect in your own right but looking at being a junior with freshmen already penciled in ahead of you on the lineup by everybody as was the case for Wiltjer at this time.
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After re-reading this, I decided to Google Wiltjer and came across an interview of Mike DeCourcey talking about Wiltjer's departure from Kentucky. DeCourcey (one of the most insightful columnists out there) was absolutely scathing about Wiltjer, and he obviously regards Wiltjer as both lazy and clueless. He's complimentary of the kid's skill, though. Wiltjer's failure at UK was all about Wiltjer and not about Calipari, if DeCourcey's analysis is on point.

From what I can see, Kennard has a much better stroke than Wiltjer, and he's clearly a much smoother player over all; Wiltjer is pretty herky-jerky. The Diebler comparisons don't seem unreasonable to me. With that said, his game looks to me like one that will need a couple of years to round into shape for collegiate competition, and I'm not sure that fits very well with the Kentucky model.

The DeCourcey interview is below.
 
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Mike DeCourcy blaming a player and not the school for Wiltjer feeling like he wouldn't be able to keep his spot in the rotation due to Cal's steroid-level recruiting? Yeah, I'm sure the KY coaches NEVER tell a guy anything that would lead him to believe he is going to play more than he ends up playing, and that he will be able to keep his role once he earns it. :eek:

KY is the WORST place to go if you want to be able to grow and develop and earn a spot over four years because Cal brings in another 5* recruit at your position EVERY year. I don't blame Wiltjer for a second for getting out of there. Kennard is not the type of player KY gets lately, he isn't a me-first player. KY is getting a lot of selfish players lately that put themselves ahead of the team and of course you don't know whether you're going to play from one year to the next even if you started or played a major role in the prior season. KY also is recruiting as many top-50 SGs as they can get in the 2014 class for Luke to perhaps have to compete with. Clearly the environment at OSU is more team-oriented and stable.
 
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MD Buckeye said:
@FSOhioZJackson: 2015 five-star recruit Luke Kennard of Franklin, Ohio, seated behind the Buckeyes bench today
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And not a peep from the national media about it. Yet you hear about it from the national media every time he visits KY. It wouldn't bother me, except there are some national media who aren't KY beat writers yet they seem inclined to cover KY recruiting like a KY beat writer and ignore the news about other teams recruiting some of these guys to an extent.
 
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