Much has been made of Mike Brey’s “get old, stay old” philosophy guiding the Notre Dame Fighting Irish basketball program. One only needs to look to the rafters of Purcell Pavillion to see the team’s first conference championship banner and consecutive Elite Eight banners to validate Brey’s approach. Those teams were dominated by veterans playing lead roles on the floor and in the locker room.

More often than not, Brey’s insistence on leaning on mature talent leads to guys progressing through the program slowly. In the case of Jerian Grant, it involved a freshman red shirt that the superstar guard later admitted was difficult to endure. As challenging as it was for the Dematha grad to sit, it is hard to argue with the personal and team results.

Brey’s strategy has to delicately balance the needs of the individual athlete with the needs of the program. In Grant’s case, it was clear that both benefited from the extra seasoning. In other cases, like Demetrius Jackson or Chris Thomas, it was clear they needed to be on the floor from the first day they stepped on to campus. In 2017, the same will be said about T.J. Gibbs. Observers of the program, and the head coach, are quick to point out Gibbs physical and mental maturity. Gibbs’s impressive skill set looks like it will have an immediate impact on the Irish during his freshman year. On the other hand, you have Nikola Djogo. The Canadian freshman looks to have a lot of bounce and quickness, but also looks really thin right now. Preserving a year for Djogo seems like a foregone conclusion.

That leaves us with the curious case of John Mooney. The Florida freshman looked very good in the two exhibition games. The NCAA allows athletes to play in preseason exhibitions while retaining the year of eligibility. This was the case with Elijah Burns last season, and will be the case with Djogo this season. Mooney, however, isn’t as clear cut a case. With all appropriate disclaimers about performing vs. D2 and D3 competition, Mooney looked really good, and could put Brey and the staff in a bit of a pickle when it comes to roster management.

From a broader program perspective, there are a lot of great reasons to put a red shirt on Mooney and preserve the year. The primary argument is that he fills a very similar role to that of sophomore Matt Ryan. Mooney is about 2 inches taller and has nearly 20 lbs on Ryan. Both have outstanding shooting strokes and are dangerous from behind the three-point arc. Mooney’s interior game is a bit more refined, but Ryan has a full year of experience under his belt. Given their similarities, getting an additional year of space on the roster seems to make a ton of sense. The idea of giving new signee D.J. Harvey 4 years with Mooney is also very appealing.

On the other hand, Mooney appears to have the body, mind and game to contribute right away. He’s a willing defender and rebounder and provides reinforcements to an Irish front line that is mostly unproven after you get past junior Bonzie Colson. Brey is on record saying Mooney reminds him of former Irish great Rob Kurz and will compete for minutes from day 1. If the condition Austin Torres suffered Monday persists or Matt Ryan’s stress reaction flares up again, Mooney could suddenly become a key contributor to the Irish front-court. Further complicating things, Mooney was a high enough profile recruit out of Florida that Brey and the staff might have made promises about getting on the floor early.

I think much of this breaks down to how much confidence the staff has in junior center Martinas Geben.  If Geben makes the leap the coaching staff and fans are hoping for, then he’s going to soak up a lot of front-court minutes that would otherwise go to Ryan and/or Mooney as a stretch 4. Let’s start with the assumption that Colson is going to play 30+ minutes per night and that Burns will get somewhere around 10 minutes as an “energy guy.” If Geben plays well and picks up 20+ minutes at the 5, that leaves about 20 minutes per night between the stretch 4’s and Torres on the front line. If that’s the case, the argument for preserving eligibility is pretty simple. Let Ryan play that 15-20 and preserve Mooney until after V.J. Beachem graduates and Ryan picks up minutes at the 3 spot. If, however, Geben can’t deliver against top flight competition, the equation changes dramatically. If Geben’s minutes are closer to 5 than 25, then you have 30+ minutes available for the stretch 4’s and that would certainly mean that you could get Mooney 10+ minutes a night – more than enough to justify burning the eligibility. That also gives Brey the flexibility to ride the hot hand between Mooney or Ryan. If Brey follows past patterns, he could platoon Ryan with Colson and Money with Burns on the front line.

One additional factor in this difficult decision is the high school class of 2017 recruiting. Signing D.J. Harvey was a coup for the Notre Dame coaching staff. However, the Irish have yet to secure a commitment from anyone outside of Harvey. With such a small class, bumping Mooney back a year would give you additional bodies in that class.

The first opportunity for Brey to tip his hand will come Saturday vs. Bryant. With the exhibition season giving way to non-conference games that count, any minutes Mooney takes from this point on ensure his first year of eligibility is burnt. There’s no clear cut decision here and no way to accurately guarantee Geben will be a factor in ACC play. With Mooney’s recruiting profile and the potential for a lot of available minutes on the front line, I assume Brey will burn the year and play Mooney this year. However, the decision is far from cut and dry. It will certainly be something to watch Saturday.