Buy Or Sell: Notre Dame Basketball Needs To Add One More Transfer
The way Notre Dame’s coaching staff sees it, the Irish have their solution to replacing All-ACC selection John Mooney already on the roster, even though the 6-9 forward leaves a double-double void in Notre Dame’s lineup.
Fifth-year senior Juwan Durham is expected to be the unquestioned starting center and focal point in the frontcourt, while Nate Laszewski slides into Mooney’s spot. That means, though, freshmen forwards Matt Zona and Elijah Taylor — or perhaps little-used Nikola Djogo — have to fill in the minutes when Durham isn’t out there, which could be anywhere from 10 to 15 or so per game.
Having zero proven college basketball commodities as a backup center is either a bit unsettling or a great opportunity for someone new to shine. A solution to the former is adding an immediately eligible transfer for depth and competition.
“I’ve got two young front-line guys coming, who are going to be really good four- or five-year guys,” Notre Dame head coach Mike Brey told BlueandGold.com “Does one of them jump up as a freshman? We may need that. Do we take a grad transfer ‘big’ late here to add to our experience on the front line?
“That’s something we’ve really talked about. But maybe one of these young big guys emerges, is it going to be one of you or both of you? Do we redshirt one? We’re still looking at all of the options.”
BlueandGold.com’s Patrick Engel and Lou Somogyi discuss which option makes the most sense for Notre Dame.
Patrick Engel: Buy
If Notre Dame adds one more piece, it is likely to be a forward who is eligible right away. An NCAA vote next month could give all transfers a one-time exemption for immediate eligibility. Until now, only graduate transfers are guaranteed to be available to play next year.
There is one misconception to address that sometimes pops up about transfers, especially one-year graduate transfers and “up” transfers from mid-major programs: They are not always brought in to be anointed starters and saviors for a position group in flux. And the track record says that is a good thing.
For every one-year transfer who arrives from a one-bid league and becomes an essential piece on an NCAA Tournament team, there is another who is viewed as an important addition who ends up relegated to the bench because they are simply not trustworthy enough to play at the higher level. The latter stings those programs who bring them in as the unquestioned answer at one position, turning that spot into a yearlong black hole with a bunch of guys who are realistically role players or deep reserves trying to create a starter’s impact.
In Notre Dame’s case, that high-risk, high-reward situation doesn’t exist. Taking a transfer who is brought in to compete for the backup center job (with anything else beyond that a pleasant surprise) can end in one of three ways:
• A smaller but still important hole is fixed if Zona or Taylor aren’t ready and Djogo still isn’t more than a deep reserve … which is the end goal Notre Dame wants to achieve.
• The transfer ends up playing negligible minutes if someone else ends up capable of handling the backup center job … which is OK for all parties. College players understand competition.
• The addition does nothing, Zona and Taylor aren’t ready and the 10 to 15 minutes with Durham on the bench are Notre Dame’s weakest link … which is where Notre Dame would have been without trying to find one more guy.
All told, there’s no downside. And Notre Dame has the available space. All another body would do is be competing for the minutes behind Durham. Any pursuit of a transfer for that role isn’t a recruitment that would be overflowing with vanity and false promises. Pro teams sign guys they know will be role players every offseason. College teams recruiting those type of players is important, too.
Now, if there’s no realistic names willing to compete for a backup job or no fits Brey likes, that’s another matter. But that’s also an unlikely scenario.
Heck, Duke landed a commitment from Patrick Tape, a graduate transfer forward who was hurt last year and averaged 11.3 points for a 10-win Columbia team in 2018-19. He’s almost assuredly going to play behind the Blue Devils’ army of five-stars. There are players willing to take a smaller role if it means getting the chance to play a year in the ACC on a team that has realistic NCAA Tournament goals.
The chances Notre Dame finds one forward trustworthy enough to play the 10 or 15 minutes without Durham are much higher when there is an extra name in the mix. That is how any graduate transfer addition should be viewed: minimizing risk and increasing the odds that the perhaps the team’s biggest worry is nary a thought by the time conference games start.
Lou Somogyi: Buy (on one condition)
Chances are in the past month you have entered a local grocery store or pharmacy and noticed empty shelves — particularly in the aisle that carries cleaning products and a specific bathroom item.
A sign also likely accompanied those shelves which stated if any of the products remain, please limit yourself to one, so as to avoid a hoarding mentality.
Brey and his staff have been careful to not be unnecessary hoarders on the recruiting trail.
While the NCAA does permit 13 scholarship players on a roster, the Fighting Irish usually have been a couple below that number and often down to seven or eight healthy bodies for games the past two seasons. That should not be the case in 2020-21.
The staff appeared content to stand pat with nine returning scholarship players — and then in the past two weeks added 6-7 freshman forward recruit Tony Sanders and 6-4 sharp-shooting junior guard Trey Wertz as a transfer from Santa Clara.
Suddenly, Notre Dame is up to 11 scholarship players, and might even assess 6-11 Michigan junior transfer Colin Castleton, a former top-100 recruit (No. 89 by Rivals) who comes from a Catholic high school but tallied only 99 points and 81 rebounds in 44 game appearances with the Wolverines.
Castleton could be a fifth “big” on the roster to complement the 6-11 Durham, 6-10 junior stretch four Nate Laszewski, and freshmen Zona and Taylor.
What the staff has to evaluate is whether Castleton can accept a complementary role, or is he looking to be a bigger fish in a smaller pond?
If it’s the former, buy. If the latter, sell. Maybe sometime later this summer, the basketball shelves known today as the transfer portal might be restocked again with even better options.
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