Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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46 AUGUST 2019 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED MEN'S BASKETBALL BY LOU SOMOGYI T he longest unofficial Notre Dame men's basketball recruiting drought ended late this June. Former Stanford guard Cor- mac Ryan will enroll at Notre Dame this August to use his final three years of eligibility. Notre Dame did not sign a prospect during the 2019 cycle after inking five in 2018, and Ryan — who took his official visit to Notre Dame June 24-25 and announced his pledge a few days later — is the first since then. Now a sophomore academically, the 6-5, 190-pound Ryan originally chose the Cardinal over the Fighting Irish, Michigan, Northwestern, Villanova and Yale in the 2018 recruiting cycle. Both of Ryan's parents, Michael and Rosemary, graduated from Yale, where his brother Thomas also gradu- ated this spring after playing for the Bulldogs as a guard. Yale, which has been to two of the last four NCAA Tournaments, lost to LSU in the first round this year. During his senior year at Milton Academy in Massachusetts — where 2015-18 Notre Dame kicker and the school's all-time leading scorer Justin Yoon also graduated — Ryan was a consensus four-star prospect who was ranked No. 79 nationally by Rivals. Current Notre Dame sophomores Nate Laszewski at forward (No. 56), and guards Robby Carmody (No. 91), Prentiss Hubb (No. 99) and Dane Goodwin (No. 110) also were ranked among the outlet's top 150 prospects in that same class. Fighting Irish head coach Mike Brey has classified Ryan as "a taller Chris Quinn," who excelled at Notre Dame from 2003-06 and achieved first-team All-Big East status as a senior. A six- year veteran in the NBA, Quinn is now an assistant coach with the Mi- ami Heat, where he played four sea- sons from 2006-10. "Cormac is the consummate all- around guard," Brey said. "He is the total package you look for in a player in terms of skills, basketball IQ and competitiveness." Although slowed by injuries most of his freshman year at Stanford that required hernia surgery this summer, Ryan started the opener and 17 of the 24 games he appeared in for the 15-16 team that went 8-10 in the Pac-12. His 28.5 minutes per game were the third most on the squad, and he averaged 8.7 points, 3.5 rebounds, 1.9 assists and 1.0 steal per contest. Ryan scored 10 or more points 10 times during his freshman season, including 19 points against UCLA and 18 versus USC. Similar to the other Irish freshmen, Ryan had his share of shooting woes in the transition to college basketball (plus the hernia issue), converting 33.0 percent from the field and 31.6 percent from three-point range — although he led Stanford in three-point attempts (155) and conversions (48). Per Sports Reference, Cormac fin- ished with an offensive efficiency rat- ing of 96.9 and a defensive efficiency of 102.3 against the Division I average of 104. Ryan did not seek a waiver from the NCAA to be immediately eligible for the 2019-20 season, with Brey empha- sizing the continued development of current sophomores Hubb, Goodwin and Carmody, who was medically redshirted last December because of shoulder surgery. One of the appealing selling points on Notre Dame's end that ultimately helped land Ryan was the playing time available right away in the 2020- 21 backcourt because fifth-year senior Rex Pflueger and senior T.J. Gibbs are entering their final seasons of eligibil- ity. "He will play a key role in our team's development as a practice player this season," Brey said of Ryan. Drought relief Guard Cormac Ryan transfers from Stanford to Notre Dame The addition of Ryan gives Notre Dame a quality four-man nucleus in the backcourt at least through the 2021-22 season. PHOTO COURTESY STANFORD UNIVERSITY ATHLETICS