Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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46 NOV. 16, 2019 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED MEN'S BASKETBALL BY TODD D. BURLAGE I rish senior forward John Mooney prefers not to use the word "sur- prise" when he's asked about his seemingly overnight success last season when recorded 20 double- doubles and made a run at the na- tion's most improved player. Mooney insists that with better consistency and more minutes, the same kind of production was avail- able during his sophomore season when he appeared in all 36 games, made seven starts, and averaged 5.6 points and 3.9 rebounds. But nobody expected Mooney to end up 14th in the ACC in scoring with 14.1 points a game and as the league's leading rebounder at 12.6 per contest last season, except maybe Mooney. "I wouldn't use the word sur- prised," said Mooney, whose efforts last season landed him a spot on the preseason All-ACC first team this year. "It was just the consistency. My sophomore year, I had some good games and I had some games when I wasn't at a high level." The fact that Mooney even landed at Notre Dame and has become the face of the Irish program and a first- team caliber player in the toughest league in the nation was never even a consideration during his first three years at Lake Brantley High School in Orlando, Fla. It's a story that shows just how fickle, funny and unpredictable re- cruiting can be. A natural geographical and pro- gram fit, Mooney verbally commit- ted in 2013 as a 10th-grader to the University of Florida and its success- ful veteran head coach Billy Dono- van. But when Donovan left his post in 2015 to take an NBA job at Okla- homa City, Mooney started having committer's remorse. In early August 2015 — shortly af- ter Donovan announced his depar- ture and right before Mooney was to start his final year of high school — Mike Brey was relaxing at Rehoboth Beach in Delaware when, on the di- rection of Mooney's father, Dono- van called to ask Brey if he had ever heard of John Mooney. Brey's first reaction was that Dono- van was calling to promote a gradu- ate assistant or a coaching candidate. "I had no idea who John Mooney was," Brey admits now. Donovan explained that Mooney was a good student as well as a skilled and versatile 6-8 forward who ideally fit Brey's system. Brey told Donovan, "Give me his dad's number, I'm offering him a scholarship right now," Brey recalled with a laugh. "That was it. I called his dad up, told him that we would love to have John … I didn't want to tell the dad I hadn't seen him play." Mooney came up for a visit about a month later during a Notre Dame football weekend and committed on the spot. "That's how crazy recruiting is," Brey said. "You can recruit some guys for three years and they don't pan out, and a guy like Johnny Mooney for one month and he gets 20 double- doubles. You just never know." Mooney began his candidacy for 2019-20 ACC Player of the Year last week against No. 9 North Carolina in Chapel Hill, N.C. Poor three-point shooting by the Irish, a 51-31 rebounding disadvan- tage in the game and 34 points from Tar Heels star freshman Cole Anthony resulted in a 76-65 win for North Caro- Mooney garnered extra defensive attention in the season opener at North Carolina, and finished with just 10 points on 5-of-13 shooting and eight rebounds. PHOTO BY COREY BODDEN LOOKING FOR SUPPORT With a target on his back, Irish standout John Mooney needs more help from his teammates