Naperville North basketball star Kenzie Hare heard the talk.
As she turned in one great performance after another last season, people told the Saint Louis recruit that she was capable of playing for a bigger Division I program. But Hare remained firm.
That changed when Saint Louis fired coach Lisa Stone on March 18, prompting Hare to reopen her recruiting.
“I was super disappointed,” Hare said. “I was set to go to SLU, perfectly happy with my decision. I really wanted to play for coach Stone, but it’s the business of college basketball, I suppose. It’s unfortunate, but I’m also happy with this new opportunity as well.”
Hare, the 2021-22 Naperville Sun Player of the Year, announced Tuesday that she has committed to Marquette. That ended a whirlwind three-week process in which she narrowed down her final choices to Marquette, DePaul and Belmont.
“It was definitely really stressful,” Hare said. “I was worried there weren’t going to be any scholarship offers with it being so late. But I think the transfer portal was able to open up a lot more than you’d think.”
Hare was guided through the process by her AAU coach, Ryan Haun, as well as Naperville North coach Erin Colletti, who played for Doug Bruno at DePaul.
“I didn’t want to push her one way because she cares about what other people think and wants to please people,” Colletti said. “I told her all about DePaul and my experience. Doug was ringing my phone quite a bit saying, ‘Make sure you tell her about this.'”
In the end, Hare opted to play for another young female coach in Megan Duffy, who has led Marquette to a 66-26 record in her three seasons. Duffy, a 2006 Notre Dame graduate, was named Big East coach of the year in 2019-20 and led the Golden Eagles to a 23-11 record this past season, when they advanced to the third round of the WNIT.
“I really like the staff,” Hare said. “They were super consistent during my three weeks of having my recruitment open.
“I was able to talk to the girls on the team, and we connected right away. They’re such good girls, and they work super hard. I feel like I fit in perfectly with them.”
Hare, a 5-foot-9 guard, scored 2,494 points during her high school career, which included three seasons at Bartlett. She developed into a terrific all-around player during her one season at Naperville North, leading the Huskies (30-4) to a Class 4A sectional final.
Colletti thinks Hare will have success at Marquette.
“She’s so ready,” Colletti said. “She’s going to be phenomenal. A lot of people said she could go bigger. So I think maybe this is a blessing in disguise, that she can play on a platform of high exposure and exciting play and get to play teams like UConn, DePaul and Notre Dame.”
Indeed, Hare is looking forward to getting to play UConn and matching wits with star Paige Bueckers.
“I’m so hyped,” Hare said. “I’m super excited to get to work in June.”
Hare is known for her relentless work ethic, which Colletti said will pay dividends sooner rather than later.
“I expect her to make an impact probably pretty quickly,” Colletti said. “Not only is she so talented, she works her butt off to earn her playing time.
“She is 100% all the time. She’s just going to get exponentially better, and I’m excited that she’s close enough that I will be able to go see a game of hers, make a field trip out of it for the Huskies.”
Matt Le Cren is a freelance reporter for the Naperville Sun.