After much consternation over his recruiting and whether he could capitalize on his program’s recent successes, Notre Dame head coach Mike Brey did what he normally does. He locked onto a coveted recruit early, stayed on him, and ultimately reeled him in. He did so with Demetrius Jackson, Matt Ryan, and TJ Gibbs in recent years. On Tuesday night, he got his 2017 guy in DJ Harvey.
Harvey hails from Maryland and attends DeMatha Catholic High School, where Brey himself attended (and coached). Of course, so did assistant Rod Balanis and pretty-good-basketball-player Jerian Grant. Brey has been recruiting Harvey heavily since DJ was a freshman at DeMatha and never let up, even as the big boys entered the fray. This summer, Brey was tracking Harvey’s Team Takeover AAU squad more than any other coach. And when it came time to close, Brey brought his entire staff out to Maryland to get it done.
Notre Dame beat out finalists Alabama, Texas, and UConn for Harvey’s commitment. It is also worth mentioning that the Irish outlasted one-time favorites Arizona, Duke, and Louisville, and home-state Maryland. Simply put, this was one of the most competitive recruiting battles that the Irish have ever won. Credit Harvey’s relationship with Mike Brey and the deep DeMatha connections to the Irish hoops program for this big recruiting victory.
As if his ELITE talent wasn’t enough, Harvey seems like a terrific kid and a great fit for Notre Dame, taking nothing for granted and maintaining an admirable work ethic even and especially as his recruitment was heating up. Across the board, Harvey gives Irish fans a lot to look forward to.
Recruiting Rankings:
247: 46th overall, 4 stars, 95 rating
ESPN: 47th overall, 4 stars, 86 rating
Rivals: 51st overall, 4 stars
Scout: 43rd overall, 4 stars,
247 composite: 44th overall, 4 stars, .982 rating
Highlights:
Impact:
You probably don’t need me to tell you this, but this is a different echelon of prospect for Mike Brey and Notre Dame hoops. Harvey is on par with the likes of Demetrius Jackson and Torin Francis in terms of elite high school talent. He was one of the final cuts for Team USA’s U18 team for this past summer’s FIBA Americas tournament, was a five star prospect by most services for much of this cycle until recently (even though his July on the AAU circuit was widely lauded), and is a decent bet to be a McDonald’s All-American.
Harvey, at a premium wing position and standing at 6’6″ with great athleticism, certainly has leave-early-for-the-NBA potential. I wouldn’t expect him to be one-and-done unless he has an absolute monster first season in South Bend. Regardless, he is instant impact from the moment he arrives until he decides to leave, whether that’s two years or four years.
Harvey likely steps right into the starting lineup for VJ Beachem, and the rest of the lineup will fill in around him, TJ Gibbs, and Bonzie Colson. I know that’s not really Brey’s m.o., and the likes of Matt Farrell, Rex Pflueger, Matt Ryan, and Martinas Geben have valuable experience. But Harvey brings such a unique and versatile skill-set that those other guys just do not have. The Irish are going to need Harvey’s talent in order to cut down another net in Greensboro Brooklyn.
I don’t love heaping expectations onto high school seniors, but getting Harvey simply raises expectations for Notre Dame moving forward. A backcourt pairing Harvey with TJ Gibbs is among the most purely talented that Mike Brey has ever had. And as we all know, Brey has proven that he knows what to do with great guard play. Throw in a sharp-shooter like Ryan, defensive stopper in Pflueger, scorer/junkyard dog Colson, and hopefully-stout big man Geben, and that’s a Notre Dame lineup that can make a lot of noise in time for the 2018 NCAA Tournament.
It’s been a great couple of years for this program and, with Harvey, the future looks even brighter. Welcome to Notre Dame, DJ.
Good stuff, alstein.
I admittedly don’t know much about basketball, but this sounds like it’s on the level of a player like Jurkovec committing to the football team, right?
i don’t know much about basketball either, but i get the feeling you’re correct. After reading the first section i was expecting to see a ranking in the 200s or something like that. My jaw dropped at top-50 composite .982 i don’t know how that compares to the last few great recruits, but he seems like the sort of kid who can make it reasonable for us to expect deep tournament runs.
Ok, just checked out 247. Harvey will be the highest rated recruit since Demetrius Jackson, who was ND’s highest rated recruit since at least 2009 (the oldest bb data on 247). So yeah, Jaylon or Jurkovic level sounds right!
