In our latest installment of “Getting to Know,” we touch base with Butler’s stellar junior Kelan Martin. The 6-7 Martin fills us in on the Martin’s family legacy at Kentucky’s Ballard High School, the influence his parents have had on his life, what’s it like to be the main man for the Bulldogs this season, on his bizarre recruitment to Butler and if there is a chance Ballard High may one day rename its gymnasium for the Martin Family.
BIGEAST.com: You come from a family with some outstanding athletic genes. You mom, Kristie, played hoops for the NCAA Tournament runner-up Western Kentucky and your dad, Kenneth, won an NCAA Division II National Championship at Kentucky Wesleyan. What was it like growing up in a sports family like that?
MARTIN: “There is a lot of tradition coming from my family especially with both my parents playing their high school ball together (at Ballard High School in Louisville) and then going off to play college ball. So now it’s nice for me to be the next guy in the family to try and be a star just like my parents were.
BIGEAST.com: Did you have to endure listening to your parents go on and on endlessly about how great they were when you were growing up?
MARTIN: “(Laughs) Oh yeah, all the time.”
BIGEAST.com: But you all left your marks at Ballard in one way or another, right?
MARTIN: “Yeah we did. My mom had her jersey retired there and my dad won a state championship. (And Kelan is the school’s third all-time leading scorer).
BIGEAST.com: How much have your parents influenced you and the career path you’re taking?
MARTIN: “They have had a lot of influence on me. They critique me after every game and there are a lot of things coming from them, a lot of knowledge that I get from them because they have been through it. So I’m trying to follow in their footsteps.”
BIGEAST.com: So was there ever any doubt about you following their footsteps and going to Ballard High School like they did?
MARTIN: “Actually I was going to go to Central High School and I was going to play football and basketball there but things changed toward the end of eighth grade. So I ended up at Ballard.
BIGEAST.com: You finished your basketball career at Ballard as the third-leading scorer in school history with 2,151 points behind (current Louisville junior) Quentin Snider (2,442) and former NBA star Allan Houston (2,276). How much have you bragged about that feat to your parents?
MARTIN: “Actually we rarely ever talk about it. What I accomplished in those years was big, but as a player the thing I wanted to do was win a state title like my dad did, he won a state title in 1988. That was my goal but I didn’t win one.”
BIGEAST.com: Let’s talk about this season at Butler. Kellen Dunham and Roosevelt Jones, two staples of the Bulldogs program, have graduated. Now the focus is going to be on you. Do you like that leadership role and is there any added pressure on you this year?
MARTIN: “I enjoy it but there really isn’t any pressure on me this season. It’s a different season so I’ll play different roles on the team. We’re having great success right now (Butler is 8-1 and ranked 16th in the nation by the AP) so I just have to keep working hard every day and keep at it.”
BIGEAST.com: You made big strides last year. You started the season coming off the bench and you ended the season as the No. 3 scorer in the league. Were you surprised at the improvement you made over that span or was it something you expected to do?
MARTIN: “I wasn’t really surprised. I worked hard all summer so I went into the season with a lot of confidence. Teams would focus on Kellen and Roosevelt and they would kind of forget about me and I just stepped up. It’s all about waiting for you chance and when I got that chance I proved that I’m a guy who can score and who is hungry and willing to get better each and every day.”
BIGEAST.com: As a senior you were a Mr. Kentucky Basketball finalist. A lot of times players receiving that kind of attention would wind up at Kentucky or Louisville. Not you. You came to Butler. How did that all come about?
MARTIN: “Well, I didn’t get recruited by Louisville or Kentucky so I felt Butler was a great opportunity for me. It is what it is why they (Louisville and Kentucky) didn’t recruit me, but I felt Butler was the best opportunity for me.”
BIGEAST.com: You had a rather unusual recruiting experience with Butler. You were originally recruited by former coach Brad Stevens. Then he left for the Boston Celtics and Brandon Miller continued recruiting you. Then when you arrived on campus as a freshman, Miller took a leave of absence which became permanent and Chris Holtmann took over. Did you ever consider leaving Butler because of the coaching turnover at the time?
MARTIN: “Yeah, it was crazy but I never did consider leaving Butler. I thought Butler was my best option and everything has turned out well. Sometimes you are going to have tribulations like that where coaches leave and they bring in a new coach who hadn’t recruited you and really doesn’t know you. But when the opportunity is there, you take it. And it’s worked out fine.”
BIGEAST.com: How much do you enjoy playing for Coach Holtmann?
MARTIN: “I love playing for him. He’s a great guy and a great coach. He’s always talking about positives and you like that. And he’s a coach that will push you each and every day and that’s what he does. We’ve been having success since my freshman year and that will tell you about him as a coach.”
BIGEAST.com: Butler was picked sixth in the BIG EAST preseason coaches’ poll, but here you sit at 8-0 (now 8-1), in the top 20 and you have already knocked off a nationally-ranked Arizona team along the way. Were people missing the boat on Butler earlier in the season?
MARTIN: “That’s how I felt. It’s all politics, people predicting what will happen with a team. But we didn’t worry about it. We just stuck together and worked hard every day and go hard at practice and when you do that, good things happen. Now we’re one of the top teams in the country. We’re just going to continue what we’ve been doing but there is still a lot of work to do.”
BIGEAST.com: There are four teams in the Top 20 who hail from the BIG EAST Conference. What does that say about the strength of the league this year?
MARTIN: “This league is very competitive. You saw that last year with Seton Hall winning the BIG EAST Tournament. Every team in this league is competitive, night in and night out. There are a lot of great players and great schools. You got Villanova which is very competitive, Xavier is very competitive, us, Creighton, we’re all very competitive. Even the lower teams, they are going to battle you night in and night out. It comes down to what do you bring to the table every night? There are a lot of powerful teams in the conference and you saw what the results were. Villanova won the National Championship last year.”
BIGEAST.com: So after the season you had last year, what do you have in mind for an encore this season?
MARTIN: “Just having a better year. I’m more of a team player than an individual player so my goal is to just try and make my teammates better so that we can be successful this season.”
BIGEAST.com: Ok, finally, after all the successes the Martin family have enjoyed at Ballard High School, should the school name their gym “The Martin Arena” or, at the very least, retire all of your jerseys?
MARTIN: “(Laughs) I don’t think so. I don’t think that will ever happen. My mom has her jersey retired there. But I’m not sure about anything else happening.”
(Which officially gives Kristie Martin the Ballard Bragging Rights).