Irish’s freshmen can provide Year 1 help — just as Mike Brey first thought
Mike Brey saw all he needed to see one July 2019 afternoon in Champaign, Ill.
That day, Notre Dame’s head coach offered South Bend natives and then-high school juniors Blake Wesley and J.R. Konieczny on the spot after watching them play at the NCAA College Basketball Academy.
The pair of top-150 recruits within a 10-minute drive from his office became his top targets in the 2021 class after one viewing. He and his staff were frequent guests at their games that winter. Both were regular campus visitors. Konieczny committed less than a month after picking up the offer.
It all set up well for Brey to have a pulse on a freshman class’ readiness in a way he hadn’t before. They could play pickup games with the current team and stop by campus whenever they pleased.
March 2020 rudely interrupted those visions. Recruiting shifted to virtual along with the rest of the world that month. Brey’s backyard targets may as well have been in California.
“Coach Brey was always like, ‘You’re right down the road and I can’t come see you,’” Konieczny said. “It was tough in that regard.”
“It was just so weird,” Brey added. “They’re my neighbors. I kid them all the time, ‘How are you doing, neighbor?’ Yet I didn’t see them for a year.”
Fifteen months, to be exact. There wasn’t even an accidentally-on-purpose meeting at the mall. In recruiting, that’s an eternity to go without seeing top recruiting targets in critical stages of their development — no matter how convincing the initial impression was. Brey turned to highlight videos, streams of AAU games and word of mouth to follow their progression.
“Because I didn’t have any interaction with them — they probably would have been playing pickup in our gym all spring and fall of their senior year — I kind of lost track of their development,” Brey said.
Which makes their June 2021 arrival as ready-made instant contributors even more satisfying for Brey. His now two-year-old conclusion that he discovered two impact players one day in Central Illinois has aged well in his eyes.
The 6-5, 185-pound Wesley, who committed in November 2020, is already in the rotation, Brey said. His burst as a ball-handler, athleticism and defensive ability were impossible to miss when he stepped on campus and are difficult to keep off the court. All of those were on display during Notre Dame’s open scrimmage Oct. 13.
“He sees the floor, he plays the right way,” Brey said. “He has shot it better than I thought he could shoot it. He loves to guard, loves to compete.”
Konieczny (6-6, 195) is vying to be the final player in a rotation that normally stops at eight. His shooting stroke and length might have him on the inside track to it. He has gained about 15 pounds since coming to campus.
“He reminds me of [former Notre Dame wing Tim] Abromaitis, a young colt running around with flashes,” Brey said. “I think he’s learning to pass and cut. All he did was catch, face and score over everybody, and he did that pretty good. But now he has to learn to play with other guys, and a defensive stance is still a challenge. You get into a scrimmage and he’ll score eight in a row because he’s just a scorer.”
None of this is news to Brey’s players, who saw Konieczny and Wesley’s senior-year development up close through workouts at “The Barn,” a small private gym in nearby Granger where Konieczny trained during his high school career. He even had access to it in the height of the pandemic.
Notre Dame’s players, meanwhile, had limited hours to work out in Rolfs Hall. Some heard of Konieczny’s haven and reached out to him, wondering if they could work out and play pickup games with their future teammate. Konieczny opened The Barn’s doors. His workout home became the unofficial second home for Notre Dame basketball before the 2020-21 season. Wesley joined them too, even though he had not yet committed.
Irish players quickly saw two potential difference-makers. Senior Prentiss Hubb inserted himself into Wesley’s recruitment – current point guard wooing a potential future point guard. The two grew close during workouts to the point where Wesley and Brey called Hubb a meaningful factor in the Wesley’s decision to choose Notre Dame.
“I’ve been staying in his ear for a while now,” Hubb said. “I could see the potential in him. I want him to be great and I think he could make it to the next level, to the NBA. I want him to be better than me and break all the records at ND.”
That’s all for later on, though. The first step is earning the trust to contribute as a freshman. As he and Konieczny are on track to do.
“Both of our local guys,” Brey said, “will be playing for us.”
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