Four-Star SG Blake Wesley Lists Notre Dame Among Top Schools
Notre Dame’s top men’s basketball recruit on the 2021 board announced his top six on Friday evening, and the Fighting Irish made the cut.
South Bend (Ind.) Riley guard Blake Wesley trimmed his list down to Creighton, Kansas State, Maryland, Notre Dame, Purdue and Xavier.
Notre Dame, the hometown school that has made him a priority since offering last summer, is recruiting him as hard as anyone.
“Everything has been going well,” Wesley told BlueandGold.com in August. “I’m still thinking about that decision. They’re saying I could be a star in South Bend. I talk to them at least twice a week.”
Irish assistant Ryan Humphrey has been in frequent contact with him throughout his process.
“I like Coach [Mike] Brey, Coach Humphrey and the campus — it’s really nice,” Wesley said. “I know a lot of people there. All of my friends want me to go there, but that’s my decision. I’ve just got to see.”
Notre Dame has one hoops pledge in the 2021 class from another local product. South Bend (Ind.) St. Joseph wing JR Konieczny pledged to the Irish in August of 2019. Konieczny and Wesley are close friends.
“That’s my homie,” Wesley said. “We’ve been close friends since middle school. We hang out and work out together all the time. That’s my dog.”
BlueandGold.com’s Patrick Engel watched Wesley perform at the Battle of the Brands AAU event in August. Below is a portion of his takeaways.
Wesley’s first game was a defensive clinic that showed his intensity on that end and the upside to guard two or three positions in college. Indy Heat’s defensive strategy was to play man defensive with no help, which created an extended chance for Wesley to show off his on-ball defensive capabilities.
Wesley spent most of the game matched up with a bigger guard and had the strength to absorb contact. Multiple times, he stayed in front, planted his feet to seal a driving lane and held his ground when his man tried to lean in and separate. By my count, he was beaten only once off the dribble in the first game, and recovered to block the shot. His lateral agility, quickness and discipline were impressive.
At the end of his first game, Wesley was tasked with stopping a two-on-one transition opportunity as the lone defender. He stopped the ball, forced the pass then sprung the other way to force a miss on the ensuing layup attempt.
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Rivals ranks Wesley as the nation’s No. 96 overall recruit and No. 22 shooting guard. There are four FutureCast picks for Wesley – all for him to pick the Fighting Irish.
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