Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1463147
46 APRIL 2022 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED MEN'S BASKETBALL BY PATRICK ENGEL T he offseason is here for Notre Dame basketball following its 59-53 loss to Texas Tech in the second round of the NCAA Tour- nament March 20. The Irish went 24-11, earned a No. 11 seed in March Madness and won two games before falling to the third-seeded Red Raiders. Here are five storylines to follow this spring while head coach Mike Brey and the Irish shift their focus to building for the 2022-23 season. 1. FINDING A FORWARD IN THE TRANSFER PORTAL As it stands, 33-game starter and third-leading scorer Paul Atkinson Jr. (12.5 points per game) does not have eli- gibility for next year. Assuming it stays that way — and that's the safe assump- tion right now — his departure will leave Notre Dame with a void in the middle and no proven in-house options to fill it. Juniors-to-be Elijah Taylor and Matt Zona played a combined 31 minutes this year and 75 as freshmen. Senior forward Nate Laszewski was the backup five, but Notre Dame only uses him there when it downshifts to a small lineup. He's best as a four. Relying on four-star signee Dom Campbell to win the job as a fresh- man is too big a risk to take before he even arrives on campus. Ideally, either Zona or Taylor would have earned a rotational role this season and made himself a viable starting op- tion for next year. Instead, Taylor missed the spring semester due to an academic issue and Zona played 18 total minutes. That leaves Notre Dame in the same spot it was in last year. It snatched Atkinson, the former Ivy League Co- Player of the Year, from the portal in January 2021. Can the Irish find a similar player for a second straight year? Portal suc- cesses like Atkinson aren't to be taken for granted. Finding two in a row is even rarer. The Irish can sell an immediate opening and a starting spot. 2. FIFTH-YEAR DECISIONS Notre Dame has six players who have fifth-year eligibility in 2022-23: Lasze- wski and guards Robby Carmody, Dane Goodwin, Prentiss Hubb, Cormac Ryan and Trey Wertz. Hubb, Goodwin, Lasze- wski and Wertz have eligibility for next year because of the COVID-19 waiver passed in 2020. Ryan and Carmody had fifth-year options available due to prior redshirts. If all return and no other departures occur, the Irish are one scholarship over the 13-man limit. That means at least one player cannot return or another has to depart. Carmody has not played since Decem- ber 2019 due to various injuries. Hubb gave a strong indication his time at Notre Dame is over on Selection Sunday when he said, "This is my last year." Those are the two most likely not to use the fifth year at Notre Dame or anywhere. The others are all possibilities or likely to return. Ryan hinted follow- ing Senior Day he plans to return. The sooner Brey gets an official indication from all, the better the options will be to add a piece or two around them. 3. BLAKE WESLEY'S NEXT MOVE Freshman guard Blake Wesley estab- lished himself as a legitimate NBA pros- pect while leading the Irish in scoring A BUSY SPRING These five storylines will help shape the Fighting Irish's outlook for the 2022-23 season Freshman guard Blake Wesley has a stay-or-go NBA Draft decision to make after leading Notre Dame in scoring (14.4 points per game) this season. PHOTO COURTESY NOTRE DAME ATHLETICS