Mike Brey and the Notre Dame men's basketball program have its first commitment in the class of 2021.
South Bend (Ind.) St. Joseph guard JR Konieczny pledged to the Fighting Irish on Sunday, choosing Notre Dame over Butler, Creighton, Iowa, Miami (Ohio), and Valparaiso.
The Irish offered Konieczny in late July after Konieczny impressed Brey at the NCAA Basketball Academy in Champaign, Illinois.
Konieczny visited Notre Dame just several days after earning the offer, and it took him a couple of weeks after that visit to pledge to the Irish.
"It would be big time," Konieczny told Blue & Gold Illustrated about playing for Notre Dame. "I have a lot of family who lives up here. It would be great to see them at every home game for sure. If you're a home town kid, the fans really love you. It would be pretty cool for sure."
Konieczny is from Laporte, Indiana but moved to South Bend when he was in the 7th grade.
"Coach Brey has developed some really good players," he said. "He told me that I kind of remind him of Pat Connaughton when he was in my grade. That got me excited. The player development over there is top notch. You can't really get much better than playing in the ACC."
After landing the initial scholarship offer from Notre Dame, Konieczny told BGI that he was "stoked" about the news.
"They've been tracking me for a little bit now," Konieczny said. "Coach Brey said that he liked how I play and he wanted to offer me a scholarship. That was really cool; I was stoked after that for sure."
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