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Klee's Corner: Luther sees himself in Crandall

Posted by: Paul Klee

Sunday, June 15, 2008 10:51 AM

Klee's Corner publishes every Sunday in the News-Gazette. We'll post some of it here this week, but the entire Corner can be found at http://www.news-gazette.com/sportsfacts/.

***

From a distance, in order to distinguish the brothers, you had to squint.
When Crandall ran, with that long, lurky, swift jaunt, you thought it was Luther. Same with the bullet pass Crandall whizzed to Luther for an open 3, and the alley-oop off the backboard, from Luther to Crandall, that nearly brought the roof down inside Ubben Basketball Complex.
"It's like looking at me again," Luther, 25, said of Crandall, 16, minutes before the two joined a pickup game Wednesday.
Anyone with Illini ties can see it.
Bruce Weber's wife, Megan, witnessed the striking resemblance on a recruiting trip to Rich South: "It's almost like they copied Luther and made another one," she said. Even Luther and Crandall's mom, Bonnie, summarized the same: "If you look at Crandall from behind, you swear you're looking at Luther."
And Luther?
"In what he does, I see me," he said.
About 28 months from now, when Crandall Head, an Illinois recruit who's heading into his junior year of high school, enters the Illini Madness dunk contest as a favorite, expect a murmur to circulate through the Assembly Hall: He looks just like Luther.
And it's so true.
He plays like his older brother, too, only Luther said Crandall is more advanced.
"He's better, much better than I was at his age," Luther said. "Knowing the game, his abilities to do more things. When I was his age, I was just focused on getting the dunk. He's more about getting the ball to people, scoring.
"That's why the sky's the limit for him."
The inevitable comparisons figure to flourish when Crandall slips a carved 6-foot-5 frame into an Illinois jersey for the 2010-11 season. Being Luther Head's little brother is a hefty weight to place on a kid's shoulders.
Crandall seems to enjoy it.
"I've been working out with him every morning," Crandall said.
Luther said he isn't concerned the expectations will be too much for Crandall to handle. "Because of the way he is as a person, he'll be okay," Luther said. "He doesn't let stuff like that get to him. He's just a laidback kind of person. He doesn't really care about accolades or anything like that. We were talking about pressure and this and that. I think he'll be fine."
Likewise, there was pressure on Luther during his brother's recruitment. As a second-team All-American on Illinois' signature team, the 2004-05 collective, Luther was expected to deliver his brother as a legacy.
Instead, Luther resisted nudging Crandall toward C-U, and he assumed the role of caring brother over concerned alum.
It helped that Jerrance Howard, one of Luther's college roommates and perhaps his closest friend, was hired as an Illinois assistant four months before Crandall announced his commitment midway through his sophomore year at Rich South. As a pre-teen, Crandall used to accompany Luther, Dee, Deron and Jerrance on late-night trips to the IHOP on Green Street and play NBA Live in their apartment.
"Everybody was telling me that I should make him (go to Illinois), that it's tradition. I was like, 'I don't want him to go where he's not happy,'" Luther said. "I didn't want to pressure him. That's his decision.
"Until a little after he committed, I didn't say anything to him. I gave him my opinion. He obviously knew that I wanted him to come. But I didn't pressure him or anything like that."
Together again, at the UI practice facility, they put pressure on the opposing team's transition defense.
Dee Brown whistled an outlet pass to Luther, who had an open layup. He also had his kid brother trailing on the break. The pass bounced softly off the backboard and into Crandall's right hand. With a ferocity that defies his kick-backed demeanor, Crandall rose for a startling dunk.
It missed. And nobody cared.
The Head highlight, Version 2.0, was back on campus.

Paul Klee
pklee@news-gazette.com

- Coming Monday or Tuesday in the News-Gazette, who was Chicago's best prep point guard: Isiah or Derrick? Their high school coaches weigh in from the Illinois satellite camp.