DENVER – Regardless of the situation, Luke Kendall was unflappable.
 
"He's just that one in a 1,000 that – when the pressure was on – he didn't even know that it was there," former MSU Denver coach Mike Dunlap said. "Time and score meant nothing to Luke."
 
And, already steeled by playing for forceful, vocal coaches in his youth in Australia, when he came to MSU Denver in the fall of 2000, Kendall's presence at Camp Dunlap was the perfect ingredient for a program intent on backing up two Final Four appearances and a national championship with an extended run of glory.
 
He was so insouciant, he'd even call Dunlap by his first name – an Australian custom that MSU Denver assistants encouraged him to avoid.
 
"When I was there with Mike – I mean, Coach D – it wasn't so much of a shock to me," Kendall said, smiling. "And because I wanted that type of coaching, I was able to just hear what he was trying to say and not how he was saying it.
 
"Even if it was straight after practice, even though I'd caught two hours of abuse, I was still able to walk up to his office and pinch him on the bum."
 
Said Dunlap: "He was the kind of guy who would question the pope. He made others laugh. In a tight moment, he made everybody relax.
 
"He was good for us because we ran a really tight ship, and Luke knew how to make fun of me and everybody else. He was the naughty guy in the best possible way."
 
Naughty off the court, Kendall was nasty on it, in a four-year career that saw him score 1,966 points (still second in program history), help lead the Roadrunners to the 2002 national championship and guide the program to an overall record of 112-21.
 
He will be inducted into the MSU Denver Athletics Hall of Fame on April 20, along with other Australian-turned-MSU Denver stars Mitch McCarron and Mark Worthington, long-time assistant and head coach Derrick Clark, and the 2010-11 MSU Denver women's basketball team that won a regional championship.
 
The ceremony will take place at the Tivoli Turnhalle on the MSU Denver campus. Tickets are $50 for adults and $25 for kids 12 and under. The evening starts with a 6 p.m. social, followed by dinner at 7 p.m.
 
Though attracting some Division I interest as a younger player, Kendall took a look at MSU Denver as one of his coaches, Brian Goorjian, was a close friend of Dunlap, who himself had deep ties in Australian basketball. The Roadrunners were coming off their first national championship when Kendall came to campus.
 
"I didn't really pursue anything else," Kendall said. "I'd heard a lot about Dunlap and his previous relationship with the NBL (Australia's professional league). and I was pretty familiar with the pipeline that had gone through there, all the other Australians who'd been there. It was an easy sell.
 
"My first impressions of Dunlap matched everything that I'd heard. You step off the plane and he was super nice, but when it was time to get down to business it's pretty full-on. But that's what I wanted, and that was what I needed. I needed someone to give me a kick in the bum and get me out of bed early and put in the hard yards. He was definitely the man for that. That's why we were so successful for a long time."
 
The 6-foot-5 Kendall immediately moved into the starting lineup and never left it, alternating between the two guard positions each season to accommodate the team's needs.
 
He was a two-time All-RMAC first team performer, made the Elite Eight All-Tournament team in 2004, was a two-time NCAA Regional All-Tournament team selection, including the 2002 MVP, and was a four-time RMAC All-Tournament team choice. Besides the scoring, he's also still third in program history with 501 assists, first with 338 steals, third with 675 field goals made, second with 280 made 3-pointers and sixth with 336 made free throws.
 
He helped the Roadrunners go 65-11 in regular-season RMAC play.
 
"When Luke walked into the gym, he gave us great body language," Dunlap said. "Luke could do almost anything with great ease – academics, basketball or anything else you asked him to do. It looks like life came easy for Luke, but he was a grinder and a worker. He loved the game and he loved competing. He could run all day, and he had big swagger. He had charisma."
 
With Kendall and fellow MSU Denver Hall of Famer Patrick Mutombo leading the way in 2000-01, the Roadrunners rolled into a regional semifinal game at St. Cloud State (Minn.). But there they suffered a humbling 100-61 defeat.
 
"We expected to go a little further than we did," Kendall said. "But that last smacking was a real eye-opener for where we really were, and the type of dedication and work and mentality we needed and weren't ready for as a group yet. It was a good learning experience to go through that because the motivation really kicked into gear for the next year. A couple of days later we started open scrimmages, playing against each other, and working on things without the coaches necessarily needing to plan it out. We needed to burn that fire.
 
"We never wanted to let that happen again."
 
As MSU Denver charted its course for the 2001-02 national title, there were a couple of slips along the way, including a homecourt loss to Fort Lewis in the RMAC Tournament semifinals.
 
