(2021) PG Khristian Lander to Western Kentucky U.

[MoyeNeeded]

1 hour ago, cthomas said:

I wasn't advocating for the the one and done players at all. I really like the direction CAM is going and how the program is being built. If Lander wants an offer from Duke, then I'm not sure he fits what Indiana is trying to do. I was trying to say that those type of players don't view IU as being on the same level as the perennial top ten programs. And, won't until our on court performance is similar. Personally, I like watching kids develop over three or four years and getting to know them a little bit. I like the continuity that comes from kids playing together over time. As much as I liked Langford, he didn't help at all in terms of building the program in my opinion. I get that CAM had to recruit Romeo, but the timing was all wrong for a player like him. This is the long way around of saying I believe that getting old and staying old is best approach for IU.

I don't think we get TJD if Romeo would have went elsewhere. Pulling the state's best had to start somewhere.

[cthomas]

1 hour ago, MoyeNeeded said:

I don't think we get TJD if Romeo would have went elsewhere. Pulling the state's best had to start somewhere.

You may very well be right. I'm just saying that he didn't really help us as much on the court as maybe a three year recruit might have. I'm happy we got for optics if nothing else. But we were not in a place where he was a difference maker for last years team.

[Class of '66 Old Fart]

Gordon Engelhardt - Evansville Courier & Press

Khristian Lander’s mom still makes him take out the trash. His grandfather, Randall, texts him every day. Their message to the hoops phenom: Stay humble.

But it’s difficult when you’re considered perhaps the next Romeo Langford, or the best boys’ basketball player from Evansville since Calbert Cheaney and Walter McCarty.

“Yeah, I talked to Walt during the summer,” said Lander, a 6-foot-3 point guard from Reitz who is a 5-star recruit and considered the No. 11 player nationally in the Class of 2021 by 24x7sports and No. 13 player by rivals.com.  “I talked to Calbert on my IU visit and he gave me some pretty good advice. He was telling me about his experiences, what they had at IU.”

McCarty watched a handful of Lander’s Indiana Elite AAU games in the summer and told him what he was doing well and what areas in which he needed to improve. Lander has received 16 scholarship offers, including Indiana, Purdue, Kansas, Louisville, Michigan, Illinois and Ohio State. Memphis was the most recent school to offer, earlier this month.

Bosse’s Shane Burkhart, who has coached JaQuan Lyle and Mekhi Lairy and currently mentors Kiyron Powell, knows a little about Division I-level talent. But Lander is headed for the stratosphere.

“Lander is a once in a lifetime talent,” Burkhart said. “He really has taken his game to another level – one of which I don’t know if we have seen around here in a while.”

Burkhart said Lander’s recruiting is about to explode “on the biggest level there is with all the true ‘blue bloods.’ He already has Louisville and Memphis. North Carolina, Duke, Kentucky and Michigan State, these schools are going to come knocking on his door if they haven’t already.”

Burkhart noted that Lander was invited to USA Basketball's Junior National minicamp in July.

“He is just a phenomenal player whose upside is through the roof,” Burkhart said. “I can’t wait to see him take Reitz to some spectacular levels.”

Brandi Lander thought her son was a little arrogant in sixth and seventh grade. But she is proud of the way he has matured and how he has handled all the adulation.

“I just feel like I’m a pretty humble person,” said Lander, who averaged 22.2 points, 4.2 rebounds and 4.9 assists last season. “I don’t let all the attention get to me.”

Khristian knows his grandfather, Randall Lander Sr., a minister at Dove Chapel on the West Side, will never stop texting him to keep his head on straight. Khristian said he acts the same way he did before all the offers from big-time schools starting flooding in. Lander, however, did allow that getting all the attention was “pretty cool.”

He said when the adulation began to accelerate it was difficult.

“The pressure was hard the first time,” Lander said. “Now, I’m starting to take it all in.”

A student with a 3.8 grade-point average, Lander plans to major in mechanical engineering. He is accomplished enough along academically that he would only need to take a handful of classes next summer to graduate a year early and go directly to college -- if that's what he wants to do. However, the wiry 166-pounder needs to gain strength to make an early leap to college ball.

“All the other aspects of my game are pretty solid right now,” Lander said.

As for Reitz and improving immensely after a 12-12 season a year ago, Lander didn’t mince words.

“I feel like this year we shouldn’t lose to anyone. in my opinion,” he said. “We’re getting everything together, getting everything down.”

