Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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BLUEGOLDONLINE.COM APRIL 2022 47 MEN'S BASKETBALL (14.4 points per game), setting the table for him to potentially become Notre Dame's first one-and-done. ESPN's late-March mock draft has him as the No. 20 overall selection. It is not a foregone conclusion Wes- ley turns pro, though. A return would not be a surprise in the slightest. But he has the option to test the draft process, which would almost certainly include an NBA Draft Combine invitation and individual workouts for teams. If he goes that route, he has until June to make a final decision. Notre Dame will gladly wait that long. Will that be his move, or will he return to school without even entertaining the draft? 4. EYE ON THE 2023 CLASS High school recruits will begin the AAU season in April with two live eval- uation periods for coaches to watch: April 8-10 and April 22-24. Notre Dame has four offers out to 2023 recruits: four-star Indianapo- lis Cathedral forward Xavier Booker, Huber Heights (Ohio) Wayne guard Lawrent Rice, four-star La Porte (Ind.) La Lumiere guard Aden Holloway and four-star Chicago Kenwood guard Dar- rin Ames. Booker has been a priority since last summer and has visited campus twice this year. Notre Dame saw Rice at his school last fall, and he included the Irish in his top eight in January. Holloway is teammates with 2022 signee J.J. Star- ling. Ames, offered in December, is the most recent addition to the list. The April live periods are likely to re- sult in more offers that should further shape the board. 5. WHO HITS THE PORTAL Last offseason's roster continuity was a matter of pride for Brey. Only one player hit the transfer portal, forward Nik Djogo. He left after finishing his graduate degree to play a sixth season using the COVID-19 waiver. He and Brey met before the season and con- cluded it would be his last even if the waiver passed. Two years in a row with that kind of continuity, though, is a rare sight in col- lege basketball. Notre Dame has three players (Zona, Taylor, forward Tony Sanders Jr.) who just completed their sophomore year without having cracked the rotation. That reality often lends itself to seek- ing a fresh start and a shot at more minutes. Will it here? A senior with a fifth-year option who chooses to use it elsewhere shouldn't be completely ruled out either. ✦ 2021-22 NOTRE DAME MEN'S BASKETBALL SCHEDULE Date Opponent Result Nov. 13 Cal State Northridge W, 68-52 Nov. 16 High Point W, 70-61 Nov. 22 vs. Saint Mary's# L, 62-59 Nov. 23 vs. Chaminade# W, 90-64 Nov. 24 vs. Texas A&M# L, 73-67 Nov. 29 at Illinois L, 82-72 Dec. 3 at Boston College* L, 73-57 Dec. 11 Kentucky W, 66-62 Dec. 18 vs. Indiana% L, 64-56 Dec. 20 Western Michigan W, 85-62 Dec. 22 Texas A&M-Corpus Christi W, 83-73 Dec. 28 at Pittsburgh* W, 68-67 Jan. 5 North Carolina* W, 78-73 Jan. 8 at Georgia Tech* W, 72-68 (OT) Jan. 12 Clemson* W, 72-56 Jan. 15 at Virginia Tech* L, 79-73 Jan. 17 at Howard W, 71-68 Jan. 22 at Louisville* W, 82-70 Jan. 26 NC State* W, 73-65 Jan. 29 Virginia* W, 69-65 Jan. 31 Duke* L, 57-43 Feb. 2 at Miami* W, 68-64 Feb. 5 at NC State* W, 69-57 Feb. 9 Louisville* W, 63-57 Feb. 12 at Clemson* W, 76-61 Feb. 16 Boston College* W, 99-95 (OT) Feb. 19 at Wake Forest* L, 79-74 Feb. 22 Syracuse* W, 79-69 Feb. 26 Georgia Tech* W, 90-56 Mar. 2 at Florida State* L, 74-70 Mar. 5 Pittsburgh* W, 78-54 Mar. 10 vs. Virginia Tech^ L, 87-80 Mar. 16 vs. Rutgers+ W, 89-87 (2OT) Mar. 18 vs. Alabama$ W, 78-64 Mar. 20 vs. Texas Tech$ L, 59-53 # Maui Invitational at Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino in Las Vegas; % Crossroads Classic at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis; * ACC game; ^ at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y.; + NCAA Tournament First Four at Dayton, Ohio; $ NCAA Tournament first and second rounds at San Diego NOTRE DAME, ST. BONAVENTURE TO MEET NEXT SEASON Notre Dame has added a key non-conference game to its 2022-23 schedule. The Irish will play St. Bonaventure on Nov. 25, 2022 in the showcase game of the Gotham Classic in Belmont Park, N.Y. The game will be at UBS Arena, which opened in November and is home to the NHL's New York Islanders. Notre Dame and St. Bonaventure have not played since Dec. 22, 1994, a game the Irish won 57-54 in South Bend. They hold a 5-2 all-time lead in the series. — Patrick Engel Blake Wesley Among Three Notre Dame All-ACC Honorees Notre Dame players and coaches readily admit freshman Blake Wesley changed the Irish's ceiling. They could foresee his impact from the moment they started summer workouts. Wesley delivered accordingly. The 6-foot-5, 185-pound guard was in the opening-night rotation, stepped into the starting lineup in early December and led the team in scoring (14.4 points per game). There were several factors behind Notre Dame's jump from 11-15 last season to 24-11 and 15-5 in this ACC this year, but Wesley is toward the top, if not at it. The ACC postseason awards recognized as much. Wesley was named a second-team All-ACC selection and earned a spot on the league's All-Rookie team. He finished second in ACC Freshman of the Year voting behind Paolo Banchero of Duke, earning four of the 78 first-place votes. Two other Notre Dame players earned All-ACC recognition. Irish senior guard Dane Goodwin was a third-team all-conference selection, and graduate student forward Paul Atkinson Jr. earned honorable mention. Goodwin was fifth in ACC Most Improved Player voting. Mike Brey was third in ACC Coach of the Year polling. Wesley was Notre Dame's first All-Rookie honoree since 2011-12, when Jerian Grant made the Big East All-Rookie team. He averaged 15.7 points in conference games, shot 40.4 percent from the floor and 30.3 percent on three-pointers. His 2.4 assists were second on the team, and his 1.3 steals were a team high. Goodwin averaged 13.6 points per game and shot 50.4 percent overall, 44.8 percent from beyond the arc and 82.3 percent on free throws. Atkinson, the Yale transfer, was Notre Dame's third-leading scorer (12.5 points per game) and its leading rebounder, at 6.9 per game. — Patrick Engel