Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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48 SEPT. 26, 2020 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED MEN'S BASKETBALL A date has been set to begin the season, but it is just the first of many steps before games can be played BY PATRICK ENGEL T he moment COVID-19 shut down athletics everywhere, college bas- ketball had a luxury no other sport could claim. The benefit of time. The season's usual start date was eight months away from the March 12 shuttering. The country had all that time to learn about the virus, attempt to ward it off or figure out how to co-exist with it. College football and professional leagues were tasked with getting their sea- sons off the ground first. The college hoops world could watch and learn. The pandemic is not warded off, but other sports have managed successful returns and seasons thus far. The col- lege basketball narrative turned from the viability of a season to how to do it as safely as possible. And on Sept. 16, the starting line was officially set. The NCAA Division I Council ap- proved a Nov. 25 start to the season, 15 days later than its original date. By then, about 75 percent of all Di- vision I basketball institutions will have completed their fall terms. Pre- season practices can begin Oct. 14, with up to 20 hours per week of ac- tivity. From Sept. 21 to Oct. 13, teams will be allowed to conduct 12 hours per week of strength training, team meetings and skill work. Those decisions are just a few of the many needed to start playing. There are testing guidelines and game-day protocols still to settle, although the availability of rapid testing makes the idea of playing a close-contact sport in an indoor space outside of a bubble easier to do. Scheduling is the next unknown. At this time last year, Notre Dame had released its full schedule. Before the start date announcement, only 20 Division I men's teams had released non-conference slates. Notre Dame was not among them, though most of its games or events were known. No currently scheduled non-confer- ence games should be viewed as guar- antees to actually happen, but nonethe- less Notre Dame originally had five non-conference games scheduled be- fore Nov. 25: Nov. 10 versus Army, Nov. 17 against Eastern Washington, Nov. 20 versus Liberty and the Legends Classic Nov. 23-24 in Brooklyn, N.Y. As part of setting a start date, the NCAA also released revised rules for number of games. Most notably, the maximum number of regular-season contests was reduced from 31. Teams can schedule up to 24 games and participate in a multi-team tournament (such as the Maui In- vitational) that includes up to three games for a maximum of 27. Teams in a tournament with two games (like the Legends Classic) can schedule up to 25 games. The maximum for teams not in a tournament is 25. The mini- mum number of games for NCAA Tournament eligibility is 13. Notre Dame's other known non- conference games or events are Dec. 12 versus Kentucky, Dec. 19 against Purdue in the Crossroads Classic, Jan. 18 at Howard and the ACC-Big Ten Challenge. All told, it had nine publicly known non-confer- ence games or events, which is now too many under the new maximum, assuming the ACC sticks to its 20- game conference schedule. ✦ Junior point guard Prentiss Hubb and the Fighting Irish finally have an official start date to their season, Nov. 25. PHOTO BY KEN MARTIN Starting Line In Place For 2020-21 Hoops Rivals Rankings Updated Rivals.com released its updated top 150 player rankings for the class of 2021 and 2022, and several Notre Dame recruits saw their listing change. Notre Dame's lone 2021 commitment, three-star wing JR Konieczny, moved down two spots to No. 137 overall. The South Bend St. Joseph senior remained at No. 33 among small forwards. Elsewhere, priority target Blake Wesley moved down in the top 150, but up in the shooting guard position rankings. The four-star from South Bend Riley High School fell one spot to 96th in the Rivals150. He moved up four spots at his position, though, to become the No. 21-ranked shooting guard in the country. Wesley released a top 12 last month that included Notre Dame. A forward target in the 2021 class moved in the rankings too. Four-star DaRon Holmes Jr. of Montverde Academy (Fla.) dropped six spots to No. 36 overall. He is ranked as the nation's No. 9 power forward, a one-spot drop. These high school juniors with Notre Dame offers moved in the 2022 top 150: • Five-star Bradenton (Fla.) IMG Academy guard Jaden Bradley: No. 6 overall, up one spot • Five-star Bradenton (Fla.) IMG Academy wing Jarace Walker: No. 12, down two spots • Four-star Bristol (Conn.) Central center Donovan Clingan: No. 45, up one spot • Four-star Minneapolis Minnehaha Academy wing Prince Aligbe: No. 56, down eight spots • Four-star Grand Island (Neb.) forward Isaac Traudt: No. 61 overall, up 58 spots • Four-star La Lumiere (Ind.) La Porte guard J.J. Starling: No. 99 overall, down seven spots • Three-star Fort Wayne (Ind.) Homestead guard Fletcher Loyer: No. 135, not ranked before — Patrick Engel 2020-21 NOTRE DAME MEN'S BASKETBALL ROSTER No. Name Pos. Ht. Wt. Year 2 Trey Wertz G 6-5 183 Jr. 3 Prentiss Hubb G 6-3 175 Jr. 5 Cormac Ryan G 6-5 195 Jr. 11 Juwan Durham F 6-11 230 5th-Sr. 12 Tony Sanders Jr. G 6-7 202 Fr. 13 Nikola Djogo G 6-8 230 5th-Sr. 14 Nate Laszewski F 6-10 227 Jr. 22 Elijah Taylor F 6-8 231 Fr. 23 Dane Goodwin G 6-6 200 Jr. 24 Robby Carmody G 6-4 215 Jr. 25 Matt Zona F 6-9 243 Fr. 31 Elijah Morgan G 6-1 165 So.