WKU Basketball: How Are We Feeling About Basketball Recruiting?

It was a slow start to the Steve Lutz era on the recruiting trail. But the month of May has been busy. Are you starting to feel better about how the roster is taking shape?

Western Kentucky fans waited over a month between the hiring and announcement of Steve Lutz as the next head basketball coach and his first signing, Purdue transfer Brandon Newman.

Not only were WKU fans waiting for players to come into the program, but they saw two key players leave in that span, with Dayvion McKnight committing to Xavier and Jamarion Sharp going to Ole Miss.

Adding insult to injury, Lutz was unable to land what was assumed to be a slam dunk in Trey Tennyson, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi’s leading scorer from last year and the Islanders’ second leading scorer from two years ago, both seasons that saw Lutz take TAMU-CC to the NCAA Tournament.

(For what it’s worth, Tennyson landed at TCU, less than 21 miles from his native Mansfield, Texas.)

Between a lack of recruits incoming, failing to retain two of the most important players from the last couple of years and whiffing on a player Lutz had a previous relationship with, some impatience was starting to set in among Hilltopper fans.

However, after the last month, I can’t help but wonder if that impatience is starting to settle down.

On May 1, WKU announced the hiring of Hank Plona as an assistant of Lutz. The former head coach at Indian Hills Country Club Community College, Plona, soon brought a couple of former Warriors with him in the duo of Donald McHenry and Enoch Kalambay, both named NJCAA All-Americans last month after their years at IHCC.

Prior to the Warrior duo, Lutz landed College of Charleston transfer Babacar Faye, a productive bench piece in two years in Charleston who could flourish with more time under Lutz’s tutelage.

And, just last week, the Tops added Male’s Jack Edelen to their list of incoming talent for Lutz’s first year, keeping the all-important Kentucky pipeline flowing, as well as another former Islander in Jalen Jackson, who was quiet in the regular season but exploded in TAMU-CC’s postseason run, averaging over 15 points in the Southland Conference tournament and leading the Islanders with 22 points in their First Four win over SEMO.

While the overall production of players entering the program won’t pop your eyes out, especially compared to what we’re used to seeing enter the program with Rick Stansbury (Newman, Jackson and Faye all average single-digit scoring across their collegiate careers to this point), if Lutz can get the buy-in, the system fit and pull the right X’s and O’s strings, something could be unlocked.

Couple that with returning guys like Dontaie Allen, Khristian Lander and Fallou Diagne, I can’t help but think Lutz might have himself a ball club for his first run on the Hill this fall.