Luke Kennard a Big Blue … Blue Devil?

On March 28, 1992, Mark Kennard was driving home to Franklin, Ohio, after taking part in a basketball clinic, and he was just as focused on the radio as he was the road.

Kentucky was facing Duke in an NCAA tournament regional final that would be remembered as one of the greatest college basketball games ever. Kennard didn't realize that then. He just knew that the Wildcats needed to win.

His parents were from Painstville, and he had been raised a UK fan. When he went on to play basketball for Georgetown College he attended games at Rupp Arena whenever possible, cheering on Sam Bowie and the others.

After UK's Sean Woods hit a shot with 2.1 seconds left to put the Wildcats in front by a point, Kennard said to himself, 'We have it won.' Of course, they did not have it. Christian Laettner caught a long inbounds pass from Grant Hill, turned, and crushed UK fans everywhere with one indelible shot. Kennard's disdain for Duke was as strong as anyone's that day.

The father passed his love for Big Blue down to his son Luke, a 6-foot-5 shooting guard who emerged as a top-20 player in the Class of 2015. Yet on Thursday morning, there was Mark Kennard at the AAU National Championships at the Kentucky Expo Center wearing ... a Duke t-shirt? Well, he has good reason.

Luke committed to Duke in late March, effectively ending his time as a fervent UK fan. (For what it's worth, Mark Kennard said the Wildcats will remain his second favorite team.) But the family's allegiance — understandably — has shifted. And Luke understands that this state, for the most part, does not take too kindly to Blue Devils.

"I know there's a little fire between those two schools," he said with a smile. "Coach Cal is a great guy. I grew up a Kentucky fan since I was young. But once I went to Duke, I felt like I fit in there."

Added Mark Kennard: "I know it's kind of a rivalry. There's even a lot of Kentucky fans where we live, but we've seen a lot of Duke stuff there lately."

After graduating from Georgetown College, Mark Kennard considered raising his family in Lexington. Maybe things would have turned out differently if he had. Even in Ohio, though, the Kennards remained UK fans.

"And in the back of my mind," Mark said, "I always thought Luke would end up at the school he rooted for."

But things change. Tastes change. Circumstances change. Just because you played with toys as a kid doesn't mean you play with toys now.

In Kennard's case, it wasn't necessarily that he found something he disliked about UK; it was more that he found plenty that he loved about Duke. The school's small, serene campus in Durham, N.C., reminded him of the simple life he'd grown to love in Franklin. And head coach Mike Krzyzewski made an alluring pitch, hinting at the chance to play three positions and to take plenty of shots.

At Kentucky, as we know, plenty of McDonald's All-Americans don't get plenty of shots, or even playing time, for that matter. John Calipari's recruiting dominance has been so thorough that it now seems most notable when a player actually says no.

But Duke, suddenly, is nipping away at the empire. The Blue Devils secured Scout.com's top-ranked 2014 recruiting class, wresting away the Wildcats' five-year hold on the top spot. There is still plenty of work to do in the Class of 2015, but the Blue Devils won round one with Kennard.

"It was a tough decision to make," Kennard said. "It was hard making the call. But I'm happy where I am."

So now, he is the ultimate college basketball anomaly: a Big Blue Blue Devil.

Adam Himmelsbach can be reached at 502-582-4372 by email ahimmelsbach@courier-journal.com and on Twitter @adamhimmelsbach