After Losing Elijah Taylor and Robby Carmody, Where does Notre Dame Basketball go from here?

After a season of fading down the stretch, many pointed to Notre Dame's bench as a question mark heading into the offseason. With a bench of Robby Carmody, Nik Djogo, Elijah Taylor, Tony Sanders, Matt Zona, and Elijah Morgan, Mike Brey and his staff had plenty of options to fill out the rotation. Ideally the tenured coach would've had the flexibility to redshirt the freshman of his choosing, but as we've seen time and time again this offseason, things change. In late September, news broke of athletic guard Robby Carmody undergoing surgery on his patella which will likely keep him out for most of non-conference play. At that point we thought things couldn't get much worse but here we are... Friday's news of Elijah Taylor's upcoming surgery was yet another blow to the bench of the Irish. Taylor was thought of by many as the most college ready freshman in Notre Dame's 2020 class, due of his ability to impact the game outside of scoring and physicality down low. After losing the freshman forward's unique skillset it begs the question, where they go from here?

Right now that answer isn't so simple... replacing two projected members of the rotation will likely not be a one step process. Hopefully the process will start with Trey Wertz being granted immediate eligibility which seems more possible than ever with the NCAA's relaxed eligibility rules this season and the all hands on deck proposal that Mike Brey is pushing for. In our April interview with the guard as "someone who can shoot...score and playmake for others" along with someone who hates to lose. Wertz averaged 11.9 points per game, 3.9 assists, and shot 40% percent from behind the arc in his final season at Santa Clara so he will surely inject a boost of scoring into the Notre Dame lineup whether he is starting or coming off the bench.

If Wertz does not play this season, Brey will have to use some combination of Nik Djogo, Matt Zona, Tony Sanders, and Elijah Morgan to fill Taylor and Carmody's spots. If the staff decides to go with a 7 man rotation, Djogo and Zona will likely fill the final two rotation spots, but the case could be made for either Morgan or Sanders to fill out the last spot. Back in the spring Mike Brey expressed his confidence in 5th year forward Nik Djogo when he said "why can't Nik Djogo be our 6th man" if Wertz isn't granted eligibility in some way or another the better question is "why can anybody else be the 6th man". While nothing but good things are coming out of South Bend about Matt Zona, and he is arguably the most skilled big man offensively on the entire roster, he has some flaws defensively and may need to develop more before sliding into the 6th man role. Tony Sanders is extremely versatile and can defend most positions on the court well which can be valuable as a freshman but he still has some room to grow offensively before being a big threat for the Irish. Lastly, Elijah Morgan has a lot of ability as a ballhandler and playmaker but it is always difficult for walk ons to get playing time as underclassmen. With Notre Dame's lack of ballhandlers, Morgan could have his best shot at making the rotation throughout his entire career this year. The four players that will be coming off the bench only combined for 23 points last season so each of them will have a chance to play their way into a spot considering the lack of experience.

With an inexperienced bench that is now even more shorthanded, Mike Brey and the rest of the staff will need to modify their lineups in order to be successful. Elijah Taylor's injury along with the fact that Matt Zona, Nate Laszewski, and Juwan Durham are the only true big men on the roster will force the Irish to go with more small ball lineups throughout the course of the year. Most times, Notre Dame's personnel on the floor will consist of two of Matt Zona, Nate Laszewski, and Juwan Durham as the big men but over the course of the year Taylor's absence will force Brey to go small with only one big man on the floor at a time (likely Laszewski). Just today Brey confirmed the idea of going small when he said that "nobody likes to downshift more than us". Outside of the big men, the lineups will probably stay similar with at least one of Cormac Ryan and Prentiss Hubb on the court at all times and Dane Goodwin on the wing to feed off of them.

While Taylor and Carmody's absence will surely take a toll on the Notre Dame roster, Brey seems very confident in his starting lineup and freshman big man Matt Zona, who he raved about earlier today. With Carmody coming back, Wertz potentially gaining eligibility and Matt Zona making strides early, the Notre Dame bench could end up being much better than expected.

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