But at the South Central Regional Tournament in Brookings, S.D., Kendall took over in the regional final against South Dakota State – on its home floor – with 38 points while making 6 of 9 from 3-point range. He made the game-winning jumper with seven seconds left for an 87-86 victory.
 
"Yeah, I think I went off," Kendall said. "It was one of those games where the whole team was on the same page and it was 'We've got to do what we've got to do to get this win.' I was fortunate enough to hit a couple of shots. But as the games rolled on, it was the next person's go, then the next person's, then the next person's."
 
At the national championship tournament in Evansville, Ind., MSU Denver beat No. 10 Cal State San Bernardino 65-48 in the quarterfinals and No. 16 Indiana (Pa.) 82-52 in the semifinals, setting up a championship matchup with No. 1 Kentucky Wesleyan for the third time in four seasons.
 
"We were huge underdogs, but we had a quiet confidence that it was a defense that no one had ever seen before," Kendall said.
 
That defense was a half-court 1-1-3 that befuddled foes.
 
"There were some crazy rules to it, and I look back now and I don't know how we did it, but we were all on the same page," Kendall said. "That's the genius of Dunlap and our defensive systems. We were all on the same page and we knew what was going on. The rotations were there. We could contest everything. We could defend anything. Pin it to the sideline and just put a lot of pressure on them, and rely on guys being in the right position to help out if need be."
 
The Roadrunners trailed 32-28 at halftime, but rallied.
 
"I recently watched the game again and saw how determined we were, and how crazy we were on defense," Kendall said. "We were flying around like maniacs. For 40 minutes and for 94 feet, it was relentless. I've been involved in a lot of basketball since then, and I can't think of a game where anyone has played so hard."
 
Down the stretch, the tide turned. MSU Denver outscored the Panthers 52-40 in the second half.
 
"We could see in their eyes that they didn't know what to do," Kendall said. "Offensively they were just passing it like they were saying 'You have it. No you have it.' They couldn't run their plays. I remember looking in their eyes and seeing weakness. They had some big, strong athletic bodies, some really good shooters, some really good ballhandlers, but because we were pushing them out of what they were normally able to do, you could see that fear in their eyes.
 
"The pressure was building on them, because they thought they should be winning. It chipped away and the pressure built on them. The last couple of minutes, even though it was a five- or six-point game, we knew that we had them. We could feel it. We didn't lose focus. And the last minute was just utter joy."
 
The fun didn't stop there, of course.
 
MSU Denver won the RMAC Tournament title in 2002-03, going 28-5 overall, but was knocked off in double overtime by rival Nebraska-Kearney in the regional final.
 
The following season, the MSU Denver juggernaut went 19-0 in RMAC play, won three RMAC Tournament games by an average of 21 points, then won three regional tournament games by an average of 27. The Roadrunners beat Rollins (Fla.) by 34 in the national quarterfinals, but – despite Kendall's 30 points – couldn't hold off No. 13 Southern Indiana in an 83-81 semifinals defeat that ended their season, and Kendall's career, at 32-3.
 
"They were a team that was different than we were used to playing against," Kendall said. "It was a team of Division I transfers who could go 1-on-1. We were really structured and needed to break teams down. The 1-1-3 against 1-on-1 specialists, we lived with the tough shots and it was one of those games where they hit all their tough shots.

"We got close, had a play at the end. It was frustrating. They hit that final shot at the buzzer and it absolutely ripped our hearts out because we truly believed we were going to win the national championship by 30. It was a disappointing way to end it as a senior, but I wouldn't change it for anything."
 
Kendall played seven seasons professionally in Australia's National Basketball League, with knee injuries cutting his career short. He also played for the Australian National Team in 2006 and 2007, highlighted by a game against Team USA led by LeBron James in the 2006 World Championships.
 
He coached in the national league for six years with two teams and was also a guest coach for the Los Angeles Clippers during the NBA's 2022 Summer League. He coaches developmental program players in Australia these days, working with players ages 13 to 19.
 
"It's a little different than coaching in the NBL, but really rewarding in developing those younger kids as they transition to the next level," he said.
 
It's long overdue, but now he's finally joining the MSU Denver Athletics Hall of Fame.
 
"There's certainly a lot of honor and pride to be associated with Metro State and the people who have gone through there, not just the Australians, but the coaches and players and the admin and everyone involved," Kendall said. "It was a special time in my life, definitely some of the best years. It developed me and shaped me into the career I had in basketball, playing and coaching, and I still hold a lot of those relationships really close

"It's an honor. One of our pillars when I was playing at Metro was honor, and it truly is."