4th highest rated ND prospect in the history of Rivals (since 2002). I think another factor here is that he’s an elite wing player. It’s one thing to have a 6′ point guard who is great (Demetrius, Chris Thomas), but it’s really another to have a 6’6″ wing player who can defend the 2-4, is a really good rebounder, and has a versatile scoring attack. There’s just such a premium on that position in basketball today that kinda makes this feel different than any recruit Brey has ever gotten.
Yup, that’s exactly how i would have stated it if i knew what i was talking about!
Gibbs – Pflueger – Harvey – Ryan – Colson is a pretty exciting group for 2017. Hopefully Geben or Burns will be established by then, too. Props to Brey on the pickup!
Awesome.
Did his recruiting rank drop happen to coincide with when Duke and Louisville stopped pursuing him? I could see that, still seems like a 5 star talent.
Sigh Torin Francis.
That 2017 or 2018 squad could have a chance to be Final Four good.
He mostly dipped because he had to play second fiddle to Markelle Fultz (Washington signee, likely top 3 pick in next year’s draft) this past season and struggled with that a bit. We’ll see how he does this year as the star of his DeMatha team again; I wouldn’t be surprised to see him tick back up a bit if he has a good senior year.
I’ll also say, Louisville didn’t really stop pursuing him until it was clear ND was going to get him in the past couple months. Duke is really the only team that I would confidently say dropped him, but even still, this might be a chicken-and-egg thing, as they may have only done so once everyone knew he was likely all Irish.
He was a top 15 prospect at one point, right? At ND he should never have to play 2nd fiddle (maybe early on his freshman year, but I eventually expect him to be 1A to Gibbs’ 1B). And the best thing is, Brey has never ever had trouble getting the ball into the hands of his playmakers. If there’s any coach who should be able to spread the wealth to an incredible variety of scorers, it’s Brey.
(And seriously, the variety of scorers on that team should be incredible. Ryan from 3, Gibbs slashing to the rim, Harvey in the midrange, and Colson back to the basket. What defense is going to be able to slow down that offense? If Pflueger finds his 3 point shot and/or ability to get to the rim, Brey is going to have another top 3 offense in the country.)
Man this is huge. If Brey can pull in a solid big guy in this class too, we’re talking about potentially his most talented 7 man rotation he’s ever had. Even without another big, the variety of scorers he’s going to have in his starting 5 is easily going to make this one of the best offenses in the country. Hopefully the depth will be there on the bench to make that squad a top 10 caliber team.
Great to hear. Definitely going to try to go see him play this year since I live practically down the street from Dematha.
Notre Dame basketball continues to be impossible not to love. Can’t wait to see this guy on the court.
ND Basketball and ND Football are polar opposites. For one, I have absolutely no expectations, and so I’m always amazed and thrilled when we end up in the win the ACC one year, and end up in the Elite 8 twice. The other, dammit we SHOULD be good, and so I’m constantly in a state of anxiety that we aren’t. Maybe I should just become a hoops fan.
Hey now, stop saying what we’re all feeling.
One aspect that I love about this is how well a 6’6″ wing can fit into Brey’s lineups. Looking forward to 2017, we’ll have Gibbs/Farrell at PG, Pflueger/Harvey/Djogo at the wings, Colson/Ryan/Mooney at forward, Geben/Torres (maybe?) as the true 5s.
To me, the talent in that group skews pretty heavily towards the guards, which is something we’re used to after the past couple of seasons. Harvey being 6’6″ seems to open up the possibility of playing guard-focused lineups like Gibbs/Pflueger/Harvey/Ryan/Colson or even Farrell/Gibbs/Harvey/Ryan/Colson and being able to get away with it.
It also seems like we’ll be in need of a guy who can create his own shot in the upcoming seasons. In the past couple seasons, Jerian and Demetrius have been the go-to end-of-the-shot-clock options. Next season, I’m not sure who that guy is (maybe VJ becomes more aggressive in those spots?) If Harvey shapes up to be a guy that can create his own shot when we need it, that would be huge.
So pumped for this guy!
So I’m supposed to come here now?
Hate the comment layout compared to SB Nation but gotta stick with this crew for ND hoops — there’s no replacing you guys.
Appreciate you joining us. Trade-offs had to be made, as SB Nation, while excellent from a design and tech support standpoint, was/is heading in a direction we didn’t want to go. Thus, the switch.
All of us are really grateful for everyone from the old site being willing to bring the conversation over here, even if the commenting platform is a bit less user friendly.