Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/680997
MEN'S BASKETBALL RECRUITING BY JORDAN WELLS T he April evaluation period is a crucial time for college basketball coaches in recruiting. During that time, coaching staffs can go on the road and watch prospects in non- scholastic certified events such as AAU tournaments. This period is split into two primary goals, with the most obvious being to find new prospects to recruit. Coaches will also stay in contact with top tar- gets during this period if they think they're closing in on a pledge, attend- ing games and sitting on the sidelines to be visible to the prospect in a show of interest. Notre Dame's staff was all over the country during April, watching pros- pects in the Nike, Under Armour and adidas events. They were in Brooklyn, N.Y., and Dallas April 15-17, plus In- dianapolis and Atlanta April 22-24. Head coach Mike Brey was spot- ted in both cities the second week- end, prior to handing out several new scholarship offers. Blue & Gold Illustrated was on the ground for the Nike and Under Ar- mour circuits in Indianapolis over the second weekend, and has several up- dates with some of Notre Dame's top targets. CHRIS LYKES A UNIQUE PROSPECT Only one point guard is among Notre Dame's list of known scholar- ship offers in the 2017 class, which has extended into double digits. The position is just not a primary need this cycle after the Irish signed four-star West Orange (N.J.) Seton Hall Prep floor general Temple Gibbs Jr. in their 2016 class. Irish Targets Emerge In April Chris Lykes — a 5‑7, 155‑pound point guard from Washington (D.C.) Gonzaga — averaged 22.0 points, 4.3 assists, 3.7 rebounds and 2.7 steals per game en route to being named D.C.'s Gatorade Player of the Year. PHOTO BY JON LOPEZ/NIKE