Calipari “just said he’s going to be watching Luke this summer. He didn’t promise anything. He was totally up front,” said Kennard’s father, Mark Kennard. “Coach Williams was a very sincere, very caring guy. You would feel comfortable sending your kid with him.”
Kennard, a 6-foot-5 guard ranked by 247Sports.com as the No. 20 player in the nation in the class of 2015, originally planned to take recruiting slowly and commit as a senior. But his father said a commitment could come early. Some observers believe his recruitment could come down to Ohio State and Michigan, but Mark Kennard said he remains open to all schools.
Not many area girls basketball coaches can say they may have two Division I prospects on their rosters, but that may be the case for Carroll’s Rob Berry. Patriots rising senior center Madison Schroeder and 2015 forward Jenna Dirksen are both getting interest.
Both players impressed the coaching staff during a team camp at UNC-Wilmington, and Schroeder’s also hearing from IUPUI among other D-I schools.
UNC-Wilmington “has been looking at [Schroeder] for a year. She’ll play on that level,” said Berry. “Jenna’s still got some time left. I don’t know if they’ve got any offers yet, but they’re both on the cusp.”
At 6 feet tall, Schroeder will likely need to show she can play the wing – she’s been primarily a center at Carroll – in order to pick up offers.
“I don’t think that’s a problem for her. She’s a fast player,” Berry said.
Former Dunbar standout Deontae Hawkins is enrolled at Illinois State, but not yet officially listed as a member of the Redbirds team yet. Because he originally signed a letter of intent with Wichita State, Hawkins will sit out next season per NCAA transfer rules. Dunbar coach Pete Pullen was unsure of whether he’d be required to sit two years because he moved within the Missouri Valley Conference.
Hawkins, a 6-foot-8 forward who led Dunbar to an undefeated record and state title two seasons ago, spent some time last season at Quakerdale Promise Academy in New Providence, Iowa , after a paperwork issue with his standardized test scores prevented him from enrolling at Wichita State.
“The connection there was, the assistant coach [Dana Ford] who recruited him went from Wichita State to Illinois State,” Pullen said.
Toledo recently offered Wayne junior-to-be D’Mitrik Trice, the son of Warriors coach Travis Trice, and is high on rising senior Ahmad Wagner … Carlisle guard Andrew Goodpaster is hearing from a handful of D-II, D-III and NAIA schools. Shawnee State and Otterbein have shown the most interest … Butler and Xavier called Pullen on Thursday raving about the recent play of 2015 point guard A.J. Harris …
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