Notre Dame made a statement this summer on the recruiting trail landing thee of the nation’s top guards in Prentiss Hubb, Robby Carmody and Dane Goodwin.
Each player ranks inside the top-105 nationally and is a talented trio which will adds depth to the Irish backcourt.
The Irish are currently at 12 scholarships out of the max 13 heading into the 2017-2018 campaign. Five seniors will move on following the season: Bonzie Colson, Matt Farrell, Martinas Geben, Austin Torres and Matt Gregory, who landed on scholarship for the season.
With the addition of the current three-man 2018 class, Notre Dame sits at 10 scholarships for the 2018-2019 season giving the staff plenty of options to add to the 2018 class whether it is from the high school ranks or the transfer market.
Looking toward to the 2019 class, the use of those scholarships will impact how many players Notre Dame can take in 2019. Only one player, Rex Pflueger, will exhaust eligibility after the 2018-2019 campaign which means at most the staff has four available if none of the three open for 2018-2019 are used.
Notre Dame hit the recruiting trail hard on June 15 which was the first day coaching staffs could message the rising junior class (2019). One player who heard from the Irish staff is Glencoe (Ill.) New Trier power forward Ciaran Brayboy.
"It was great to hear from Coach Ryan Humphrey after I received some letters from them earlier,” Brayboy said, “Notre Dame is an amazing basketball and academic school, so I was glad they reached out to me.”
The 6-foot-9, 220-pounder is intrigued by the run the Notre Dame program has been on under Mike Brey.
“The success at Notre Dame stands out the most to me as they routinely make it to the tournament each year and usually go pretty far,” Brayboy explained.
Humphrey and Brayboy are building a strong relationship early in the process.
“He's philosophy on development of players was inspiring and exciting to hear about when I talked about it with him,” Brayboy explained. “He also really seemed to care and see what type of person I am.”
So far this summer Brayboy has attended camps at Wisconsin, Yale, Princeton and Valparaiso. He is planning to visit Yale in late August. A trip to Notre Dame is also a possibility for Brayboy during the process.
“They're relatively close to home, so it'd be easy for me to come out there,” Brayboy said. “Maybe some time during the season. Just like any school I visit, I'd like to see the facilities, meet the staff and get a feel for the campus.”
Yale and Southern Illinois are the early offers for the rising junior who has also heard from numerous programs including Wisconsin, Northwestern, Illinois, DePaul, Princeton, Penn and many others.
“Success in basketball and academics, a good location, a staff that's invested in the team and the players that are focused on winning,” Brayboy said of what will be important to him when making a decision.
Basketball is still relatively new for Brayboy as he began playing in the eighth grade. He said he averaged around 11 points and nine rebounds during his sophomore campaign.
“My mom grew up with hockey, so that is what I was doing before along with some other stuff,” Brayboy said. “I just love to play basketball. I have a good motor and my skill set revolves around the inside of the paint with a 15-footer. I'd like to expand my game though and I've been working on that.”
Brayboy will be a name to monitor throughout the process given he plays a potential position of need for the Irish depending on how the 2018 class and roster fills out of the next several months.
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