Randolph's Kelm joins Cuba City's Richard as incoming recruits for Milwaukee
posted by Mark Miller at 9/18/2009
By Mark Miller
Wishoops.net Editor Kyle Kelm of Randolph joined grassroots teammate Evan Richard of Cuba City Thursday evening by giving University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee coach Rob Jeter a verbal commitment to play college basketball for the Panthers.
The 6-foot-9 Kelm and the 6-3 Richard plan to take official visits to the Milwaukee campus this weekend and are the first two players in the Panthers’ 2010 recruiting class.
"His recruitment has changed because of his foot, and Milwaukee never waivered in its desire for Kyle to come and play there," said Tyler Selk, Kelm's uncle and coach with the Wisconsin Swing grassroots program. "I think that made a difference. Milwaukee has always shown its desire to have Kyle play there.
"The fact it's close to home also helped. It basically came down to Milwaukee and Saint Louis. His whole family can come and watch him at Milwaukee. There are a lot of advantages to playing in state, especially when you are done playing. A lot of avenues can open up and there are benefits to staying in state."
Milwaukee has additional scholarships to award in the class of 2010, and the Panthers' coaching staff remains actively involved in the recruitment of several junior college players from Illinois and high school prospects from California and North Carolina.
Ranked No. 8 among state prospects in the class of 2010 by Wishoops.net, Kelm selected Milwaukee over Saint Louis, Northern Iowa, North Dakota State and UW-Green Bay, among others.
Kelm and Richard competed together over the past several years as members of the highly successful Wisconsin Swing grassroots program.
Other members of that squad include Port Washington senior Josh Gasser and Cedarburg senior Chip Rank. Gasser received a scholarship offer from coach Bo Ryan and Wisconsin this week and is considering the Badgers along with Creighton, Northern Iowa and Northwestern. Rank gave a verbal commitment to Northern Iowa last month.
Kelm was unable to showcase his considerable skills during the all-important July evaluation period because of a broken foot.
Kelm, who averaged 17.8 points per game as a junior while helping Randolph to a 21-3 record, took an official visit to Saint Louis last weekend.
Kelm was playing at a very high level for the Wisconsin Swing last May when he broke the outer bone of his foot. He sat out two months, but then re-injured his foot in July.
“Kyle initially broke his foot in May, and then three days before he was going to meet with the doctor and get the go ahead to resume playing, he broke it again,” Selk said. “He was just shooting around and went for a rebound and felt something pop.
“The first time he broke it the doctors wanted to let it heal naturally. If Kyle would have had surgery in May, he definitely would have missed playing in July so it was a chance he took.”
Kelm’s injury is similar to the one sustained by former Wisconsin Badger forward Joe Krabbenhoft when he was in high school.
Selk said Kelm had a pin put in his foot during surgery about three weeks ago. Kelm and the coaching staff at Randolph are hopeful the talented senior will be healthy by the time the high school season gets underway in November.
“November 1st is the current date that he’ll be without crutches,” Selk said. “At that point, he’ll have to go through some additional rehabilitation, but we’re hoping he won’t have to miss any of his senior season.”
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