Developmental Excellence Continuing For Notre Dame Basketball
Earlier this spring when 17th-year Notre Dame head coach Mike Brey needed to replace former assistant coaches Martin Ingelsby (now the head coach at Delaware) and Anthony Solomon (assistant at Georgetown), he met with senior wings Steve Vasturia and V.J. Beachem, plus junior forward Bonzie Colson, the three returning double-figure scorers from last season.
“I said we’re going to get great guys, we’re going to get guys that played for me,” Brey began. “But let’s be honest: You three guys are my assistants — and they have to run this thing this summer.”
To no one’s surprise, Brey was pleased with how they rotated into their new roles seamlessly, with the final formal session held July 19. Then again, it’s a natural progression at a program that foremost takes immense pride in the way its players mature from their freshman through senior years.
With few exceptions — such as junior guard Demetrius Jackson turning pro this spring to sign a four-year, $5.5 million contract with the Boston Celtics — the modus operandi under Brey has been clear: sign the four- or five-year players who as fringe top 100 prospects develop their first two seasons, begin to blossom by their third and then become all-league caliber players as seniors while taking ownership of the program’s developmental tradition.
It’s not going to put them in many, if any, top 20 or even 30 recruiting classes, but it’s become an innate program identity, especially in the past decade. It has also resulted in NCAA Tournament bids six of the last seven seasons, an ACC Championship in 2015 and the lone men’s program to advance to the Elite Eight each of the last two years.
“This program, it’s a progression,” said the 6-6, 212-pound Vasturia, who has started a team high 86 straight games, including all 74 each of the past two years, including earning All-ACC Tournament honors as merely a sophomore. “My role has increased each and every year. It’s just taking what you learn from older guys, having a good group around us who have been through many things, many tough, close games…
“What’s nice about this program is you get to watch great leaders. I know now that there are younger guys here that want to hear my voice the way I wanted to hear the guys before me.”
That’s how people over the last 10 years who are non-factors their first two seasons — Russell Carter, Tim Abromaitis, Jack Cooley, Zach Auguste — become All-Big East or All-ACC selections on the first or second team later in their careers.
It’s how Ben Hansbrough — a two-star figure with no national ranking — becomes the Big East Player of the Year in 2011 while guiding the Irish to a No. 5 finish in the Associated Press during the regular season.
It’s how No. 104-rated Luke Harangody (fringe top-100, as noted) becomes Big East Player of the Year as a sophomore and a three-time All-American.
It’s how Jerian Grant and Pat Connaughton — three-star players ranked 105th and 128th nationally, respectively, by Rivals — become game-changers as seniors while leading an Elite 8 run and becoming first- and second-round NBA picks.
Likewise, Vasturia and the 6-8, 201-pound Beachem now as seniors have asserted themselves and taken command during the summer. Beachem in particular has grown in that area after a fabulous, clutch March, especially the four outings in the NCAA Tournament.
After scoring only four points in four NCAA Tournament games as a sophomore, Beachem exploded for 70 in four last year (17.5 points per game average), never tallying less than 15 while converting one clutch basket after another to make the NCAA East Regional All-Tournament team. He scored a team-high 19 points and added three steals in the NCAA third round victory over Wisconsin. He snared a crucial defensive rebound versus the Badgers with nine seconds left, then hit two clutch free throw shots to put the Irish up by three points.
Two games earlier against Michigan he posted a team-high 18 points while shooting 7-of-7 from the field (4-4 from three point range). This included a trey at 6:12 to knot the game at 56-56 another three to break a 59-59 tie and give Notre Dame its first lead of the game, and a pull-up jumper on the next possession to put the Irish up five.
“He was talking in the huddles in the NCAA Tournament more than ever before,” Brey said. “…He is in such a great frame of mind, he is so confident with what happened in March. Being a voice and knowing he has more responsibility, I just want him to be aggressive.
“I have not seen him not be aggressive this summer. I’ve kind of gotten on him when he has turned down a shot, even a bad shot. I wanted him to force some shots.”
Brey even recommended that Beachem enter the 2016 NBA Draft (without an agent) just to measure how he stacked up. For 2016-17, the answer is pretty clear, as it was for his predecessors: He has the makings to continue the all-league excellence among Irish veterans while putting the greater good of the team first.
“I’ve just been trying to voice myself as much as I can and show them my work habits,” Beachem said. “That’s the No. 1 thing for me.”
It’s a tradition that remains consistent under Brey.