Illinois State’s Luke Kasubke

One of Pedon’s Gunslingers

(St. Louis, MO) – Luke Kasubke is one of Ryan Pedon’s gunslingers. The new Illinois State basketball coach reminds me of Yul Brynner’s role in an old western, or Denzel Washington’s character in the updated version of ‘The Magnificent Seven’.

Ryan Pedon has scoured the country for players or ‘gunslingers’ to bring some success to the fans of Redbird basketball and like his counter parts in those great western movies, he has accumulated some talented sharp-shooters.

Luke Kasubke is a former two-time all-state performer from St. Louis’ legendary Chaminade Prep and a top-200 recruit. His high school teams earned trips to three straight, Missouri ‘final-four’ appearances. He is the Red Devils’ fourth-leading all-time scorer behind NBA all-stars Jason Tatum, Bradley Beal and David Lee.

While playing for Bruce Weber at Kansas State, Kasubke participated in 46 games (30 last season) and averaged two-points per game. The 6’5 guard connected on just under 50% of his field goal attempts. He averaged over 22 points-per-game during his junior season at Chaminade.

Coming to Illinois State

Pedon recruited the St. Louis native during his high school days, but Kasubke ended up in the Big Twelve. When Weber was released the junior guard looked elsewhere. His conversations with Pedon caused him to feel very comfortable with the first-year head coach. After one official visit he was sure about where he wanted to go.

 

 

Kasubke is one of six incoming Division 1 players and only one did he know previously. While there are no ‘true freshmen’ on the roster, this team is both experienced and young. The Communications major says it’s been fun getting to know his new teammates.

 

 

As Pedon blends the new and old players together, Kasubke says he’s not worried about his specific role and notes there are some very talented players on this year’s Redbird roster.

 

 

Building a Winning Culture

Kasubke’s Chaminade experience is invaluable. Three final fours, players going to the NBA and the NHL are just some of the high-lights of being part of the Red Devil program. Tatum, Beal and Lee return to the West St. Louis County campus routinely and have helped maintain a connection and tradition at Chaminade.

Kasubke says the school does a great job of creating and enhancing a ‘family atmosphere’ and that is one of the things he noticed Pedon is building at Illinois State.

 

 

Learning to have a ‘team-first’ mentality was essential at Chaminade and Kasubke carries that with him to Normal, Illinois. During his high school sophomore, junior and senior seasons he never averaged less than 13 points-per-game, but altered his game according to the talent on the team and the best plan for team success.

Kasubke says team success is far mor important than individual accomplishments.

 

 

All Six of Pedon’s Gunslingers

Pedon’s gunslingers include double digit scorers Colton Sandage (Western Illinois) and Darius Burford (Elon) and accomplished producers in Seneca Knight and Joe Petrakis. Knight has tallied 960 D1 points while playing for BYU and San Jose State. Petrakis played one season with Kasubke at K-State, but averaged eight points per game last season at Western Carolina.

Malachi Poindexter could be the most exciting prospect. The 6’2 guard was a highly sought after recruit coming out of high school, but injuries limited his time at Virginia to 22 games covering two seasons.

If this collection of talent can jell with holdover frontcourt players Kendall Lewis, Liam McChesney and Ryan Schmitt, this Redbird team could surprise Missouri Valley opponents just like Denzel Washington’s ‘magnificent seven’ surprised army of western bad guys in Rose Creek.

Do Good