After landing Two of the best high school players in Indiana and arguably the most highly regarded player in the entire transfer portal, it seemed like Notre Dame's 2021-22 roster was complete. However, Monday night Mike Brey and the Notre Dame staff added one more piece to an already deep team. Cathedral Catholic guard Alex Wade committed to the Irish as a preferred walk-on and shortly after he talked with us about his decision.
From a fan's perspective the 6'0 guards' commitment seemingly came out of nowhere but Wade said he "Started talking to the staff a couple months ago." In these conversations Wade and the staff "both talked about how I could bring a sense of toughness to the team." After Notre Dame's loss at Virginia Tech Brey pointed out toughness as something that this years' team needs to improve on and based on the way they've been recruiting lately it seems like the staff is focused on turning mental and physical toughness into a strength. Bringing guys like Matt Zona, Elijah Taylor, Tony Sanders, and Wade in is a great place to start in that aspect.
Over the course of his career, Brey tends to compare his commits to his former players and that is no different with Wade. The Californian guard has "heard from a number of people including Coach Brey that my game and attitude reminds them a ton of Matt Farrell." Brey also compared Paul Atkinson to Zach Auguste, if these two comparisons are anywhere near accurate Notre Dame could be a fun team in upcoming years.
When asked to talk about his game Wade described himself as a "High IQ point guard." The quick guard also added that he can "Make the Players around me (him) better yet (he has) have the ability to score in bunches. (I) Can really shoot the ball and score from all 3 levels."
Unlike a lot of players now a days, the Notre Dame commit plays extremely hard on both ends. Wade said he "Love(s) Competing on the defensive end and challenging the other guards." While the guard is a bit undersized, he has proven that he can be a pest defensively. Last season he averaged 3.5 steals per game, and made the defensive first team in San Diego.
The Cathedral Catholic guard will join the team on campus this summer and in preparation the Wade has" been doing a heavy focus on continuing to have my body ready for college basketball once I step on campus." As far as his skillset he has focused on " Really dialing in my shot. Ball handling. Competitive Work. Really everything"
Unlike JR Konieczny and Blake Wesley who are in the middle of their high school seasons, the next time Wade plays in an organized game may be at Purcell Pavilion. "Covid has had a massive impact. I missed out on playing on a big stage with Dream Vision on the 17u Adidas Gauntlet. Also, our season in California has been delayed and will likely end up being cancelled. Overall my opportunities to play in front of coaches and visit schools was cut back tremendously."
While the season being seriously hindered or cancelled isn't ideal for anyone, the newest member of the Irish has found some positives in his situation. "it has allowed me to have much more time to really transform my body and game and it has allowed me to be the most confident I have ever been."
Although the class of 21' recruits' exposure was extremely limited due to COVID he did have some scholarship offers from Hawaii, UC Santa Barbra, and Air Force. Even with a chance to play on scholarship at those schools, Wade chose to join the Irish as a preferred walk-on because "Notre Dame is one of the most unique schools in the country with having an elite education and playing high level basketball. I have been playing on a national level my whole life and I wanted to go somewhere that I could really chase my dreams. I really like the coaching staff at Notre Dame and feel like I could be a great fit for the program."
It seems like playing in the ACC was also appealing to Wade. When asked who he is most looking forward to playing against, Wade said he's "just excited for the ACC schedule in general as the games are battles night in and night out"
Mike Brey teams are known for being tight knit units and next years team doesn't seem like it will be any different, Wade said "A few players have reached out and helped make me feel welcome." Next years' team will need to stay together to be successful throughout the grueling ACC schedule and it seems that they are as tight knit as possible.
As for his goals when he arrives at Notre Dame the guard "want(s) to do anything and everything that I can to help my team win as that's always my priority. My biggest aspiration is to help bring a national championship back to South Bend." The walk-on is stepping into one of the deepest teams of the Mike Brey era so he has a chance to contribute to a team that could be really special in his first year.
On paper, next years' Notre Dame team looks to be one of the best in Brey's tenure and Alex Wade seems like he could be a big part of it even if he isn't in the rotation. It seems as if Brey and the staff found a hidden gem in Elijah Morgan and it's very possible that Wade could turn out to be very similar to Morgan.
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