It’s been a crazy week for the college hoops world, but hidden in all that came some great news for Notre Dame hoops, as Nate Laszewski committed to the Irish on Wednesday afternoon. The 6’10” forward from Massachusetts committed to the Irish over conference foes Wake Forest and North Carolina. Laszewski completes a dynamite recruiting class for Irish head coach Mike Brey, a five-man class that could be a future starting lineup.
South Bend Bound!
2018 F Nate Laszewski has committed to Notre Dame!#Irish #ACC pic.twitter.com/8JXNO7s5xT
— New England Playaz (@NE_Playaz) September 27, 2017
The Notre Dame coaching staff only recently offered Laszewski in July, when he earned offers from over a dozen high major programs due to his excellent AAU performance. Laszewski led his NE Playaz team to the finals of the adidas Uprising tournament, a major showcase that brought most of the college basketball world to Vegas. Those July offers included the likes of North Carolina, Arizona, Texas , Virginia, and plenty of others. Despite the fairly recent offer, the Irish staff had been recruiting Laszewski longer than most others, and he had been to campus twice before that offer already, so the relationship was already very solid.
Laszewski visited Notre Dame for a third time for the Georgia football weekend along with all three of his fellow 2018 commits and many of Notre Dame’s high-profile recent graduates. That atmosphere must have struck a chord that stuck with him, as he committed to the Irish fresh off a visit to defending national champion North Carolina this past weekend. He cites having the “best relationship” with the Notre Dame coaches of any staff recruiting him and was impressed by how much they talked to and visited him. It legitimately seems like Brey and company simply outworked the competition on this one.
Notre Dame now has 247’s 2nd-ranked class for 2018. Somebody call the feds.
In all seriousness, in a normal year, this class would likely finish in the 10-15 range. But given yesterday’s revelations, this year’s recruiting is likely to be anything but normal, so who knows. Further, none of these rankings include transfer Juwan Durham, so factor that in as well. Whether you include Durham or not, this is simply the best recruiting class that Mike Brey has ever pulled together.
Rankings
247: 96th nationally, 4 star, 26th ranked PF
ESPN: 51st nationally, 4 star, 14th ranked PF
Rivals: 69th nationally, 4 star, 35th ranked F
Scout: 92nd nationally, 4 star, 23rd ranked PF
247 composite: 93rd nationally, 4 star, 23rd ranked PF
Highlights
Some quick comments from this and some other highlight videos: Quick, natural stroke with easy three-point range. Capably skilled, can create off the drive or the step-back, but probably won’t be a feature of his game. Sufficient athleticism and clearly comfortable around the rim. Shows ability to pick-and-roll/pop/fade; ideal skill-set for his likely role in Brey’s offense. Thin frame, not particularly physical as a result. Extends his arms too much to fight off defenders. Great length and 6’10”, will frequently be the tallent/longest player on the floor even in ACC play. Runs the floor and crashes the boards even when floating around the arc.
Outlook
It’s impossible not to be giddy about the recruiting class as a whole, but let’s focus on Laszewski here. I rate him as second-best prospect in the class behind Hubb. What a weapon for Mike Brey’s offense. Brey can hide him in the corner as a pure shooter or feature him as a do-it-all screener, which makes him really tough to guard. Put a wing on him and now you’re sending a smaller guy into a ton of screen-and-roll action. Put a big on him and you’re pulling him away from the paint and running him around the perimeter. He gives Brey positional flexibility to go big or small without being helpless on defense in the post. It’s just impossible not to see him as a very productive player for Notre Dame, which I’m sure he recognizes as well and why he wants to play there.
The depth chart is interesting. He’s a little redundant to John Mooney. But if I’m being honest, he looks a lot more fluid and skilled than Mooney. Still, Mooney has a strength advantage that might make Brey a little more comfortable defensively, and he’ll be a junior once Laszewski arrives. You have to figure Juwan Durham is going to be a staple in the lineup as well, which presents some redundancy as well. Brey is going to have to figure out how to use multiple guys whose best qualities are as screeners in this offense. But other than one year of overlap with Elijah Burns, that’s it for the front court depth chart. 2018 is going to be fascinating from that perspective.
