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SoCalHoops Recruiting News

It's Official: Indiana's Luke Recker
Transfers To Arizona--(May 14, 1999)

While Jason Kapono visited the University of Arizona, deciding whether or not to attend next year, the Wildcats got a committment from another McDonald's All-American, Luke Recker (6'-6" Fr. F) who announced earlier his intention to transfer from Indiana. Here's the official press releases from Arizona (there were two of them):

TUCSON, Ariz. - Former Indiana University basketball player Luke Recker (Auburn, Ind./DeKalb High School) announced today that he will transfer to the University of Arizona. Due to NCAA transfer rules, he must sit out the upcoming 1999-2000 season, but will become eligible to play for the Wildcats in 2000-01. He will have two years of eligibility remaining at the UA.

A 6-foot-6, 200-pound guard/forward, Recker averaged a team-high 16.1 points and 4.0 rebounds per game as a sophomore and was a third team All-Big-10 Conference selection. As a freshman at IU, he was an honorable mention All-Big-10 performer, after averaging 12.8 ppg, 3.9 rpg and 2.8 apg.

In high school, Recker was a McDonald's All-American and Indiana's Mr. Basketball as a senior, averaging 26.8 ppg, 6.8 rpg and 5.0 apg, while leading the team to a 26-4 record. During his career, he set school records for points (2,008) and assists (477) and played for USA Basketball's Junior Select team in the summer of 1997.

Yesterday, he was named as one of the 35 players who were invited to participate in the USA Basketball Men's World University Games Team Trials, May 27-29, in Colorado Springs, Colo.

"Our coaching staff and players were very impressed with Luke and with his commitment to winning," Arizona head coach Lute Olson said. "He will fit extremely well into our program and his presence will be felt immediately in our practice situations. He is a highly skilled player who makes those around him better.

"What I really like is his unselfish play, his energy and his passion for the game," Olson added. "He will be a great asset to our program."

And here's the second press release:

Coach Olsen discusses Luke Recker's decision.

May 14, 1999

"Luke is a great student and an even better kid. He is an outstanding player and is fundamentally sound. His presence in our program next year will make everyone even better. Even though he can't play, Luke will be very important in our team's progress. You can't believe what it does for a team to have a player like him involved in practice each day. In the same manner that Loren Woods (Wake Forest transfer) helped A.J. Bramlett develop as a player this past season, I expect Luke will have the same type of impact on our other players this year."

"Luke is a kid who loves basketball. He has the size to play the three, but has the athleticism for the two-guard as well. He told us that he feels that a year of working on the strength will make a big difference for him. As with anyone, it will be difficult for him to have to sit out, but he has a positive attitude about it and feels this will help him accomplish what he has set out to do."

What got him to decide on Arizona?

"He was very impressed with Tucson and the University of Arizona. I think he was shocked at how nice things were around here. He also liked our style of play and our success at getting players to the NBA. He had a good relationship with Coach John (Jay John, UA assistant coach) and was very familiar with our players and the program. He enjoyed the guys we have in the program now and they felt the same way about him. From the time I took him to the airport, I thought we had a great shot at getting him here."

Do you think he just wanted to get out of Big-10 country?

"I think the most important thing is that he wanted to come to Arizona."

Why have you had so much success at landing big time transfers?

"Some of it has to do with the success the program has had over the years and some of it has to do with the success the transfers have had once they come here. Almost every transfer we have had has gone on and played in the NBA (Tom Tolbert, Brian Williams, Chris Mills, Ben Davis).