Notre Dame Fighting Irish
2021-2022 Overall Rank: #46
Conference Rank: #8 ACC
Notre Dame has not reached the NCAA Tournament since 2017. They did not get very close last year, finishing 11-15 and 7-11 in ACC play. It was a disappointing season for Coach Mike Brey and company, but the Fighting Irish managed to keep their team together for the most part. They could have easily lost more players who were hoping to get to the NCAA Tournament with another team, but with all non-seniors returning, this group has the talent now to go dancing.
2020-21 Record: 11-15, 7-11
2020-21 Postseason: None
Coach: Mike Brey
Coach Record: 448-248 at Notre Dame, 547-300 overall
Key Departed Players:
Juwan Durham, Forward, 10.7 ppg
Nikola Djogo, Guard, 5.0 ppg
Key Returning Players:
Prentiss Hubb, Junior, Guard, 14.6 ppg
Nate Laszewski, Junior, Forward, 13.3 ppg
Dane Goodwin, Junior, Guard, 11.8 ppg
Cormac Ryan, Junior, Guard, 9.9 ppg
Trey Wertz, Junior, Guard, 8.3 ppg
Tony Sanders Jr, Freshman, Guard, 1.0 ppg
Elijah Morgan, Sophomore, Guard, 0.9 ppg
Matt Zona, Freshman, Forward, 0.9 ppg
Robby Carmondy, Sophomore, Guard, dnp last season
Key New Players:
Paul Atkinson Jr, Senior, Forward, Transfer from Yale
J.R. Konieczny, Freshman, Guard
Elijah Taylor, Freshman, Forward
Alex Wade, Freshman, Guard
Blake Wesley, Freshman, Guard
Projection:
Prentiss Hubb and Nate Laszewski emerged as the leaders of the team last season. Hubb does it with the ball in his hands and dished out 5.8 assists per game. He also led Notre Dame with 14.6 points per game and knocked down a team high 65 three-pointers. Laszewski does his work in the paint and the 6-10 forward tallied 13.3 points and 7.3 rebounds in 2020-2021. Dane Goodwin and Cormac Ryan are back to start beside Hubb in the backcourt. Goodwin can do a bit of everything and averaged 11.8 points, 5.2 rebounds and 1.7 assists. Ryan knocked down 43 three-pointers and should increase that output this time around. Trey Wertz should again be the team’s top bench option, but they do need to find somebody to replace Juwan Durham in the paint. Former Ivy League Player of the Year Paul Atkinson should fill that void nicely and then some. Atkinson averaged 17.6 points, 7.3 rebounds and 1.5 assists in 2019-2020 and will fit in nicely at Notre Dame. If incoming freshmen J.R. Konieczny and Blake Wesley can provide some decent depth, this is a group at Notre Dame that can make a decent run towards the NCAA Tournament.
Projected Postseason Tournament: NCAA
By the Numbers:
Scoring Offense: 72.7 (126th in nation, 7th in conference)
Scoring Defense: 74.3 (271, 14)
Field-Goal Percentage: 45.9 (71, 6)
Field-Goal Defense: 44.3 (210, 9)
Three-Point Field Goals Per Game: 9.1 (34, 1)
Three-Point Field-Goal Percentage: 36.8 (46, 3)
Free-Throw Percentage: 77.3 (25, 3)
Rebound Margin: -3.3 (278, 13)
Assists Per Game: 14.9 (66, 5)
Turnovers Per Game: 10.6 (14, 2)
Madness 2021 Men’s Basketball Recruit Rankings:
#111 Blake Wesley
#132 J.R. Konieczny