But goodness, the talent Brey has to work with should be tremendously exciting for Irish fans. Gibbs, Hubb, Harvey, Laszewski, and Durham feels like a lineup with 2020 Final Four potential under Mike Brey’s tutelage. Fun times ahead in South Bend.
This is awesome news. Beating out UNC is huge.
If you included Durham, you’d essentially be looking at a class that would have finished #9 last year (per the 247 Composite Rankings). That’s incredible from Brey. Then consider that this #9 class could literally have all 5 guys on the court as a starting lineup at some point, and it’s even more impressive. He hit all areas of need, with all top 100 (or 110 at worst) players.
Next year’s roster will feature 9 four star recruits and 2 three star recruits. We might not see a player outside the top 150 getting more than a few minutes per game (depending on Djogo’s role) in the near future. We might see the heaviest rotations all be players top 100 or higher (depending on Mooney’s role). Unbelievable.
TJ/Hubb – Carmody/Goodwin – Harvey/Djogo – Mooney/Laszewski – Durham/Burns – In 2 years, Brey could legit run 2 separate lineups out there that could have beaten that 2013/2014 starting lineup. That’s 2 full lineups of top 250 players. Not to mention the fact that he’s currently swinging for the fences on multiple top 40 players in the 2019 class. This program has come so far; I can’t wait to see where it goes next.
Huge get by the staff. Hard not to be giddy about the next few years.
Bit of a random thought, but who is the last true stretch 4 that has contributed to a Brey team? In the last few years, Connaughton was pushed to that role but was obviously more of a true 3. Bonzie does some things to stretch the floor, but he’s a post player primarily. Mooney seems like he might be a stretch 5, but he’s a good deal bigger than Laszewski as was noted in the article. Maybe Burgett would be the most traditional fit, but he never really pierced the rotation.
Seeing a typically loaded ND backcourt with a sharpshooting 6’10” at the 4 and a rim runner at 5 seems like it will be a LOT of fun.
I think that’s the essence of motion/position-less basketball. Brey can initiate motion with nearly every guy on that roster. Having capable screeners and rim-runners is at the core of a motion offense. When a kid like this can help you with spacing, it creates all sorts of room for a TJ/Durham PnR action to work. Once that gets a defense unsettled, guys like Harvey and Hubb go to work off the bounce.
The package is amazing right now. There’s enough talent on board that we won’t need to rush these guys in to big roles early. Of course, some will earn early roles, but not out of roster desperation.
What a time to be an Irish basketball fan.
I know BB classes are much smaller, so top 100 isn’t quite the same as football. But for a fun comparison here are the years we have gotten 4 top 100 football recruits under Kelly.
2015 – Brian Winbush, Aliz’e Mack nee Jones, Hoge, Dex
2013 – Jaylon, Vanderstache, Redhanded, Bryant, Bivin
2011 – Lynch, Ishaq, Tuitt, Koyack, Hegarty, Daniels
Nice job, Brey.
I’ll never read “Adidas-sponsored AAU tournament” and “also recruited by North Carolina and Arizona” the same way again.
Joe and alstein – would love to see a long read on the FBI investigation and what you think it will ultimately mean for NCAA basketball over the long term. We all know this stuff goes on and I think it’s safe to say that the coaches and schools currently in the news are probably only the tip of iceberg of what’s coming.
Does the NCAA amateur athlete model eventually come crashing down? Or will the NCAA just legalize signing sponsorship deals for those kids that are big enough stars to earn one, but keep the student-athlete model otherwise (i.e. no salaries or five-figure “stipends” for all)? Something else?
We’re planning on putting together a round-table discussion post on the FBI stuff in the next couple days. Stay tuned!
I know this wasn’t directed at me, but I have to think that the NCAA recognizes that they will lose their grip on schools if they try to maintain the status quo. The market has determined that football and basketball need non-school-associated developmental programs, just like baseball. I believe the NCAA should support such programs to maintain the integrity of amateur athletics.
