Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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MEN'S BASKEBALL What makes him such a potent shooter is that he's 6-8. He shoots over the top of people. We've had a lot of great shooters in my tenure, and he'll be right there with any of them." Ryan's AAU coach, Hamlet Tibbs, also compared the sharpshooter to Car- roll and expects him to thrive in Brey's system. "I think he'll be a great fit," Tibbs said. "He reminds me a lot of Mike Miller the way he can shoot the ball and a former ND player in Matt Carroll, who really shot the ball well. I think he can come in and stretch the floor with his shooting ability. He's a high character kid with a high passion for basketball and a real competitor. He will be a perfect fit for Notre Dame." Brey consulted with South Bend or- thopedic surgeon Dr. Michael Yergler to ensure that Ryan can be expected to fully recover from the injury. "He had a chance to look at Matt when he got here for the official visit in September and Dr. Yergler said he's fine," Brey said. "We just wanted to make sure. We were one of the few pro- grams that stayed with him. Everybody else kind of faded a bit when he was off the circuit. "I think he would be rated a lot dif- ferent if he played this summer, and our competition would've been a lot different." Burns committed to Notre Dame one week after Ryan did and reminds Brey of former Irish forward Tyrone Nash. "He's a feel-for-the-game frontline guy," Brey said. "You love the fact that he's got the body ready to play as a freshman. He's 6-7, maybe almost 6-8 now, but he's about 225-230 pounds. He's physically put together and has a really good feel for the game. The thing that really impressed me this summer was how good of a passer he is. He can really see the floor past the ball. "When those three were here for their visits, [senior swingman Pat] Con- naughton kept praising Burns from the two pickup games they played." Burns — a three-star recruit, the No. 188 overall prospect in the country, the No. 45 power forward nationally and the No. 8 player from New Jersey according to 247Sports — said through- out the process that he was focused on an academically-driven school like Notre Dame and thinks his attributes 247Sports ranks Troy (N.Y.) Blair Academy stand- out Elijah Burns as the No. 188 overall player in the country, the No. 45 power forward nationally and the No. 8 player in New Jersey. PHOTO BY JACEY ZEMBAL