Kelan Martin
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| No. 4 – Butler Bulldogs | |
|---|---|
| Position | Forward |
| League | Big East Conference |
| Personal information | |
| Born | August 3, 1995 |
| Nationality | American |
| Listed height | 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) |
| Listed weight | 220 lb (100 kg) |
| Career information | |
| High school | Ballard High School (Louisville, Kentucky) |
| College | Butler (2014–present) |
| Career highlights and awards | |
| |
| Stats at NBA.com | |
| Stats at Basketball-Reference.com | |
Kelan Martin (born August 3, 1995) is an American college basketball player for the Butler Bulldogs. He has completed his junior season on the 2016–17 team.
Early life
Martin comes from a basketball family. His father, Kenneth was on the state championship team at Louisville’s Ballard High School in Louisville and won a NCAA Division II championship at Kentucky Wesleyan. His mother, the former Kristie Jordan, was honored with a retired jersey at Ballard and competed for an NCAA runner-up team at Western Kentucky. They met at the age of eight growing up in housing projects in downtown Louisville and married after college. Today Kenneth works as assistant director of pupil personnel for Jefferson County Public Schools, while Kristie works in administration monitoring Louisville’s police budget. Kelan has a younger brother, Kameron, and was raised with cousin Jalil Brown, the son of Kristie’s deceased sister.[1]
Growing up, Kelan preferred football to basketball, and was so much bigger than his peers in youth football that some parents asked for a birth certificate. He competed for Louisville Legends summer teams in middle school, where he was nicknamed "Baby Shaq" by Rajon Rondo. In high school, he competed for the AAU team Indiana Elite, where future Louisville player Quentin Snider starred. Martin measured 6-5 as a freshman at Ballard High School and started several games. He quit football as a sophomore and improved his running ability. As a junior, Martin guided Ballard to the Sweet 16 in Kentucky, recording 23 points and 14 rebounds in the Bruins’ 59-55 victory over Montgomery County at Rupp Arena. In the championship, Martin scored 19 points and pulled down 12 rebounds as Madison County beat Ballard 65-64.[1]
Coach Chris Renner called Martin’s senior year the best season of any player he coached at Ballard. The Bruins were ranked number 1 in Kentucky. Although outshined by Quentin Snider, Martin scored 16 points in an overtime loss to Trey Lyles-led Arsenal Tech. He had 28 points, including the deciding 3-pointer, when Ballard beat Myles Turner and Trinity High School (Euless, Texas) 72-70. In another game, Martin scored 36 points, and coach Renner started isolating him from practices since he overwhelmed team scrimmages. The season ended when the Bruins lost to Trinity High School (Louisville) in the regional championship 59-58. He scored 2,014 points in his career, third in school history.[1]
His first recruiting offer was from IUPUI, coached by his father's high school teammate Todd Howard. Martin was first recruited to Butler by Brad Stevens, and his recruitment continued under Brandon Miller. He considered Providence, St. Louis, West Virginia and Oklahoma but chose Butler because he liked the coaches and players. When Snider decommitted from Illinois and selected Louisville, Martin’s friends thought he should follow suit but he remained firm in his commitment to the Bulldogs. He was ranked 139th nationally by Rivals.com and was a finalist for Kentucky Mr. Basketball.[1]
| Name | Hometown | High school / college | Height | Weight | Commit date | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kelan Martin Power Forward |
Louisville, KY | Ballard High School | 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) | 210 lb (95 kg) | Oct 8, 2013 | |
Recruiting star ratings: Scout: Rivals: 247Sports: N/A ESPN: ESPN grade: 80
| ||||||
College career
By the time Martin arrived on campus, Chris Holtmann was the coach. In his fourth game in a Butler uniform, Martin had 17 points in 17 minutes in a 74-66 upset of fifth-ranked North Carolina.[1]
He scored 35 points in one game as a sophomore, the most by a Butler player since 1998. Martin averaged 15.7 points per game as a sophomore on a team led by Kellen Dunham and Roosevelt Jones.[1] He was marred by a slump at the end of the season.[2] As a sophomore, Martin was named to the Second Team All-Big East.[3] After the season, he lost some weight and attended an Adidas-sponsored camp in Long Beach, California.[1]
In his junior season, Martin led the Bulldogs in scoring (16.0 points per game) and rebounding (5.8 per game) while shooting shooting 43 percent from the floor and 35 percent from behind the arc. In the final nine games of the season, after a slump in February, he came off the bench to average 17.7 points per game while shooting 50 percent.[2] Martin was a Second Team All-Big East selection as a junior.[4] After the season, Martin did an internship with a TV station WTHR-13, working in video production and editing. He did not enter the NBA Draft, since he wants to improve his mobility, and he is cooking his own food as a means of controlling his diet.[2]
References
- ^ a b c d e f g Woods, David (November 7, 2016). "Butler's Kelan Martin: Out of the shadows and into the spotlight". The Indianapolis Star. Retrieved July 4, 2017.
- ^ a b c Woods, David (June 20, 2017). "Butler's Kelan Martin brushes off NBA Draft: 'I want to make this year my best year'". Indianapolis Star. Retrieved July 4, 2017.
- ^ "Four Named Unanimously to MBB All-BIG EAST First Team". Big East Conference. March 6, 2015. Retrieved March 9, 2015.
- ^ "All-BIG EAST Teams Have Unanimous Flavor". Big East Conference. Retrieved July 3, 2017.