Of course, we all know the NCAA is just as greedy as the shoe companies and the sports agents. So they’ll probably allow player stipends to retain talent in the college ranks, further diminishing the supposed purpose of “higher education.”
The NFL is very clearly free-riding on the NCAA’s willingness to serve as a free developmental league. For football, I don’t see the problems abating for the NCAA until a viable semi-pro alternative emerges for 18-21 year olds, and the NFL has no incentive to take the first step toward making that happen as long as NCAA Football exists.
I wonder what makes Baseball and Hockey different. Is it just that sophisticated farm systems pre-dated modern collegiate athletics for those sports, and therefore the developmental leagues for those sports were the preferred routes to big league play (vs. college)?
My hypothesis would then be that whichever system (minor leagues or college) had the best talent first wins out, because it creates a self-reinforcing platform effect that the other path can’t overcome — the best prospects want to play the best competition, which for baseball and hockey is in the minor leagues, which makes the competition in the minor leagues better, and so on — creating a hurdle that collegiate baseball and hockey can’t overcome.
The inverse would be true for basketball — top-level competition already existed at the collegiate level before the D-League was created, and since the best prospects want to play the best competition (and with the best coaches), they go to the NCAA instead, only making the NCAA competition even better, etc. and the D-League can’t overcome that hurdle. I’m not sure if the timeline works for that, but would suspect it does.
Very good points. I guess I’m coming from the vantage point that the NCAA, at this point, should be self-aware enough to realize that their profit-generating sports are simply free developmental leagues for professional franchises and that they will continue to get black eyes every couple of years because of the corruption that comes with a free developmental league.
It *should* be in the universities’ (and therefore NCAA’s) best interest to have student-athletes stick around to complete their degrees. If that goal is at odds with players’ desire to go pro, then it seems there would be a market for developmental leagues.
Certainly, there might be a talent disparity…but there are a ton of good football players that get cut by NFL teams every year. I’m sure you could make at least an 8-16 team league out of the leftovers, even before you add in kids skipping college. And I would think that an 18 year old kid would be able to make a rational choice between “legally get an agent and make a little money while honing your skills without the burden of classes” and “play football part-time in exchange for free classes and a degree with the chance to go pro afterward.”
Lastly, I think part of it is also that baseball and hockey have amateur drafts. Kids don’t have to sign an agent – they just throw their hat in the ring and see where they get picked, then choose which path to take after they see where they went in the draft.
The first college baseball game happened in 1859, first major league game was 1871. I don’t think the timing is really what did it. On top of that, most P5 baseball teams are probably a lot better than a huge amount of the minor league and semi-pro teams that are out there.
Most of what I have read that compares minor league football to baseball is infrastructure/cost, and fans. Football teams are huge and facilities are much more important. And most minor league games I have been to cater to small crowds of families bringing their kids on a summer day or evening. They basically lose less money.
He is a smooth looking player in those highlights – plays with intensity but also appears very under control and calm. Very mature appearing in that way. I also love a guy whose jersey number approximates his vertical.
I have no idea on this FBI investigation and how many programs will be tainted. I love our lady of the lake, but also know she loves anything that has money involved in it. What are the chances the slimy AAU/Adidas/Agents scheme touches some of these players or our coaches?
There are very few guys on the current roster I could see being impacted. Here would be my areas of concern if I truly thought something fishy was up (I don’t though):
Rex – Really great athlete, high flying dunk, NBADraft.com or something sees him getting drafted eventually. He came all the way from California to South Bend. Kind of a weird place for him to end up, and he had the type of flashy game in high school that could catch some eyes.
The DC/Dematha connection – Brey knows everybody in DC, and he’s shown that he wants to own that recruiting ground. Could all of his connections there involve some shady characters?
That’s it. Seriously. There hasn’t been a sketchy recruiting story or weird transfer to the Irish during Brey’s tenure that I can think of. Of course, there also haven’t been any top 10 recruits either. But seriously, when Rex Pflueger is the weirdest recruiting pickup on the roster, that’s saying something.