Prospect Profile: Luke Haertle
I don’t think anyone can legitimately talk about their summer with more praise than Luke Haertle Luke Haertle 6'2" | SG Lake Country Lutheran | 2022 State WI . Playing for Wisconsin Playground Club 15U, the guard turned every meaningful…
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Continue ReadingI don’t think anyone can legitimately talk about their summer with more praise than Luke Haertle Luke Haertle 6'2" | SG Lake Country Lutheran | 2022 State WI .
Playing for Wisconsin Playground Club 15U, the guard turned every meaningful head on the Prep Hoops Circuit from June through August.
His marquee moments whipped up a reputation of clutchness on a brawny set of shoulders. The first came at the Summer Challenge tournament with Haertle’s go-ahead layup that put Playground over JH1 Elite in a see-sawing Championship Sunday matchup. Weeks later at the Hard Work Finals — coincidentally, against the same ill-fated JH1 team — Haertle hoisted a one-footed shot from beyond the arc, advancing Playground into the final tournament bracket.
“Before both buzzer beaters I started to heat up and hit some tough shots,” said Haertle. “I was very confident that I wanted the ball in my hands and I would hit the shot, same with the second one I hit some big shots to keep us in the game so I was thinking, why not one more.”
While those moments caused a ridiculous amount of retweeting in the prep basketball corners of Twitter, the further, more meaningful merits would come in the form of his spot on Prep Hoops’ First-Team All-American ballot. “It was definitely a shock. I was competing against some of the top players in the Midwest,” Haertle said of the award. “It boosted my confidence and made me want to get in the gym and be first team next year also.”
To say expectations are soaring for a 16-year-old All-American is possibly an understatement. But Haertle ignores — for the most part — that unmissable weight, propping it once again upon his shoulders as he carries it into his sophomore season.
“When you’re known of being a good basketball player there’s always expectations that I have to deal with. I just try to play my game and let the game come to me,” Haertle stated.
For as much as his playstyle is exploiting open gaps, shooting when defenders sag, and simply taking what the defense gives him, Haertle remains a purposeful winner. “I have the mindset that I want to win…a lot of ways I can do that is with the ball in my hands. I have the mindset to go and play my game and win,” said Hartle (if continued clutch buckets didn’t already make his winning mentality obvious, I thought I’d throw in a quote, too).
To leave this off with a prediction of sorts, I believe that Hartle’s sophomore summer set the tone for an illustrious high school career. And if his booming summer is any inclination, then his next three years will shine with clutch moments and a closet full of accolades.