Trained by former Harrison track standout Chris Clark, the silky smooth left-hander with multicolored hair lets his flamboyant game speak for itself. Lightning quick off the bounce, Lander is a streaky shooter from long distance. 

If all of that isn't enough, he works out with Jackie Young whenever she comes to town. Young, the state’s all-time leading girls’ scorer with 3,268 points, helped lead Princeton to the 2015 3A state title and Notre Dame to the 2018 NCAA championship. She was the No. 1 overall pick in last summer’s WNBA draft by the Las Vegas Aces.

“She’s still humble,” Khristian said. “I met her during her junior year in high school. She’s a pro now."

First and foremost, Brandi Lander repeatedly emphasized that her son plans on concentrating exclusively on his junior year at Reitz.

“That’s his No. 1 priority,” she said.

He isn’t thinking about whether he will graduate a year early.

“I take everything as a learning experience in everything I do,” Khristian said. “Everything is going to come to me.”

[ElectricBoogaloo]

We don’t have a mechanical engineering program. So there’s that. 

[Hovadipo]

1 minute ago, ElectricBoogaloo said:

We don’t have a mechanical engineering program. So there’s that. 

Maybe Fred can get McBobby to take some more BTN money to start one real quick. 

[Brass Cannon]

8 minutes ago, Hovadipo said:

Maybe Fred can get McBobby to take some more BTN money to start one real quick. 

Doesn’t IUPUI have one?

[Hovadipo]

1 minute ago, Brass Cannon said:

Doesn’t IUPUI have one?

Looks like it. They have to be a dark horse in this recruitment now imo. 

[DChoosier]

12 minutes ago, ElectricBoogaloo said:

We don’t have a mechanical engineering program. So there’s that. 

He will only have to worry about that if he thinks he can get a mechanical engineering degree in one year :) 

[Brass Cannon]

Just now, Hovadipo said:

Looks like it. They have to be a dark horse in this recruitment now imo. 

Well I meant he’s only going to college 1 year anyway. And all credits transfer...

[Class of '66 Old Fart]

If Lander's career takes him to the NBA he'll need a busiess degree more than he'll need a degree in mechanical engineering.

[Honkyman]

Lander plans on studying mechanical engineering? I guess he's going to Purdue then. Or maybe MIT.

[mamasa]

Lander plans on studying mechanical engineering? I guess he's going to Purdue then. Or maybe MIT.

Michigan and Northwestern are generally ranked higher for mechanical engineering than Purdue.


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[Walking Boot of Doom]

Kid isn’t going to get his mechanical engineering degree until years and years after he’s had a very significant NBA career.

Moving on.

[Alford Bailey]

Is Lander a consensus 1 and done?

[Uspshoosier]

Is Lander a consensus 1 and done?

I Haven’t seen one report on him that says he is a 1 and done


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[AKHoosier]

Supposedly we're waaaaaaay behind Michigan and Louisville right now.

Probably better hope Michigan loses some of its luster, and Louisville undergoes another scandal pretty soon.

[WayneFleekHoosier]

Supposedly we're waaaaaaay behind Michigan and Louisville right now.
Probably better hope Michigan loses some of its luster, and Louisville undergoes another scandal pretty soon.

Archie’s recruiting hasn’t been that fantastic. In state has been pretty strong but overall class rankings really tell the story.

Kentucky has 6 recruits for 2020. SIX. Four 5 stars and two 4 stars. Only 5 starters. Likely only 8 man rotation yet they continue to flock to UK.

Maybe losing in recruiting will mean winning on the court but that is not how it generally works.


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[HoosierAloha]

Archie’s recruiting hasn’t been that fantastic. In state has been pretty strong but overall class rankings really tell the story.

Kentucky has 6 recruits for 2020. SIX. Four 5 stars and two 4 stars. Only 5 starters. Likely only 8 man rotation yet they continue to flock to UK.

Maybe losing in recruiting will mean winning on the court but that is not how it generally works.


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They’re going to puke because it’s the only way to make it to the league...


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[Class of '66 Old Fart]

Reitz defeats Jasper 75-67.  Lander 21 pts. on 6-13 FG; 3-8 on 3s; 6-8 FT; 6 reb; 7 asst; 3 stl; 2 TO.

[Class of '66 Old Fart]

Five-star junior Khristian Lander will attend Louisville’s matchup against Michigan on Tuesday, he told @Stockrisers.  He took an official visit in September.  Lander attended three games last season.