Notre Dame Men’s Basketball finished off their 2020 class with 3-stars Matt Zona, Elijah Taylor, and Tony Sanders Jr. Irish head coach Mike Brey focused mostly on the front court for this recruiting class. In the coming years with the addition of Cormac Ryan(eligible this year) and Trey Wertz(Eligible next year), the Irish will have tons of talent in the back court. This article will inform you on who the Irish are after in the upcoming 2021 and 2022 classes.
The 2021 class already has a commitment from 4-star SF J.R. Konieczny. J.R. is a local prospect from South Bend, Indiana. He plays for South Bend Saint Joseph High School. He is currently ranked as the number 117 player in the class of 2021. J.R. fits Brey’s system perfectly: he is a sharpshooter who also can play big, standing at 6’6. During the 2019-2020 season, while suffering from an ankle injury suffered before the season started, he averaged 22.8 points per game. J.R. should be a huge help in recruiting other players, as one of his friends is fellow Notre Dame prospect Blake Wesley. Here are 5 prospects Notre Dame is pursuing.
Blake Wesley is also from South Bend, Indiana, and attends Riley High School. He is a 6’4 shooting guard that is highly ranked in the class of 2021–the number 89 player in the nation. On 247sports, Notre Dame is dealt the “warm” indication of interest for Wesley. Notre Dame is recruiting Wesley very hard, as it is hard to come by top-100 prospects that have major interest in Notre Dame. In a one word summation of his game, he is a scorer. He averaged 26 points per game in the 2019-2020 season. Irish Sports Daily recently wrote an article about how Blake “feels the love from Notre Dame.” In the article it mentions the great relationship J.R. has with Blake. Quoting the article, “Everybody in the city would like to see us play together...I like JR. We’ve known each other a long time. I think it would be nice to play with him.” In my opinion, this is the Irish’s best chance to get a recruit in this class. However, it will not be easy with a couple high-major schools coming into the mix. Maryland has recently offered, along with Purdue, Indiana, and Butler. Ohio State and Texas are yet to offer, but Wesley says in the article that he is planning on taking an official visit to them when he can. If the Irish don’t land Wesley, I expect them to start offering more prospects.
The last 2021 prospect that we feel the Irish have a chance with is Stevie Mitchell. He was recently added to Notre Dame’s 247 page as a prospect. He is a 4-star point guard ranked as the number 101 player in the nation. He goes to Wilson High School in Reading, Pennsylvania. There was a very recent article written about Mitchell by Rivals. He is a crafty playmaker with underrated talent. He has not taken any college visits yet and Notre Dame hasn’t offered yet. On June 1st, he announced that he will release his Top 5 on June 9th. Considering that Notre Dame hasn’t offered I don’t think they will make the top 5, but his recruiting is still wide open. On 247sports, all offers and interest have a “cool” rating meaning that no one really has the edge yet.
The 2022 class is pretty far in advance but there are still some prospects to look out for. The first prospect is very intriguing: Eli King. He is a two-sport athlete with football and basketball. Notre Dame has recently offered him for football, while the basketball team was reaching out to him to schedule a visit for basketball as well. We have watched extensive film on him and he is extremely talented. A 6-3 PG/SG, he is extremely athletic and a phenomenal shooter. I think that the Notre Dame football team offering him should give us a little bit of an edge over other schools considering how prestigious of a football team we have. In the 2019-2020 season he averaged 16 points, 6 rebounds, 5 assists, 3 steals, and 3 blocks per game: an absolutely astounding stat line for a point guard. Once he is able to visit Notre Dame for basketball, expect an offer. He is ranked on the new rivals rankings 140th in the class of 2022.
The next 2022 prospect was recently noted as being sought after by Notre Dame: Fletcher Loyer. He averaged 22 points per game while shooting 48% from 3-point range during the 2019-2020 season. A recent article done by Stock Risers presents information on Notre Dame’s interest: “I don’t expect this to be the first high-major offer Loyer gets prior to the June 15th contact period as programs like Louisville have already completed a virtual zoom meeting. In addition...he is receiving high-major interest from Purdue and Notre Dame.” Loyer fits plenty of Notre Dame current basketball players characteristics. He is a 3-point specialist with a staggering 48% from 3.
The last 2022 prospect is different from all the others. Kyle Filipowski is a 6’10 versatile PF/C. In a recent Irish Sports Daily article he talks about Notre Dame: “They keep telling me how they love how I can play multiple positions on the court and play a guard or big and guard multiple positions.” On Notre Dame’s atmosphere, “I know it has a really good reputation for its environment and obviously sports and academics. I was definitely going to take a look more into that.” The Irish it seems were going for more backcourt guys in 2021 and some in 2022 but Filipowksi would be a frontcourt guy. He averaged a double-double with 20.1 points, 10.5 rebounds, and 1 block per game.
I believe the best chances we have with recruits in the near future are Blake Wesley and Eli King. With that being said, I assume the Irish will continue to look at more prospects when games start up again. Go Irish!
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